It is thought by some scholars that Beauty and the Beast story may have a much longer history. It could be that it has roots in the tale of Cupid and Psyche, the ancient chronicle from the Latin novel Metamorphoses. This myth, written in the 2nd Century CE by Apuleius, is one of the oldest tales and many believe it to be the first ever literary fairy tale.
“A Tale as Old as Time”
Cupid and Psyche
The Ancient Roman tale starts with Psyche’s banishment (by the jealous Venus) to a mountaintop, in order to be wed to a murderous beast. Cupid is sent to destroy her but instead falls in love and flies her away to his castle. There she is directed to never seek to see the face of her husband, who visits and makes love to her in the dark of night. Eventually Psyche succumbs to her curiosity but accidentally scars her husband with a candle. In attempted atonement, Psyche offers herself as a slave to Venus, and completes a set of impossible tasks. Completing the last task (seeking beauty from the Queen of the Underworld), Psyche opens the ‘beauty in a box’ and at once falls into a coma. Overcome with grief, Cupid rescues her. He begs Jupiter that she may become immortal, so that the two could be forever united. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche
Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve (1740)
The Beast, a prince, lost his father at a young age. His mother had to wage war to defend his kingdom, and left him in the care of a rather evil fairy. This fairy attempted to seduce him as the prince became an adult. When he refused, she transformed him into the beast until someone would agree to marry him without knowing his past or that he was intelligent. In a neighboring kingdom, Beauty is the daughter of a king and a different fairy. Beauty’s mother broke the laws of fairy society by falling in love with a human, so she was sentenced to remain in the fairy land and Beauty was sentenced to marry a hideous beast when she grew up. After Beauty’s mother disappeared from earth, the evil fairy unsuccessfully attempted to take Beauty’s life and marry her father. Beauty’s aunt, another good fairy, intervened and changed Beauty’s place with the dead daughter of a merchant for Beauty’s protection, then placed the Beast in a magically hidden castle until Beauty grew up.
“The happiness in store for them inspired each with equal delight. They could not entertain the least doubt of their mutual affection.” – Villeneuve’s La Belle et La Bête
Tatar (2017) compares the tale to the theme of “animal brides and grooms” found in folklore throughout the world, pointing out that the French tale was specifically intended for the preparation of young girls in 18th century France for arranged marriages. The urban opening is unusual in fairy tales, as is the social class of the characters, neither royal nor peasants; it may reflect the social changes occurring at the time of its first writing.
Hamburger (2015) points out that the design of the Beast in the 1946 film adaptation by Jean Cocteau was inspired by the portrait of Petrus Gonsalvus, a native of Tenerife who suffered from hypertrichosis, causing an abnormal growth of hair on his face and other parts, and who came under the protection of the French king and married a beautiful Parisian woman named Catherine.
Beauty and the Beast was Originally a Feminist Fable Disguised as Marriage Guidance
The Original Belle
Before her Beauty adaptation, the writer translated the tragic tale of Madame de Ganges, based on the real-life tragic history of Diane-Elisabeth de Rossan. The protagonist has an unfortunate story: a wealthy, beautiful and virtuous young woman remarries after becoming widowed. She makes a poor choice, however, and marries a jealous husband with two villainous brothers, both of whom fall in love with her. When neither succeeds in corrupting her virtue, their anger is so great that they decide to murder her – with the endorsement of her husband.
The heroine is ordered to choose the method of her own death: poison, stabbing or shooting. But in a twist in the tale, Madame de Ganges ends up the victim of all three: she is not only forced to swallow the poison, but when she attempts to escape, she is stabbed by one of the brothers, and shot. Ultimately, it is the poison which finishes her off: details of the character’s autopsy in a later translated version reveal that it had “burnt the coats of her stomach, and turned her brain quite black”. The beauty of the young woman was transmuted into the beast of a blackened husk.
Interestingly, in de Beaumont’s version of Madame de Ganges’s tale, written as a moral for young women, she seemingly attributes some culpability to the Marchioness in her own downfall. Her husband’s jealousy arises because she “gad[s] about so much”, enjoying being admired for her beauty. This incurs the wrath of her jealous husband who chides her “to stay more at home”.
But de Beaumont almost seems dissatisfied with concluding that Madame de Ganges should have complied with her husband because “lions and tygers are tamed at last; a man must be of a fiercer nature than those animals, not to be gained by a complying, prudent, and discreet wife”. And so she rewrote the tale again, this time as a fairy tale: Beauty and the Beast.
kiara
July 12, 2020 at 12:36 AM
IT’S OK TO NOT BE OK eps 8 fairy tale: “BEAUTY and the BEAST”
The History of the Tale.
https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/beauty-and-the-beast-history/
The Oldest Beauty and the Beast Story
It is thought by some scholars that Beauty and the Beast story may have a much longer history. It could be that it has roots in the tale of Cupid and Psyche, the ancient chronicle from the Latin novel Metamorphoses. This myth, written in the 2nd Century CE by Apuleius, is one of the oldest tales and many believe it to be the first ever literary fairy tale.
“A Tale as Old as Time”
Cupid and Psyche
The Ancient Roman tale starts with Psyche’s banishment (by the jealous Venus) to a mountaintop, in order to be wed to a murderous beast. Cupid is sent to destroy her but instead falls in love and flies her away to his castle. There she is directed to never seek to see the face of her husband, who visits and makes love to her in the dark of night. Eventually Psyche succumbs to her curiosity but accidentally scars her husband with a candle. In attempted atonement, Psyche offers herself as a slave to Venus, and completes a set of impossible tasks. Completing the last task (seeking beauty from the Queen of the Underworld), Psyche opens the ‘beauty in a box’ and at once falls into a coma. Overcome with grief, Cupid rescues her. He begs Jupiter that she may become immortal, so that the two could be forever united.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche
Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve (1740)
The Beast, a prince, lost his father at a young age. His mother had to wage war to defend his kingdom, and left him in the care of a rather evil fairy. This fairy attempted to seduce him as the prince became an adult. When he refused, she transformed him into the beast until someone would agree to marry him without knowing his past or that he was intelligent. In a neighboring kingdom, Beauty is the daughter of a king and a different fairy. Beauty’s mother broke the laws of fairy society by falling in love with a human, so she was sentenced to remain in the fairy land and Beauty was sentenced to marry a hideous beast when she grew up. After Beauty’s mother disappeared from earth, the evil fairy unsuccessfully attempted to take Beauty’s life and marry her father. Beauty’s aunt, another good fairy, intervened and changed Beauty’s place with the dead daughter of a merchant for Beauty’s protection, then placed the Beast in a magically hidden castle until Beauty grew up.
“The happiness in store for them inspired each with equal delight. They could not entertain the least doubt of their mutual affection.” – Villeneuve’s La Belle et La Bête
Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont (1756)
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html
Commentary
Tatar (2017) compares the tale to the theme of “animal brides and grooms” found in folklore throughout the world, pointing out that the French tale was specifically intended for the preparation of young girls in 18th century France for arranged marriages. The urban opening is unusual in fairy tales, as is the social class of the characters, neither royal nor peasants; it may reflect the social changes occurring at the time of its first writing.
Hamburger (2015) points out that the design of the Beast in the 1946 film adaptation by Jean Cocteau was inspired by the portrait of Petrus Gonsalvus, a native of Tenerife who suffered from hypertrichosis, causing an abnormal growth of hair on his face and other parts, and who came under the protection of the French king and married a beautiful Parisian woman named Catherine.
Beauty and the Beast was Originally a Feminist Fable Disguised as Marriage Guidance
The Original Belle
Before her Beauty adaptation, the writer translated the tragic tale of Madame de Ganges, based on the real-life tragic history of Diane-Elisabeth de Rossan. The protagonist has an unfortunate story: a wealthy, beautiful and virtuous young woman remarries after becoming widowed. She makes a poor choice, however, and marries a jealous husband with two villainous brothers, both of whom fall in love with her. When neither succeeds in corrupting her virtue, their anger is so great that they decide to murder her – with the endorsement of her husband.
The heroine is ordered to choose the method of her own death: poison, stabbing or shooting. But in a twist in the tale, Madame de Ganges ends up the victim of all three: she is not only forced to swallow the poison, but when she attempts to escape, she is stabbed by one of the brothers, and shot. Ultimately, it is the poison which finishes her off: details of the character’s autopsy in a later translated version reveal that it had “burnt the coats of her stomach, and turned her brain quite black”. The beauty of the young woman was transmuted into the beast of a blackened husk.
Interestingly, in de Beaumont’s version of Madame de Ganges’s tale, written as a moral for young women, she seemingly attributes some culpability to the Marchioness in her own downfall. Her husband’s jealousy arises because she “gad[s] about so much”, enjoying being admired for her beauty. This incurs the wrath of her jealous husband who chides her “to stay more at home”.
But de Beaumont almost seems dissatisfied with concluding that Madame de Ganges should have complied with her husband because “lions and tygers are tamed at last; a man must be of a fiercer nature than those animals, not to be gained by a complying, prudent, and discreet wife”. And so she rewrote the tale again, this time as a fairy tale: Beauty and the Beast.
https://theconversation.com/beauty-and-the-beast-was-originally-a-feminist-fable-disguised-as-marriage-guidance-74561
sirena
July 12, 2020 at 7:13 AM
Thank you for these posts.