Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Beauty and The Beast Parents
The father figure in many of the Beauty and the Beast stories is the character with whom the story starts to unfold. It is because of his actions that he is led to the beast in the first place. I found the way that the father figure was depicted in Beaumont's version to be particularly interesting. The author makes a conscious effort to portray Beauty's father as a good and virtuous man and in no way responsible for the sequence of events that happen to Beauty. From the beginning the father is considered a "good man" and not only this but " a man of intelligence and good sense." It is because of him that his daughters are educated, and thus Beauty possesses the same wit of her father, characteristics that were well respected in that day. What I also found interesting, was although he is portrayed as intelligent and virtuous he is also portrayed as weak in comparison with his daughter. First, he looses his fortune and has very little as they live in seclusion. Secondly, although he says that he doesn't want Beauty to risk her life to save him, he still makes little effort to keep her from going. Beaumont writes, " There was no use arguing with Beauty. She was determined to go to the palace." In many of the Beauty and the Beast stories the father is described as old or may become sick of heart-brokenness. In the case of this story, Beauty is the one who steps up and makes the sacrifice, while her old and weak father makes very little effort to stop her or take her place instead. Though her father is portrayed throughout as a virtuous and good man, it doesn't really seem like he has the qualities that one would associate with a gentleman such as bravery and self sacrifice to family. I think that this is true of many of the Beauty and the Beast stories that we have read. I have found myself automatically liking the father and thinking of him as good, but at the same time thinking how could he have possibly let her go. In Cocteau's version as well as others, she escapes on the horse and I think that this allows the issue of her father's virtuousness to fade away.
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I also wrote about the father in Beaumont's version and thought he was a very interesting character and I agree that the author makes a significant effort at portraying a kind and gentle father which made me realize that when Belle 'falls in love' with the Beast the words she use to describe the Beast are "kind and gentle and polite". This made me think that maybe the father was there in an Oedipus-complex sort of way to give the reader context for why Belle would fall for the Beast.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't noticed as much how the father is weak in comparison to Belle but I think you are right, and you make a really interesting observation, he couldn't even stop her from going to the Beast's castle, which I think we agree reflects a bad or weak father figure or for these times an un-virtuous girl who disobeys her parent.
I like the points you brought up about how the father automatically makes you feel good about him, but then leaves you hanging with his decision to let his daughter go. I fell as though the daughter would not be portrayed nearly as well if the father was actually able to even make her hesitate in the decision. its the selflessness of the daughter that allows her to shine through as a beauty in regards to her character.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting to bring up that in fact Beauty's selflessness doubles as disobedience. But it's also fare enough to mention that if the father had truly been willing to die for his daughters, he would have done so. The idea that he yields to his daughter just because she shows willingness makes a him a weak character. Throughout the story, and I'm referring mainly to Beaumont in this case, the father's since of agency is incredibly small. He gladly gobbles up the mysterious food set before him, and he gobbles up the opportunity to sacrifice his own daughter to save himself.
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