Beauty and the Beast: Villeneuve, Beaumont, and Disney

Beauty and the Beast has been retold countless times. It was originally derived from a Greek myth called Cupid and Pysche (more on that later).

The original, actual B&B story (yeah, I call it that) is the length of a short novella. (Mine is about 140 pages.) A lot of people have the misconception that it was written by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont. This is untrue, although Beaumont is definitely responsible for making B&B well known and widely read.

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The original author was Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. (Do the French all have names like this?) She was born in Paris in 1695. Beaumont is well known for abridging Villeneuve's lengthy tale. If you search for Villeneuve's Beauty and the Beast on the internet you'll only find the abridged version, unless you want to buy the book. (There's a shortened version here.)

Honestly, I like Villeneuve's better. You actually get to know why the Beast was cursed and other little histories about our characters. But the delivery of the details isn't exactly interesting and it's a little confusing. It's told to the readers by the good fairy. It involves at least two Fairies, one Queen, AND a Fairy Queen, all of whom are referred to as either Fairy or Queen ambiguously. All four are obviously females, so it gets even more discombobulating when the narrator starts throwing pronouns around.

I wouldn't say the book is for everyone. But if your a Beauty and the Beast enthusiast then I think you'd love it and it's definitely worth your while.

If you'd like, you can read Beaumont's version here.

So how about some of the differences between Villeneuve, Beaumont, and Disney? 

(I've not seen the Disney's Beauty and the Beast since I was about 9 years old, maybe less? So my memory might be a little sketchy on it. You might have to help me out in the comments.)

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Villeneuve gives Beauty a father and the mother just. . . isn't mentioned at all. Her death isn't even clarified so I'm just guessing that this is why she never shows her face. Anyhow, in Villeneuve's version, the father has six sons and six daughters. The father is originally a merchant, but he loses all his wealth. The family must live in the country and work like peasants. While the sisters complain about their work, Beauty tries to lift everyone's spirits. She sings and smiles and tries to console everyone.

 

Her sisters believe this is foolish and simple-minded. But unlike her sisters, Beauty has deemed fine society as unreliable since all their friends had turned away from them once they lost their wealth. So she doesn't exactly miss their former wealth.

Beaumont on the other hand gives the father three sons and three daughters. This time the daughters don't even bother to help Beauty with the housework. They just idle around and bemoan their uneventful fate.

Disney downsizes Beauty's family to only her father. Um, who is an eccentric inventor.

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In Villeneuve's version the merchant is informed that one of his lost ships has arrived in port. He goes to settle his shipment but everything goes wrong once again. He gets lost on the road home and ends up at the Beast's castle. He tries to pick a rose to take home to Beauty, but the Beast catches him. The Beast says the father must either return at a set time or one of his daughters come in his place. And she must come willingly.

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Beauty feels responsible for her father's most recent misfortune as she did requested a rose. She agrees to go, even though her father insists against it. She determines to go alone, if her father will not take her at the set time. Her brothers wish to devise a way to save her, but the father argues that trickery would only bring more ruin upon them all. You can imagine what the sisters think.

A horse arrives for Beauty. The father leads her there. The Beast greets them and Beauty shows a lot more strength and resolve than her father.

Beaumont's version is the same.

Disney clearly has to be different. The father goes to show his inventions at a fair. When he gets lost in the forest, he stumbles upon the Beast's castle. The Beast holds him as a captive, though I don't remember why? Because he was trespassing perhaps? The father's horse returns to Beauty.

If you've never been around horses much, a horse wandering around with an empty saddle is a bad sign. So Beauty goes to find her father. Once at the Beast's castle she says she'll exchange her life for her father's. The Beast agrees.

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 Villeneuve's Beast was, yes, a prince. His mother had to go to war with an enemy kingdom. She was very sad to leave him as she cherished him very much. She left him with a fairy who was a friend of hers, well sort of. This fairy happened to be old and ugly and rather mean. One does not just decline the help of a fairy (especially a mean one) without some trepidation. Everyone knows what angry fairies do. The fairy assured the queen that the prince would be safe with her.

The story gets a little dark here.

If I'm remembering correctly, the fairy liked someone. I want to say a king. But this man did not return her affections, which is probably better as technically fairies aren't allowed to marry. If they do, it usually doesn't end well.

So the fairy then turned her wounded affections toward. . . the prince. Who happened to be a lot younger than her; he was a kid and she was his guardian. Fairy or no fairy, there's something wrong with this picture. She fell irrationally in love with him. He respectfully refuses her desire for marriage. When the fairy tells his mother to talk sense into him, she's horrified at the whole idea and also refuses.

Now we have an angry fairy. The main ingredient for casting a curse.

The old, evil fairy cast a curse on the prince to make him very ugly. While he retains his intellect, his speech is dull so it appears as if his mind is dumb as an animal's.

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In flies the good fairy. The fairy who actually is the queen's friend (Unless she's just a passer-by? I can't remember.). She cannot undo the curse as she is of a much lower rank than the evil fairy. (The fairies' rules and such are rather strict and complex.) But she can alter the curse. The prince will not be a beast forever so long as he can find someone who will love him and agree to marry him in the state that he's in.

The good fairy also turned all the prince's servants invisible and enchanted his castle so that the weather was always fair. The prince had everything he needed during his cursed state. 

You know, except for someone to break the curse. Well. . . the good fairy had a huge hand in that too. So he really didn't have to do anything but be a nice Beast. Be himself. In beastly form. The prince is actually a kind and generous person, uh, beast.

Beaumont doesn't bother to describe all these details for us. We just know the prince was cursed to be a Beast until someone loves him or something along sentimental lines.

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Disney's prince was an ill-tempered brat. A fairy cursed him to be a Beast to improve his character. She also set a time limit on his life. If he could not find someone to love him before a specific rose withered, he would die.

Here's a very interesting post I found that talks about the differences between Villeneuve's Beast and Disney's Beast. I definitely encourage you to read it. It brings up a topic that I had never thought of considering Villeneuve's version of Beauty and the Beast.

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In both Villeneuve's and Beaumont's stories, the prince appears to Beauty in her dreams in his true form. They talk and get to know each other. Beauty falls in love with the dream prince, and in Villeneuve's version she goes back and forth over it. She loves him and yet, he's only a dream. She finds herself so silly for loving a figment of her imagination. Yet he seems so real, how can he be imaginary? Likewise, how can he possibly be real? She also has visions of the good fairy who instructs her to not judge by appearances. 

When does the poor girl actually sleep?

Disney's version has none of this, probably because their Beast must better himself in order to win Belle's affection.

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In Villeneuve's tale Beauty has a mirror that reflects things that are happening all around the world. Sometimes she witnesses historical events or the marriage of royal personages. Most often though she watches plays or the Opera as she is most fond of that. (It kind of like TV.)

In Beaumont's version, Beauty is provided with a library, a harpsichord, and music books.

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Disney has the Beast personally give Beauty the castle library.

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In Villeneuve, Beauty has a hidden history that not even she and her father are aware of. At the end the good fairy unravels the whole tale for everyone. But in the other versions Beauty or Belle is just who she appears to be.

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In Villeneuve's and Beaumont's tale, the Beast nearly dies just because. . . Beauty left. Yeah. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

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Disney's Beast though actually has a good excuse. To start with the antagonist, shot an arrow into his back. Or was it his chest? But also, the Beast's rose has almost wilted, signifying that his life is near its end unless Belle comes to save the day.

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I've heard that Villeneuve's tale is written against arranged marriages, while Beaumont's is more meant to teach girls to make the most of arranged marriages; that not every husband who looks beastly actually is. I've also heard that Disney's Belle is very feminist.

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the translation differences and my internet wanderings

(You may want to tread weary here; this part is darker like the Beast history.)

I've read that there's translation arguments over Villeneuve's work. Apparently, her original writing reads that every night the Beast asks if Beauty will allow him to sleep with her. Beaumont changed it so that the Beast always ask Beauty if she will marry him. (My translation of Villeneuve's is an adaption and it also reads "marry.")

Some people argue that in Villeneuve's time, it was basically considered the same question. What "sleeping with" meant in Villeneuve's days, meant "marrying" in Beaumont's. (V was born in 1695, B in 1711. A sixteen year difference? It's possible, but I give a skeptical nod to this proposition.)

Other people argue that Beaumont actually did change the wording. These people say that when the Beast asked to sleep with Beauty, Villeneuve's translation means to simply share a bed, nothing actually goes on between them. Which could be likely since in Villeneuve's book when Beauty does consent at the end, that's exactly what happens. Nothing. 

 In V's version, Beauty and the Beast spend a night together before the Beast is transformed into a prince. Again, my translation is adapted and it leaves out that part. It reads as if: Beauty goes to bed alone, dreams of her prince, and wakes up with the prince sleeping on a couch nearby. But I've heard that originally the Beast simply falls asleep snoring away without a word, and Beauty, rather relieved, tentatively climbs in bed and sleeps too. In the morning, he's a prince. There's been some translation arguments about that section too. (And I wonder if people just want to make it dirtier than it really is?)

In Villeneuve's story though both the Beast/prince and Beauty seem very child-like, especially near the end of the book. They both have an air of innocence and naivety.

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When I read the book, I envisioned them as young, barely teenagers. Not old enough to be married. Although, that could be part of the point? Back then, children were given in marriage to each other, or even to spouses much older than themselves (like the evil fairy). They were too young to be going to bed with people. Perhaps Villeneuve was trying to say something there? 

BUT the fact the Beast asks, whatever he's asking, is very. . . what's the word? Revolutionary? Unheard of? Villeneuve's time was one of arranged marriages. A lady had no say in whom she married. She was merely a puppet and piece of property and/or social status. People seem to view Villeneuve as an early feminist by giving Beauty the power to say no.

Beauty could refuse the Beast what he asked. Beauty was the one who decided to take her father's place. (Some say Beauty was submissive to her father and went where he went. Um, no. In actuality, Beauty's choice overrode the choice her father would've made.) Beauty also holds the Beast's life in her hands metaphorically as he nearly dies when she leaves (I think that's rather pathetic, but that's a fairy tale for you). Basically the power to move the forward story is give to females: Beauty, the fairies, and the queens. 

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I recently found out that Disney is making a live action film of Beauty and the Beast that is to be released in 2017. I'm so excited about it!  Emma Watson is playing Belle, and it's still a musical.

Have you read Villeneuve's Beauty and the Beast? Are there other differences? Which is your favorite version of Beauty and the Beast? Have you heard of Disney's upcoming film!?