Critical Essay – Beauty and the Beast
By Diane Langhus – ENG122
Most of our fairytales have a princess or a young lady who needs to be saved. Of course every fairytale needs a villain or two. In a tiny little village in France, Belle was not your typical damsel or even a princess. In fact, she turned out to be the hero of this fairytale. As the daughter of the quirky village inventor Maurice, Belle was smart and much-loved by the villagers. Our first villain was “Beast.” He was once a handsome prince with everything he had ever needed or wanted at his fingertips. Our second villain was “Gaston.” He was the fetching yet egotistical village huntsman with biceps that could crack a walnut. The difference between the two villains; Gaston believed he deserved the best, he believed he deserved Belle as his wife. Unfortunately for Gaston, Belle had no interest in having anything to do with Gaston. Beast, on the other hand hoped to find true love but feared love would never find him. As a young boy, Beast was taught a very valuable lesson about judging someone by their appearance. Beast and his personal servants were living under an evil spell, having been trapped in this murky and dreary castle for years with no hope of ever being reverted to their human form. He had until his twenty first birthday to find true love. Belle returned from the village to realize her father was missing. She had set out to search for Maurice; in the dark and scary forest, she had come across Beast’s castle. As luck would have it; Belle immediately discovered her father, trapped as a prisoner in the Beast’s castle. When confronted by Beast, Belle insisted he permit her to take Maurice’s place as his prisoner. With little discussion, Beast agreed. Belle was very distraught because Beast did not allow her to say good-bye to her father.
As Gaston had become more annoyed in his failed pursuit to have Belle as his wife; he conjured up a plan to force Belle into marrying...
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