The Beast in the Beauty: An Analysis of Cultural Gender Biases and Stereotypes in the Classic Fairy Tale “Beauty and the Beast” and Implications in Modern Retellings PDF Free Download
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The Beast in the Beauty: An Analysis of Cultural Gender Biases and Stereotypes in the Classic
Fairy Tale “Beauty and the Beast” and Implications in Modern Retellings
________________________
A thesis
presented to
the faculty of the Department of Literature and Language
East Tennessee State University
In partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree
Master of Arts in English
______________________
by
Lauren Nicole Lefler
May 2024
_____________________
Dr. Shauna Lichtenwalner, Chair
Dr. Phyllis Thompson
Dr. Josh Reid
Keywords: fairy tale, beauty and the beast, gender, a court of thorns and roses, a court of mist
and fury, acotar, acomaf
2
ABSTRACT
The Beast in the Beauty: An Analysis of Cultural Gender Biases and Stereotypes in the Classic
Fairy Tale “Beauty and the Beast” and Implications in Modern Retellings
by
Lauren Nicole Lefler
This thesis looks at the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast to examine the way that this tale has been
used throughout history to address the concerns of young women, as well as reinforce the
culturally accepted gender roles of the time of their publication. The first chapter defines the
fairy tale genre and features some of the most common criticism on the genre, it will then define
and offer critical perspectives on the monster bridegroom motif which Beauty and the Beast is a
part of. The second chapter will look at the first two publications of the text, the 1740 version by
Mme de Villeneuve and the 1756 version by Mme de Beaumont. The final chapter will examine
the first two books in the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses
published in 2015 and A Court of Mist and Fury published in 2016.
3
Copyright 2024 by Lauren Nicole Lefler
All Rights Reserved
4
DEDICATION
I would like to dedicate this thesis to my nieces, Anna Lee Lefler and Desirea Bailey
Nicole Royston, and my nephews, Dalton Glenn Royston, Joeseph Kyler Styles Knox, and
Braxton Lee James Lefler. Remember, kids, find your passion, and never stop pursuing it.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to first take this opportunity to thank my committee chair. Dr. Lichtenwalner, I
would not have been able to complete this project if it was not for you and your mentorship
throughout the entire experience. Thank you for always pushing me, allowing me to talk through
any issues I had while writing, and for being as genuinely excited about my project as I have
been. Most importantly, thank you for always thinking about what is best for me and prioritizing
that over the project itself.
To Dr. Reid and Dr. Thompson, thank you for agreeing to be on my committee. The
classes I was lucky enough to get to take from you during my undergraduate and graduate careers
at ETSU were sources of such inspiration for me, and learning from you has been some of the
highlights of my academic career.
To my father, I do not even know where to begin thanking you for everything that you
have done for me. To say that you have supported me through my academic pursuits is a vast
understatement. You have never given up on me, no matter what, and you have always pushed
me to be the very best I could be. It is because of my admiration of you that I knew I wanted to
pursue this degree, despite how difficult it would be. Thank you for always being the one person
I could talk to about the difficulties and challenges that I faced while pursuing my dream.
To my mother, the words thank you do not even begin to express the gratitude I feel for
you. My entire degree path is thanks to you and the love of literature that you inspired in me as a
child. You are the person that read me fairy tales and called me “princess.” You are the one who
taught me that I could live 1000 lives through pages and ink. Thank you for being the person I
could cry to and who never failed to remind me that I am enough. As Strickland Gillian said,
“richer than I, you can never be. I had a mother who read to me.”
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Finally, I need to thank my two best friends. Whitney and Tess, you are the two people
that I could go to when I doubted myself. In the moments that I felt hopeless, it was to the two of
you that I always turned. Whitney, we have been best friends for eighteen years, and I would
literally be lost without your kindness. Tess, believe it or not, we have been best friends for eight
years now, and it is your strength and sincerity that has gotten me through some of the darkest
moments of my life. To both of you, thank you for always being there for me in a way that no
one else ever could be. Most importantly, thank you for keeping me grounded and reminding me
to take a break and have fun—even when I may not have wanted to. I love you two.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................2
DEDICATION.................................................................................................................................4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................8
Part One: Fairy Tales ..................................................................................................................8
History ......................................................................................................................................8
Scholarship .............................................................................................................................12
Part Two: The Monstrous Bridegroom ......................................................................................17
History ....................................................................................................................................17
Scholarship .............................................................................................................................20
Final Thoughts ...........................................................................................................................22
CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................................................24
Mademoiselle de Villeneuve’s La Belle et la Bête (1740) ........................................................25
Mademoiselle de Beaumont’s La Belle et la Bête (1756) .........................................................34
CHAPTER 3 .................................................................................................................................42
“A Court of Thorns and Roses” .................................................................................................42
“A Court of Mist and Fury” .......................................................................................................55
Final Thoughts ..........................................................................................................................64
CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................66
WORKS CITED ...........................................................................................................................68
VITA .............................................................................................................................................74
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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Part One: Fairy Tales
History
Fairy tales have been around for centuries as a means of conveying social morae of a
particular culture to young listeners or readers. These tales are full of acts of bravery and
chivalry, magic and mystery, true love and terrifying villains, and have a way of making any
person feel a little magical themselves. They have been remade and retold through every form of
media, and despite the base tale’s age, never lose cultural relevance. One of the most beloved and
reproduced fairy tales is that of Beauty and the Beast, a tale of a young woman’s journey through
filial, platonic, and romantic love. It is a tale that holds significant cultural relevance, even into
modern times, but before one can delve into the complexities and relevance of this story, one
must first have a thorough understanding of what constitutes a fairy tale in general and the
underlying structure of this story pattern.
To fully understand what is meant when one uses the term fairy tale, one must consider
the specific traits that define the literary genre. To do that, however, an understanding of the
tale’s origins must first be explored. Many people are confused at where the border between fairy
tale and myth arises, and it is no wonder why as the genres do share many supernatural or
fantastic elements. Like myth, fairy tales have their earliest origins in oral tales shared around
hearths with the intention of delivering social and cultural morae to the listeners, known as oral
wonder tales. Perhaps the biggest factor that separates myths and fairy tales is their cultural use.
Myths were composed and used inside of a religious context, while fairy tales and wonder tales
were not. There is a tendency inside mythology for plots to focus on the story of a heroic
protagonist or tragic heroine. Though these character stereotypes are often inside fairy tales as
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well, the quick moral message inside a fairy tale reaches some sort of climax wherein a true
resolution is achieved, be it good or bad. In his book Simple Forms, André Jolles states that fairy
tales, “convey an entire chain of events, a chain definitely completed only at its end; and no
longer strives to represent this chain of events so as to give us the impression of an actual
occurrence—instead [they] continually work with the marvelous” (187). Fairy tale characters
most often are shallow representations and stereotypes used to drive a plot forward. Readers will
rarely get much, if any, information on character history beyond perhaps a brief mention at the
beginning of the tale. Fairy tales offer a quick delivery of moral messages, and as such, do not
tend to devote time to explaining the thought processes of the protagonists—even less so the
villains. Myths often boast long, intricate storylines whereas fairy tales are typically relatively
short. On the distinction between these two genres, Marie-Louise Von Franz states: Fairy tales
are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes… They
represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest, and most concise form… In myths or legends,
or any more elaborate mythological material, we get the basic patterns of the human psyche
through an overlay of cultural material. But in fairy tales there is a much less specific conscious
cultural material, and therefore they mirror the basic patterns of the psyche more clearly
(1).
Psychic processes, as mentioned above, are the ways in which the human mind tries to achieve a
desired outcome. If one considers the fact that most scholars have agreed that oral wonder tales
were composed with the intent to inform as well as entertain, it follows that fairy tales offer a
glimpse of the concerns weighing an on the human consciousness throughout the ages. It is
important to recognize that fairy tales are defined by similar motifs and patterns echoed across
the tales, and that despite geographical distance, tales sharing the same motifs can be found from
10
all over the world dating back throughout history. For instance, the tale motif 425C, the Animal
Bride (Groom), can be seen in fairy tales from all over the world. The German rendition: Frog
King, the Italian: The Pig King, the Japanese: Urashima the Fisherman, and, of course, the
French: Beauty and the Beast to name a few of the most well-known stories of this motif. The
universality of this motif is not unique to 425C, however. Most all fairy tales fit under one or
more of these motifs and similarly can be found in many cultures around the world. Though the
characters, overt plots, and depicted outcomes were different depending on where the individual
tales originated, they shared motifs, patterns, and messages that are universally ingrained in the
human consciousness, obeying one’s parents or warning against being selfish.
Fairy tales’ initial purpose must also be examined if one is to understand the differences
between other, admittedly similar, descendants of the oral wonder tale. In his article “The
Meaning of Fairy Tale within the Evolution of Culture” Jack Zipes states:
The form and contents of the fairy tale were not exactly what they are today, for as
a simple, imaginative oral tale that contained magical and miraculous elements
and was related to the belief systems, values, rites, and experiences of pagan
peoples, the fairy tale, also known as the wonder or magic tale, underwent
numerous transformations before the invention of print led to the production of
fixed texts and conventions of telling and reading. (221)
Unlike the other oral tale traditions, fairy tales composed after the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries
were designed for children. These tales, though often gruesome or dark in a way in which one
would not expect stories composed for children to be, were a means of adults passing on coded
lessons about how to live a successful life. Delivered to children through stories filled with
magic and bold princes were lessons of cultural mores wherein the fulfillment of these rules was
11
required for the tale to reach a successful conclusion. Conversely, the tales could also carry
warnings of what could happen to a child if they strayed and broke their culture’s specific moral
and ethical rules. In stories such as Little Red Cap, for instance, young girls are cautioned against
walking alone in the woods and the dangers of talking to unknown men when unaccompanied. In
Briar Rose, young boys are taught that if they are brave and gallant, they will be rewarded with a
beautiful wife and easy life.
Another aspect of these tales that must be considered was their use in assuaging fears and
instilling hope in those that listened to, and told, them. Many fairy tales follow a basic pattern
wherein the protagonist faces extreme hardship and must overcome the obstacles to reach a
happy conclusion. In Cinderella, readers see a protagonist that has lost both members of her
biological family and is left in the cruel hands of her stepmother. Despite the cruelty of her
adopted family, Cinderella is kind, hardworking, and accepts her lot in life. Tales of this sort
offered those that listened to them the hope that they may one day, through kindness and
diligence, reach a similar happy resolution, even without a sudden ascension to royalty.
As time passed and these tales moved from oral to written transmission, their moral and
cultural lessons remained. The more popular tales have been retold and reimagined countless
times in every form of media and literature that one can fathom: from poems and novels to
movies and television ads. These tales still hold a sway over modern audiences in a way that is
unique to the genre. Franchises such as Disney continually profit off the recreation of these tales,
admittedly in a much more child friendly way than the original tales were intended. Regardless
of the medium in which they are reimagined, these tales continue to give audiences a glimpse
into the magical while delivering evolving social and cultural lessons in the way that only these
tales can.
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One of the most important aspects to understanding the fairy tale genre, is its use of
magic as an important means of driving the narrative forward. In fairy tales, it is not unusual or
surprising to meet supernatural creatures such as fae, goblins, or beings that use magic, such as
witches or sorcerers. The function of magic inside fairy tale narratives is varied and multifaceted;
it can be a source of good or evil, sometimes both, and often is the underlying force that causes
the events of the storyline to begin. In Why Fairy Tales Matter, Maria Tatar argues,
“[fairy tales] enable us to explore the ‘might be, could have been, perhaps will be… In the
enchanted world of fairy tale, anything can happen, and what happens is often so startling,
magical, and unreal that it often produces a jolt” (56). For instance, before the narrative of
Beauty and the Beast begins, it is the transformation of the Prince into a beast that causes the
need for Beauty to break the curse. If the Prince had never been cursed by evil fairy, there would
have been no need for Beauty to leave her father’s home or to develop a companionship with
Beast, but because the spell was cast, the characters are able to complete the events in the story.
Though the magical elements of fairy tales are often one of the primary reasons that many people
discount this genre as childish or silly, in must be recognized that magic is an intrinsic part of the
genre.
Scholarship
Though scholars have been unable to pinpoint directly to the moment when the fairy tale
genre first came to be as we define it now, writers began publishing collections of fairy tales
from the sixteenth century onwards. Though there are records of similar tales, this similarity
based on the motifs inside them, dating as far back as human writing, significant scholarship on
the genre did not begin until the eighteenth century (Von Franz 4). This lack of earlier
scholarship is due to the fact that fairy tales as a genre are often overlooked or disregarded as
13
simple children or fantasy tales. Their use of supernatural elements and other stylistic choices has
caused them in the past to be seen as irrelevant fluff literature that does not have a need to be
examined further.
The first true scholarship done on the fairy tale genre was most focused in tracing the
motifs inside each individual tale. To understand the importance of the early scholarship applied
the genre, one must first comprehend what the term motif refers to. A motif inside a folk or fairy
tale refers to a common characteristic or pattern inside a story. Some examples of a motif inside a
fairy tale are that of the Monster Bridegroom and the Reluctant Bride. Some of the most
wellknown tales included under these particular motifs are Beauty and the Beast and Bluebeard’s
Wife. It is important to note that while many fairy tale motifs are ubiquitous, the individual
stories in which they are encased vary depending on the culture and location from which they
came. Many different stories are grouped under each motif heading, and many of the stories
include multiple motifs inside the narrative.
Antti Aarne was responsible for the first index of folk lore and fairy tales based off the
motifs inside the individual tales. Aarne’s book The Types of Folk-Tale delved into and explored
common motifs found in European folk and fairy tales. His research was limited, however, to a
small portion of Europe, and failed to encompass tales from around the world. Aarne’s index was
expanded for the first time by Stith Thompson, to encompass folk lore motifs from Asia and
wider Europe, but it was not until Thompson released his book that the study of folk and fairy
tales would truly be forever altered. The Motif-Index of Folk Literature listed thousands of
different folk and fairy tale motifs, and was, until 2004, the most comprehensive index available.
Hans-Jorg Uther was the last folklorist to expand the index, which became known after its final
expansion as the Aarne Thompson Uther Index or the ATU, to truly include tales and motifs from
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all over the world. By studying these motifs, scholars have been able to trace the tale types
around the world and offer insight into the ways that oral traditions spread.
Bruno Bettelheim approached the study of fairy tales strictly on their use as tools in
teaching children specific lessons to be naturally accepted inside their culture. In the second half
of the twentieth-century, Bettelheim began delving into the study of fairy tales and their uses in
society. His research primarily looks into the psychological aspects of fairy tales built off the
motif index inside the ATU and based around Freud’s psychoanalytic principles. He focused on a
therapeutic value for children and that fairy tales were a means by which they could achieve
understanding of the world around them. In the introduction to Bettelheim’s The Uses of
Enchantment, he states:
By dealing with universal human problems, particularly those which preoccupy
the child’s mind, these stories speak to his budding ego and encourage its
development, while at the same time relieving preconscious and unconscious
pressures. As the stories unfold, they give conscious credence and body to id
pressures and show ways to satisfy these that are in line with ego and superego
requirements (6).
This view of fairy tales being a form of meeting children’s psychological needs is important
when analyzing fairy tales as Bettelheim’s conclusions were what once again began to bring the
genre back into prevalence. This makes the analysis of fairy tales particularly interesting then,
because before one can determine what specific psychological need each tale meets, one must
examine the culture, time period, and socio-political climate that was prevalent at the time of
each tale’s composition. One psychological need that must be met by children in some fairy
tales, Bettelheim asserts, is overcoming the fear of maturity as it leads to sexual intercourse.
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Freud emphasizes in his research that humans must overcome hardships in order to achieve
meaning in their lives, and Bettelheim argues that fairy tales, unlike modern day children’s tales,
allow young audiences to do just that by presenting fantastic obstacles overcome by the
persistence of the protagonists. He argues that by presenting, often, mundane obstacles in
fantastical situations, children are easier able to process the lessons and mores of the tales.
Jack Zipes’ approach to finding meaning inside fairy tales begins by tracing the oral
history of wonder tales to the later, written literary history of the genre. He has a particular focus
on those who are telling the story and has speculation as to why fairy tales are not treated with
greater literary significance. In his essay Cross-Cultural Connections and the Contamination of
the Classical Fairy Tale he argues that one of the reasons that fairy tales have already been
disregarded is because during the premodern era, there was a movement to “feminize” the genre,
as a way of discrediting the tale. He posits that that is why so many collections are introduced by
a female teller, such as Mother Goose. Perhaps his most interesting argument is that humans
consistently attempt to make their lives like fairy tales, with some sort of desired happy end. This
is an understandable leap as the ubiquitous nature of fairy tales and their motifs are shown
repeatedly. In the conclusion of his essay, Zipes states:
The metaphorical manner of our speech communication and modes in which we
reflect upon ourselves incorporate fairy tale lore as we frequently seek to make
our lives like fairy tales. Though we do not realize it, we bring ourselves closer to
people from many different cultures through the cross-cultural connections of the
tales, even though we endow them with our own specific individual and cultural
meanings as we appropriate them (868-69).
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Zipes focus on the influence of culture and self on fairy tales and their meaning is important
because it forces one to consider how large of a role those factors play in human’s interpretation
of the world around them. Humans influence and are directly influenced by the culture and
society in which they were raised. Zipes argues that one of the fairy tale genre’s greatest assets is
that a tale could be composed in one country for a specific audience, but still resonate with
audiences across the world as they are able to put their personal and cultural meanings behind
them. Following Zipes’ thinking, this universal relatability is one of the defining feature of fairy
tales and one of the primary reason that these tales are reproduced across all types of media.
One of the most important lenses through which one might study fairy tales is undoubtedly
gender, as the character archetypes inside fairy tales are almost always gendered specifically to
each role inside the story. Male and female characters inside this genre are required to fit inside
specific archetypes so that a specific ending can be reached. The hero inside these tales is, very
often, a young, dashing prince rife with vitality and boldness, rushing to overcome obstacles and
claim his beautiful, submissive bride. Women’s roles inside these tales are much more confined,
often becoming nothing more than an object inside the tale that the action happens to not by. One
feminist scholar, Lisa Retti, argues that,
Investigating fairy tales in terms of subject/object positions opens a way of
understanding them as a powerful social force and a cultural practice; at the same
time it makes it clear how gender identities and relations are constituted,
reproduced, and maintained, and how new dimensions of gender might be created
(182).
Retti goes on to argue that all characters inside fairy tales must fit inside specific patriarchal,
heterosexual roles with a clear hierarchy of power in order for tales to reach a successful
17
conclusion. If a female character is bold or sexually aware she becomes a witch or a hag that
entrances or eats the innocent male hero. Similarly, if the prince is weak or timid, he will not be
able to successfully perform the action needed to reach the desired outcome. Thus,
Retti argues, characters inside fairy tales are stuck in restricting, gendered roles wherein specific
conditions must be met for the character to reach a satisfactory resolution.
Scholarship in the fairy tale genre has been widespread and varied since the eighteenth
century, but one aspect that has never fully been explored is the genre’s universality. The same
motifs can be reimagined with an entirely new plot, only keeping the basest elements of the tale,
but still be recognized as fitting under that motif. Consider all the variations of Cinderella
narratives that appear in mainstream media every year. While the plots, characters, and
resolutions may all be different, each iteration is still easily recognizable as fitting into under the
motif of Cinderella. One thing certainly cannot be denied those who have researched the genre
extensively cannot argue that these tales have a way of reaching into one’s soul and laying bare
their deepest fears or dearest wishes.
Part Two: The Monstrous Bridegroom
History
The fairy tale motif of the monster bridegroom is one of the most popular fairy tale
patterns throughout history and into modern times. Regardless of how thoroughly culture and
society has changed and evolved since the first version inside this tale type was recorded and
published, these stories still continue to resonate with modern audiences. The monster
bridegroom is a tale type that has been consistently reinterpreted and reimagined throughout
history and, despite following the same underlying pattern, reflects society’s changing morals
and value systems.
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The monster bridegroom is a theme that has received extensive study due to its important
cultural implications. There have been many differing versions published through the years, with
the first iteration of the monster bridegroom in the tale of Cupid and Psyche dating back to
around the second century. In this version of the tale, Psyche (Beauty) breaks her word not to
look at her lover, Eros (Beast), and due to the violation, she is forced to search for him to prove
her love. Though this is not the version of the tale that is most often reproduced, though it is still
done, it sets the foundation and standards under which all tales of this type are subject to,
regardless of the changes made to the plot.
Though there are multiple versions of the monster bridegroom motif, perhaps the most
well-known variant of the tale is the one that emerged out of France in the eighteenth century.
ATU 425C is a motif in which a young girl, due to a violation, typically by her father, is forced to
forfeit her life with her family and come live with beastly male character in a faraway, enchanted
castle. This specific tale type is better known as The Beauty and the Beast and is one of the most
beloved children’s fairy tales. On the prevalence of this motif, Bruno Bettelheim states, “This
motif is so popular worldwide that probably no other fairy-tale theme has so many variations”
(283). It must be noted that gender plays an integral role in this motif. Every aspect of this story,
from the character’s names to the actions and behaviors they are permitted to perform are reliant
on gender roles and stereotypes. Beauty is typically portrayed as kind, submissive, and self-
sacrificing, highlighting what was seen as desirable characteristics in young women at the time
of the story’s conception. Conversely, Beast, though not outwardly handsome due to some sort of
curse or enchantment, exhibits society’s view of preferrable masculine traits.
It must be stated here, that in this specific version of the tale, Beauty did not fall in love with
19
Beast until after his transformation into a handsome prince. Until that point, her acquiescence of
Beast’s marriage proposal is simply out of pity and kindness. These stereotypes form the basis of
which this tale is built off of and reflect the changing views towards gender roles in society each
time it is reproduced.
Throughout the twentieth century, there were many film and tv adaptations of ATU 425C,
and in 1991, Disney released an animated film that was an instantly beloved take on this classic
tale. Disney’s release of the film, both in 1991 and 2017, must be mentioned when discussing
this motif’s history and prevalence, as it is often the first exposure to the tale that children in
modern times have. Though changes were made to the original story in the 1991 film, such as the
addition of the character Gaston as the romantic rival of Beast, much of the underlying story was
kept the same. Marina Warner argues, “the vindication of the Beast has become the chief
objective; the true lovableness of the good Beast the main theme. The Disney cartoon has double
knotted the lesson in contemporary ecological and sexual politics, by introducing a second beast,
another suitor for Belle’s love” (316). The introduction of Gaston as the contrast to Beast’s
maleness in the film is used to further reinforce Beast as the ideal lover and man inside the
narrative. Gaston represents the direct opposite to Beast. One of the most significant changes that
must be mentioned, is the shift towards romance in the Disney films that the original tale did not
have. The shift in the importance of romance in marriage is characteristic of the ways in which
fairy tales must adapt and change to be accepted in modern culture.
The correlation between the romance genre and that of fairy tales must also be must be
considered. Critics have long argued that the romance genre is similar to the fairy tale genre in
many ways, specifically in its use of gender roles to formulate the narrative. On the similarities
between the genres, Linda Lee argues, “both are highly formulaic; invoke a fantasy realm; focus
20
on the creation or reconciliation of a romantic pair; exist in an infinite variation of texts that fall
into distinct types; and are often dismissed as being ‘trivial’” (52). These similarities are only
heightened inside fantasy romance, such as A Court of Thorns and Roses where characters are
put through magical trials and tribulations before the happily ever after is reached.
Scholarship and Theory on The Monster Bridegroom
Considering the popularity and prevalence of this motif, it is no wonder that criticism on
tale type 425C abounds. This pattern is consistently repeated, and it calls one to wonder what
specifically it is about this tale that captures readers’ imaginations time and time again across
generations.
Bruno Bettelheim, as mentioned in an earlier section of this chapter, focuses on the
therapeutic and useful aspects of fairy tales with children. In his book The Uses of Enchantment
Bettelheim argues that the tale of Beauty and the Beast actually has two transformations inside it:
that of the beast back to a handsome prince and of the young female transitioning from the world
of childhood into adulthood with an acceptance of sex and desire. He posits that this fairy tale’s
value was that of demystifying and decoding sex and desire to ease the fear of young women
who had been taught to repress those urges throughout childhood. This motif then becomes a tale
of maturing not only mentally, but physically and sexually as well. Bettelheim stresses the
importance of the beast being in some sort of animal form, as he states that animals often
represent human emotions and by turning him into a scary or repulsive animal, who is the
manifestation of Beauty’s fear of sex and desire. Bettelheim continues by arguing that Beauty’s
maturity is complete when she transfers an oedipal love for her father, as expressed by her
willingness to sacrifice herself for him, to Beast.
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Marina Warner, however, focuses more on stigmas of marriage itself, such as having to
leave one’s family for a marriage that she, in historical times, often did not get to pick herself, as
well as the cultural expectations of how these characters should act. Warner also focuses on the
way that society’s perceptions had a hand in the crafting of these stories. In her book From the
Beast to the Blonde, she argues that “the fairy tale emerges in its modern form, as an instrument
of social adaptation, spoken and circulated by women to cast themselves as civilizers in the
tabooed terrain of sexuality, turning predatory men into moderate consorts” (294). Warner
emphasizes the fact that, just as at the beginning of the tale young women were routinely given
away to men who were often no more than strangers, by their fathers. As such, Beauty’s
submissiveness and willingness to be given to the beast on her father’s orders were a means of
propagating these characteristics to the tales tellers, listeners, and readers. Warner also makes it
clear that those who compiled fairy tales, such as the Grimm Brothers, and those that published
them, made a concerted effort to specifically edit and publish tales that portrayed female
characters as just that: submissive, meek, and beholden to her father, and eventually, her lover.
Warner also emphasizes beast’s position inside the story in that he is the representation of
what it means to be a man. In fact, when compared to animal bride stories of which there are a
few, men as animals are most always portrayed as gruff and Beauty’s acceptance of the harsher
points of his character is what eventually allows the characters to reach a satisfactory resolution.
Warner continues her argument by highlighting the fact that, especially in the Disney versions of
the tale, Beast has been portrayed increasingly often in a cute manner, which puts the change on
Beauty. She must overcome her previous view of Beast, see past his unattractive looks, to the
good person beneath. Warner posits that this change in the perception of Beast is remniscent of
how modern-day culture’s value systems have changed since the time of the tale’s inception.
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Beauty and the Beast is an internationally beloved fairy tale that will always inspire
rewritings and reinterpretations. While the current scholarship on ATU 425C examines the motifs
and stories from several different perspectives, it fails to recognize the ways that the portrayal of
gender roles has changed in modern iterations of the story. The way that authors portray Beauty
and Beast inside reinventions of the tale reflects changing morals in modern society in the
expectations of the male and female genders. Highlighting the changes in gender expectations
across centuries and publications will allow one to grasp the ways in which modern society
views gender and the expectations thereof.
Final Thoughts
In June of 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned the Roe V. Wade ruling in
which women’s rights to safe, professional abortions was taken away. This overturn allows
abortion laws and procedures to be handled on a state-by-state level, and since this went into
effect, many states have heavily restricted women’s rights. Many states have, at this point, began
enacting laws to criminalize not only women for having abortions, but also medical professionals
as well for an array of charges. Nina Sun explains:
More states are likely to enact similar restrictions—model legislation from the
anti-abortion movement explicitly relies on criminal penalties to restrict access to
abortion calling for criminalization of individuals who provide guidance on
selfadministered abortions or any other method of obtaining an abortion, as well
as for “aiding and abetting” a woman in obtaining the procedure. Criminalizing
abortion is in addition to other instances where women are criminalized and
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prosecuted for pregnancy outcomes, including charges brought under
manslaughter, homicide and “chemical endangerment” laws.
Women are, at this point in history, watching their rights become more and more restricted in a
way that is both familiar and terrifying. The fact that women’s rights are being taken away is
only emphasized when one considers that many states have indeed gone on to pass legislation in
which women can be criminally prosecuted for not carrying a pregnancy to term—even in
situations of miscarriages. Just as Beauty and Feyre see in their stories, women in the twenty first
century are once again becoming beholden to patriarchal desires and expectations for female
bodies due to fear of prosecution.
In the next chapter, I will examine the two eighteenth century versions of the text, as they
are paramount in understanding the initial purposes of the story as well as the way that those
purposes have changed in the years since. In the third chapter, I will be focusing on a twenty first
century retelling, the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I have chosen to focus on the
twentyfirst century retelling and not the Disney iterations that most children are first exposed to
because women’s right to bodily autonomy is at a crisis point in a way that it has not been since
the early parts of the twentieth century. Though many aspects of women’s role in society has
changed greatly since the original tales were published, the Beauty and the Beast tale type is still
a vehicle in which women can talk about their fears, concerns, and problems while living in a
patriarchal society.
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CHAPTER 2. “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST”
When modern readers think of the tale Beauty and the Beast, most imagine enchanted
castles, singing magical servants, and a sweet romance wherein true love overcomes seemingly
impossible obstacles. While an enchanting and heartwarming message, this narrative is relatively
removed from the original publications of the tale. Two versions emerged out of Europe in the
eighteenth century and are often credited with this tale’s enduring popularity both in print and on
the screen. Though both versions of this tale came out of a brief period of time, less than twenty
years, and carry nearly identical central plots, they are vastly different in form but not in
function. It is the combination of these two versions that has emerged in later centuries as the
canonical version of this tale, as opposed to the many other variants of the motif that can be seen
worldwide. But what is it about these two tales that have caused their amalgamation to become
so firmly rooted in modern audience’s collective consciousness? There is no single answer to
explain this tale’s prevalence through modern times, but it cannot be denied that this is one of the
most beloved and recreated fairy tales of all times.
Both of the eighteenth-century variants were written by French female authors for
younger female readers. Though they, as stated earlier, share the same basic plot, that of a
beautiful daughter given to a cursed prince to save her father and the beast is, upon their
engagement, revealed to be a prince, most other aspects of these two stories are different. One
certain way to highlight the plethora of changes between these two versions is the page count of
each story. The original publication boasted a length of 131 pages, whereas the version published
less than twenty years later had been reduced to a mere nine pages. This is a significant reduction
from the original publication that deserves a thorough examination as a means to understand the
changing values and desired moral messages of the eighteenth century.
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Mademoiselle de Villeneuve’s La Belle et la Bête (1740)
The first variation of the tale was published in 1740 by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot Gallon,
better known as Mademoiselle de Villeneuve. De Villeneuve was born into a prominent family,
and married into nobility, but separated from her husband shortly after and found work to support
herself as a governess. Her fall from nobility to working class as a governess no doubt influenced
her in her writing of the tale as it focuses on the importance of finding a good marriage but
considers class and other social values that most fairy tales do not include. It is imperative to
note that Mme de Villeneuve authored this text specifically for a female audience, most directly
the young women under her tutelage in her role as a governess.
De Villeneuve’s tale, similar to other versions of the tale, begins in Beauty’s home where
readers can see the complex relationship between her and her family. Readers are told in the
exposition of the tale that Beauty’s father was an extremely wealthy merchant, who due to
unfortunate circumstances, lost the family’s fortune causing them to fall into a state of near
destitution. The action in the narrative begins when the father believes he may be able to reclaim
part of his fortune. The journey to reclaim the fortune is long, unsuccessful, and culminates with
Beauty’s father making a deal in which Beauty is given to Beast to save the father’s life. While
staying at the castle, Beauty is waited on by mysterious servants who cater to her every wish, and
at night she is visited in her dreams by an incredibly handsome prince, with whom she falls in
love. Throughout the day, Beast visits her and every night after dinner, he asks the young woman
to marry him, though he is repeatedly denied. After weeks of near isolation other than Beast’s
company, Beauty is desperate and lonely and wishes to visit her family. Beast agrees to her
request with the caveat being that Beauty must return after a specified period of time; explicitly
stating that if she is late, he will die. Beauty, of course, agrees and leaves to see her family, but
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forgets the promise she made to Beast. When she eventually returns, Beauty finds Beast almost
dead and pours water on his face. This revives him and she agrees to marry him to prevent the
situation from ever happening again. After their first night together, when they wake, Beast has
transformed into the handsome prince who had visited Beauty in her dreams. It is at this point in
the narrative that Beast’s mother as well as the evil fairy that cursed him appear and further
complicate the story. Here the text splinters and delves into the background of the Beast, the evil
fairy, and Beauty herself, bringing up issues of class and propriety.
When analyzing de Villeneuve’s version of the tale, one cannot help but notice the many
ways in which it strays from the almost formulaic patterns of the fairy tale genre. The first
difference one may notice when they pick up a copy of this tale is its extreme length when
compared to other narratives inside the genre. As stated earlier, most fairy tales are short, concise
moral messages designed to have the ability to be delivered orally. De Villeneuve’s tale is a long,
detailed narrative in which she delves deeply into the past of her characters, arguably removing
some of the magic from the tale. La Belle et la Bête is broken up into ten chapters wherein
different plotlines and backstories are explained in great detail, which is rather unprecedented
when looking at other fairy tales. In her analysis of Beauty and the Beast, Maria Warner states,
“the story encrypts the corrupt and vicious intrigues of court life, of fortune-hunting and
marriage-brokering, pandering and lust in the eighteenth century, and, like so many of the first
literary fairy tales, campaigns for marriage of true minds” (290). De Villeneuve’s personal
history must be considered when one examines this tale as her experiences clearly influenced the
direction and outcome of the tale. Fairy tales most often stick to one single narrative inside the
story, whereas de Villeneuve’s tale intricately weaves multiple storylines together to form a
complete picture of her characters. Despite the tale’s immediate success after its publication, it
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has hardly ever been reprinted without serious cuts and revisions of de Villeneuve’s original tale.
Readers cannot argue that Beauty and the Beast deals directly with marriage and the complex
dichotomy between consent and forced union. If one considers the historical context in which de
Villeneuve’s tale was composed, young women rarely were rarely given any agency in
determining their future and were often, for lack of a better term, sold into marriage by their
fathers. Though Beast stresses in the tale that Beauty must consent to be given to him, one needs
to note that Beauty’s acceptance of her situation is what would have been expected of daughters
at the time. Warner argues, “the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast assumed a female audience on
the whole who fully expected to be given away by their fathers to men who might well strike
them as monsters” (278). It was exceedingly rare at the time of the tale’s conception for
marriages to be based on romance or romantic feelings, and this tale echoed the societal norms
that young women of the time could expect from their lives. To take this observation farther, in
her publication of the tale, de Villeneuve emphasizes the importance of finding friendship or
acceptance inside a marriage. Of Beast’s continued marriage proposals, Beauty’s father advises:
You should not take counsel from your eyes alone. You have been unceasingly exhorted to let
yourself be guided by gratitude. By following these inspirations you are sure to be happy…
Therefore, the next time that the Beast asks you to marry him, I advise you not to refuse him… It
is much better to have an amiable
husband than one whose only recommendation is a handsome person. (58) This portion of
the text is invaluable when determining the message that de Villeneuve was trying to instill into
her young readers. As it was the societal norm at the time for marriage to be a business
transaction wherein young women were given to often much older men, de Villeneuve preaches
acceptance and gratitude for kindness and comfort. This view of marriage and relationships is a
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foreign concept to modern readers as the cultural function of marriage has shifted since La Belle
et la Bête’s first publication to one of romantic companionship. Though Beast does change into a
handsome prince, this tale was, essentially, written to warn young women against expecting
romantic love with or sexual attraction to the husbands they would be commanded to marry.
If this tale’s function was, at the time of original composition, to work as a warning
against expectations of romance in marriage, the role and actions of de Villeneuve’s Beauty
inside the narrative must be examined. It must be understood that Beauty consented to go to live
with Beast after she was asked by her father as part of a deal to save his life and guarantee his
safety and freedom from the Beast. Though this, at first glance, seems like Beauty has some level
of agency, in reality her agreement was a direct response to and acceptance of society’s imposed
female duties. Beauty is quick to sacrifice her life and desires for the benefit of those around her,
a trend that is repeatedly seen throughout the narrative. Her easy agreement is what would have
been expected of young women in the eighteenth century, especially when one considers the fact
that most marriages of the time were in order to achieve or maintain status or wealth. In fact, she
is consistently reminded throughout the narrative to be happy with the situation she had been put
in, grateful towards the Beast, and obedient towards her father. The text’s insistence on
obedience must be noted, as it is one of Beauty’s defining characteristics and one of the reasons
this character is able to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Fairy tales are essentially formulaic in
that in order to achieve a happy ending all characters must meet specific requirements. For this
tale: Beauty must be kind and self-sacrificing and Beast must be generous and compassionate.
De Villeneuve’s Beauty is unique among other early representations of the character, in
that she is actually in love with someone other than Beast throughout the majority of the
narrative. In La Belle et la Bête, Beauty is visited in her dreams at night by two figures, with
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whom she forms an immediate companionship. The first is an extremely handsome, well-spoken
man; the second is a beautiful lady who often gives her advice on how to attain happiness. On
one such visit, the Lady counsels, “courage, Beauty, be a model of female generosity: show
yourself to be as wise as you are charming. Do not hesitate to sacrifice your inclination to your
duty” (50). One is forced to wonder what the Lady means when she speaks of female generosity.
This line feels as if de Villeneuve is speaking directly to her audience in this moment. She
overtly advises her young female readers to drop their expectations and desires and accept
whatever they have been given in life. Beauty is repeatedly coached to be grateful to Beast, and
to forget her feelings towards the man in her dreams in favor of Beast to whom she is beholden
for her comfort.
During the same dream in which the Lady gives her the above advice, the Unknown
begins attacking the Beast. He states that the creature is an obstacle to his happiness and that
Beauty now loves Beast because she tries to protect him. Beauty replies, “I love you more than
my life, but this tender affection does not stifle my gratitude. I owe everything to the Beast, and I
would die sooner than endure seeing you do him the slightest injury” (50). Though Beauty, at
this point, has not agreed to marry Beast, readers can already see her beginning to acquiesce to
societal expectations and sacrifice romance and desire for gratitude. It is imperative to note that
The Unknown is the one whom Beauty desires to be with romantically, and he is one of the main
reasons that Beauty shows any type of resistance towards marrying the Beast later into the
novella. Though she does not know it at the time the Unknown is Beast’s unenchanted form, but
to achieve her dream of being with him, she must first willingly sacrifice her desire and love of
the Unknown to the duty of marrying Beast.
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In fact, it can be argued, that Beauty’s self-sacrificing tendencies, as repeatedly evidenced
throughout the narrative, are one of the key morals that de Villeneuve was trying to impress on
her young female readers. In their essay “Good and Bad Beyond Belief,” Jerilyn
Fisher and Ellen S. Silber argue, “a woman trained to femininity is unable to say ‘I want that’;
instead, she duplicitously masks or stifles her desire for fulfillment” (129). This self-sacrificing
nature is again emphasized after the curse has been lifted and Beast’s princely identity and
appearance is revealed. At this point in the narrative, the Queen, Beast’s mother, appears and
presents the next obstacle for the young couple to overcome: class inequality. Beauty, despite
being in love with the Unknown who was revealed to be the Beast and a prince, immediately
renounces her claim to the man, and begs the good fairy not to punish the queen for objecting to
the marriage. This removal of desire as the preferred model for female behavior is repeatedly
evidenced throughout de Villeneuve’s narrative and becomes one factor on which Beauty’s
achievement of a satisfactory ending is dependent. Beauty’s ‘happily ever after’ is totally reliant
on her willingness to sacrifice her desires for the happiness of those around her.
It is impossible to discuss any version of this tale without thoroughly exploring the
portrayal of Beast, as he is the romantic counterpart of Beauty and the one on whom the magical
transformation occurs. De Villeneuve’s La Belle et la Bête is extremely uncommon among fairy
tales in its length, but perhaps even more unique is the depth to which she explores and fleshes
out her characters. In this specific version of the tale, Beast is, perhaps, explained more
thoroughly than in any other telling of the story. The entire eighth chapter delves into Beast’s
personal history, explaining how and why the curse was placed on him by the evil fairy. Beast’s
past is relatively complex and, unlike in many later versions of the story, his curse was not placed
on him due to his cruelty. It is explained in this chapter, that due to political strife, Beast’s
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mother, the Queen, had asked a fairy she was acquainted with to raise the Prince in her stead, as
she was worried he may become a target of the rival nation.
It was only after she had raised Beast to maturity that the fairy approached the the young
man with the desire to fill a different role than one would expect from someone who had been a
mother figure: a sexual partner. Though Beast does not want to accept the proposal, he is
cautious to outright defy the fairy, instead pushing the decision off to the Queen. This proves to
be a grave error, however, as the queen’s disdainful refusal on the grounds of the fairy’s
unattractiveness when compared to the Prince that proves to be the catalyst that causes the fairy
to curse the Prince into his beastly form. It must be noted that though Beast by no means wanted
to enter into an engagement with the fairy, he was never once unkind to the woman that raised
him. This is a marked difference from many of the modern versions of this tale wherein it is the
Beast’s own vanity and cruelty that is the catalyst for the malicious fairy’s enchantment of
himself and the members of his court.
After the enchantment is complete, the fairy goes on to ban the Beast from using his
intellect or conversational skills to woo his potential rescuer. She states, “I command you to
appear as stupid as you are horrible, and to remain in this state until a young and beautiful girl
shall, of her own accord, come to seek you” (De Villeneuve 91). This is the aspect of the curse
which proves to be the most difficult to overcome, as Beauty often remarks on the lack of
intellect which the Beast is forced to display in his interactions with her. It must be emphasized,
that though Beauty is repulsed by Beast’s outward appearance, the main reason she refuses his
marriage proposals, other than her feelings for the Unknown, is due to the fact that she is unable
to have meaningful conversation with him. Maria Warner states that, “the Beast’s low, animal
nature is revealed by his muteness, uncouthness, inability to meet Beauty as a social and
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intellectual equal; the valued arts of conversation and storytelling remain beyond him” (299). In
a social climate where marriage was rarely decided on romantic feelings, being able to
successfully have conversation with one’s partner would be of the utmost importance, and
Beast’s seeming lack of intelligence is Beauty’s biggest reservation to accepting the engagement.
It must be noted here that Beast’s inability to communicate with Beauty is only inside the waking
world. When he visits her dreams as the Unknown, Beast is able to use all of his princely charms
to, very successfully, woo the young woman.
The last, and perhaps most important, aspect of the Beast’s character in de Villeneuve’s
version of the tale, is the Unknown. His appearances in Beauty’s dreams becomes a major hurdle
for the couple to overcome, as Beauty is instantly taken with the Unknown’s handsomeness and
the level of conversation she is able to have with him. Upon their first meeting inside her dreams,
the Unknown says this to Beauty, “let your penetration assist you to extricate me from the
appearance which disguises me… Follow the first impulse of gratitude. Judge not by your eyes,
and, above all, abandon me not, but release me from the terrible torment which I endure” (34).
Unlike Beast, the Unknown is very clearly able to communicate eloquently with Beauty, and it is
him whom she falls in love with. Beauty believes that, like herself, the Unknown is also being
held at the Beast’s castle, and she resolves herself to find him. This becomes a major conflict for
Beauty as she cannot reconcile her feelings for the Unknown until Beast nearly dies due to her
tardiness when returning from visiting her family.
It is not until Beauty finds Beast almost dead that she is able to put aside her feelings for
the Unknown and agrees to marry the Beast. This is the point in the narrative in which Beast is
transformed back into the handsome prince that Beauty had only glimpsed in her dreams. On this
disenchantment, Bruno Bettelheim claims, “the marriage of Beauty to the former Beast is a
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symbolic expression of the healing of the pernicious break between the animal and the higher
aspect of man—a separation which is described as a sickness” (309). De Villeneuve’s Beast is the
only version of this character to have this separation so clearly represented in the narrative.
This character disrupts the entire narrative acting as a sexual and romantic rival for Beast.
Though they are, unknown to Beauty, the same person, Beauty cannot, until Beast is about to die,
relinquish her attraction and affection for the man that she encounters in her dreams. De
Villeneuve’s message here seems to be clear to her young female readers, and that is to let go of
any attraction or affection felt previously in order to achieve a satisfactory life. Young women
must accept the man that their father chose who will be able to provide her and her family the
most secure, reliable future. The disenchantment from Beast back into the form of the Unknown,
is de Villeneuve’s way of advising her young female readers that by accepting the arranged
marriages in which their fathers put them, them may find in their husbands a person with whom
they can connect mentally, emotionally, and sexually.
One more aspect of de Villeneuve’s publication must be discussed in order to fully
understand the values that she held and propagated in La Belle et la Bête: social class. After the
curse is broken, the Queen, fully supports the union of the Prince and Beauty until she realizes
that Beauty is not of noble birth. Despite the protests of her son and the good fairy who had
become her counsel after the evil fairy cursed the prince into a beast, the Queen outright denied
the marriage of Beauty. The Queen argued that though she was beautiful and good, and though
the Queen owed the lifting of the prince’s curse to Beauty, the fact that she is the daughter of a
merchant made Beauty unworthy of Beast. When the good fairy is displeased by the Queen’s
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response to Beauty and tries to defend the union of the young couple, the Queen replies: I
am very grateful to her for what she has done, but powerful spirit, I cannot refrain
from pointing out to you the incongruous mixture of that noblest blood in all the
world which runs in my son's veins with that of the obscure race from which the
person has sprung to whom you would unite him. I confess I am little gratified by
the supposed happiness of the Prince, if it must be purchased by an alliance so
degrading to us, and so unworthy of him. (76)
This is an interesting facet of de Villeneuve’s narrative, as most other versions of Beauty and the
Beast, including de Beaumont’s version published sixteen years later, remove the class issue
from the narrative. It must also be noted that when the Queen expresses her displeasure about
Beauty’s lower status, it is not Beauty who tries to persuade the Queen to agree to the union. In
fact, Beauty specifically implores the fairy not to punish the Queen for her disapproval, and
instead only asks to be returned to her father’s home. Beauty states that she is happy just to have
been able to release the Prince from his curse and return him to his people. Beauty’s
selfsacrificing tendencies are on full display again, and this issue is not resolved until the good
fairy reveals that Beauty is, in fact, a princess whom the good fairy had hidden away in a family
of commoners in order to keep her safe from rival kingdoms.
Mademoiselle Leprince de Beaumont La Belle et la Bête (1756)
Sixteen years after Mme de Villeneuve published the original version of Beauty and the
Beast, a French expatriate living in London as a governess wrote her own version. In 1756
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont published her version of La Belle et la Bête in Le Magasin
des Enfants with heavy redactions, to the point that the reader is mostly left with only the
narrative between Beauty and Beast. De Beaumont’s abridgment removes all traces of the
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Unknown, as well as greatly reduces the amount of background information readers receive on
each character. Mme de Beaumont was relatively open about the fact that she used her writings
as tools to teach the young English women under her tutelage specific moral and social lessons,
and as such the intense abridgement does seem to make sense. De Beaumont’s version skips all
of the courtly intrigue and removes questions of class inequality leaving readers with the version
of the tale that most in modern times are familiar with and which has inspired many of the
modern reimaginings, including both Disney films.
With this version of the tale being so streamlined when compared to de Villeneuve’s 1740
version, it forces one to wonder what specific elements of the story were removed, what stayed,
and, perhaps more importantly, what decided the distinction between the two. To put it simply, de
Beaumont only kept the specific moral messages that she was trying to impart on her readers. By
removing what she deemed as superfluous material, de Beaumont was able to hyperfocus on the
traits of the characters that she deemed most important. Many of the aspects which de Beaumont
removed were parts of the story such as the conflict at the end with the
Queen denying Beauty and Beast’s marriage due to class inequality and the long backstories of
all the significant characters. Beauty’s family’s financial struggles are reduced to a page worth of
text, as is Beauty’s father’s stay at Beast’s castle. Though de Beaumont kept the original cause of
Beauty going to the Beast’s castle, as payment for her father picking her a rose, this
confrontation was extremely short, and still seemed to highlight Beast’s kindness as the father
was allowed to fill a trunk with riches to take home to his family. De Beaumont immediately
establishes Beast as unattractive but kind and Beauty as kind and gentle and pushes their
narrative forward on that premise. Though both de Villeneuve and de Beaumont’s versions of
Beast were generous and kind, de Villeneuve’s Beast was much more restricted by his curse with
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the level of conversation that he could have with Beauty. Mme de Beaumont’s Beast was able to
have longer, more insightful conversations with Beauty where she is able to, much more quickly
and without interference from the Unknown, form a companionship.
Perhaps nowhere, besides the overall length, are de Beaumont’s changes to the narrative
more obvious than on that of Beauty. While de Villeneuve’s Beauty was more or less ambivalent
towards Beast throughout most of the narrative, at one point even dreading his daily appearance
to ask Beauty to marry him, de Beaumont’s Beauty forms a companionship with Beast relatively
quickly. While both versions of Beauty were calm, kind, and grateful towards their host, de
Beaumont’s version of Beauty is immediately more open and accepting of Beast than de
Villeneuve’s Beauty was. Though she is initially frightened because she thinks that he is going to
devour her as punishment for her father picking the rose, with only a moment of conversation
with him, she completely disregards this fear. Beauty states, “you are quite kind. I assure you that
I am most pleased with your kind heart. When I think of that, you no longer seem ugly to me”
(811). Beauty’s quick change of heart is the opposite reaction that de Villeneuve’s Beauty has at
Beast’s kindness, and de Beaumont uses Beauty as a model of the ways that a young woman
should approach and appreciate their arranged marriage. While de Villeneuve’s Beauty did
eventually look past outward appearances and value Beast for the person he was on the inside, it
took his near death to force Beauty to realize she held any fondness for the character at all. De
Beaumont’s Beauty almost immediately feels affection towards Beast, stating that if he would let
her go and visit her father for a week, she would return and promise to stay with him forever,
though not as romantic partners—just friends.
When Beauty returns to Beast’s castle after she has a dream that he is dying, she is in a
state of near panic when he does not appear for their nightly meeting while she has her dinner.
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This causes her to run through the palace and its grounds until she finds Beast close to death. At
this point, just as in de Villeneuve’s narrative, Beauty pours a pitcher of water over his head to
rouse Beast and promises to marry him and never leave him again. She states, “you shall live to
be my husband. From this moment on, I give you my hand and swear that I belong only to you.
Alas! I thought that I only felt friendship for you, but the torment I am feeling makes me realize
that I cannot live without you” (815). Already, when compared to de Villeneuve’s original
publication, there is a much stronger shift towards genuine compassion and affection for the
Beast. Unlike when Beauty has to sacrifice her romantic feelings for another in de Villeneuve’s
tale, de Beaumont’s Beauty has only formed a significant male connection to Beast, and as such
is easily able to transfer her feelings onto him. When Beast is transformed back into a handsome
prince, Beauty is taken aback, and it is not until he reassures her that he is indeed the beast’s true
form, does Beauty happily accept the transformed man as the one and same beast that she had
betrothed herself to.
Interestingly, one facet of de Villeneuve’s narrative that de Beaumont really focuses on
and enhances is the dynamic between Beauty and her sisters. In both versions of the tale, Beauty
had multiple, extremely jealous, sisters, and the dynamic between these young women is very
clearly displayed. In an abridgement wherein the majority of the content out of the first narrative
has been removed, why then did de Beaumont continue to reinforce this hostile relationship?
Other than the good fairy, there are no other positive female characters inside this narrative,
which is a common theme in many fairy tales. On why this is a relatively stable part of many
fairy tales from antiquity, Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen Sabir state, “the romance story, enshrined in
fairy tales, divides girls from another, from themselves, and from adult women… They must
relinquish ties to other women so that all their energies can be harnessed in preparation for the
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fiercely competitive race towards men’s approval” (130). Beauty’s sisters are removed from
many modern iterations of the tale as modern readers no longer see themselves in competition
with their female relatives. At the time of La Belle et la Bête’s conception, however, female
siblings were in direct competition to secure marriages in an often rather shallow pool of
potential suitors.
Beauty’s sisters’ jealousy does not lessen, even after she has been removed as an obstacle
in their path and they have both secured marriages, admittedly unhappy ones. On Beauty’s one
week visit to her father’s house, her sisters are so insanely jealous of Beauty’s fine clothes and
happiness, that they devise a plan to keep her at her father’s house longer than the time that she
and Beast agreed upon. The sisters hope that Beast will kill Beauty for breaking her promise and
returning to him late, perhaps a negative reaction similar to what they would expect from their
own husbands. Once Beauty returns to Beast’s castle and breaks his curse, the sisters are actually
punished for their malicious intentions which so nearly lost Beauty and Beast their happy ending.
To the sisters, the good fairy says this,
As for you, my young ladies, I know your hearts and all the malice they contain.
You shall become statues, but you shall retain your ability to think beneath the stone
that encompasses you. You shall stand at the portal of your sister’s palace, and I can
think of no better punishment to impose on you than to witness her happiness. I’ll
only allow you to return to your original shape when you recognize your faults.
(815)
In de Beaumont’s narrative, the sisters become the primary antagonist to Beast and Beauty’s
happiness, with the evil fairy that was such a big part of de Villeneuve’s narrative only
mentioned in passing. It is the ill-intentioned sisters that should bear the brunt of the punishment,
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as their jealousy almost had disastrous results. Establishing Beauty as the ideal representation of
female behavior and her sisters as the opposite, de Beaumont succinctly warns young girls of the
danger of stepping out of these roles. Fisher and Sabir continue their argument, “it is no wonder
that women and girls worry about overstepping the line demarcating feminine conduct, thus
incurring male rejection or social ostracism” (131). By the punishment that the sisters are given,
it becomes clear that the standards by which young women at the time were held to were directly
correlated to patriarchal standards and desires. Beauty achieved her happy ending due to her
obedience, gratitude, and acceptance of the life chosen for her, whereas the sisters were punished
for exhibiting unappealing traits such as ingratitude and bitterness.
De Beaumont’s Beast character is also significantly different than how he was portrayed
in de Villeneuve’s original narrative. One of the most significant changes about the character is
his conversational abilities inside the narrative. In de Villeneuve’s narrative, part of Beast’s curse
was to speak and act in an uncouth manner. This restriction seems to have been lifted from de
Beaumont’s narrative, as Beast, though he calls himself stupid, speaks very eloquently and is
quickly able to charm Beauty. Gone are de Villeneuve’s Beauty’s admonishments of how
unintelligent Beast’s character is, replaced by Beauty’s proclamations of his wit and charm.
Beauty even comes to await with excitement their nightly meetings and feels deeply saddened
every time she refuses his proposal of marriage. Though he is clearly saddened by her refusal,
Beast always accepts her refusal and does not argue or push against her decision, even when she
asks to go and visit her father.
At this point, it must be mentioned, that though he allows her to leave, he makes it very
clear that if Beauty does not return Beast has no intention of living. Beauty promises that she will
return after the length of one week to stay with Beast forever, but due to the machinations of her
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sisters, she is late. Beauty has a dream on the tenth night that she is away from Beast where the
creature lay dying in the midst of the palace gardens and admonishes her for ingratitude. When
she returns to Beast’s palace and finds him near death, Beast says, “you forgot your promise. The
grief I felt upon having lost you made me decide to die of hunger. But I shall die content since I
have the pleasure of seeing you again” (813). It is not until Beauty acquiesces and agrees to stay
with Beast irrevocably as his wife, that the creature makes a full recovery and is disenchanted
back into his handsome, human appearance. This seems to be a form of emotional punishment
for Beauty’s late return and, up to this point, reticence to marry Beast, despite everything he had
done for her. With this in mind, it is interesting to note that Beast implies that he will still die,
even though she has returned, which essentially forces Beauty to accept Beast’s proposal in order
to save his life. While Beauty does seem moderately pleased with her betrothal, and perhaps even
more so after Beast’s disenchantment, the severely manipulative manner in which the
engagement is secured must be contextualized. De Beaumont overtly warned young female
readers that failure to meet one’s imposed duties can bring about ruin and devastation.
Despite there only being sixteen years between the publications of these two versions of
La Belle et la Bête, the differences between these two texts allow readers to see what the female
authors of the eighteenth century wanted to pass on to the young women around them. De
Villeneuve’s publication feels rife with courtly intrigue and social politics, whereas de
Beaumont’s really focuses on Beauty, Beast, and her the complex relationship between female
siblings. Though both versions of this tale discussed in this chapter offer multiple examples of
preferred behavior for females, by shifting the villain role from an evil fairy to Beauty’s sisters,
de Beaumont’s warning becomes much more relevant to the domestic life of young women. In
fact, the Good Fairy closes out de Beaumont’s narrative with a concise, explicit warning to all of
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her young readers. She states, “pride, anger, gluttony, and laziness can all be corrected, but some
sort of miracle is needed to convert a wicked and envious heart” (815). Though the villain
changed, the overall message the Good Fairy warned of remained the same, but by de Beaumont
bringing the villain into the domestic, human realm, the villains were able to be aptly punished
for their maliciousness. Beauty and Beast achieved their happy endings in both tales because
they were perfect examples of societal desires and expectations.
Throughout both of the eighteenth-century iterations of the text, Beauty is essentially a
pawn inside the narrative. Beauty’s life and happy ending are completely beholden to the whims
and desires of the men that surround her. Her father and then Beast, and in the case of de
Villeneuve’s Beauty the Unknown, are the ones who get to decide what and how Beauty should
feel and respond to situations inside the narrative. Beauty has no agency inside the narrative,
except when she agrees to marry Beast, not if she agrees. In fact, it can be argued that she has no
type of bodily autonomy, because while she is never forced into a sexual relationship with Beast,
she was held captive and then emotionally manipulated into returning to the Beast’s castle. While
her return to Beast is framed as her desire to return to him, in reality, Beauty was guilted into
returning because Beast told her he would literally die if she did not return. It forces one to
wonder if Beauty would have chosen to return to the Beast if she had been able to make her own
choices. Though women in modern times do have more choices and options than Beauty, one
cannot help but parallel Beauty’s lack of agency and autonomy to the struggle women are
currently undergoing to protect their rights to bodily autonomy in the twenty-first century.
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CHAPTER 3. “A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES” SERIES
“A Court of Thorns and Roses”
In 2015, a new version of Beauty and the Beast appeared, published by Bloomsbury, and
it became an instant best seller. Readers were immediately taken by this book’s captivating
world, intense plotline, and a love story that will make one reconsider what truly is desirable
inside a romantic partnership. This reimagining of the tale changes many aspects of the story, and
reflects society’s, and women’s, evolved value systems, both inside and outside of romantic
relationships. A Court of Thorns and Roses centers on the activities and adventures of Feyre
Archeron, as she gets swept up in a romantic adventure that changes the course of her whole life.
There are three books in the first part of the series, with the Beauty and the Beast narrative fitting
comfortably into the first novel.
The story begins when Feyre kills a faerie and is forced to cross the wall that separates
mortals from the immortal realm of the fae, Prythian, as compensation for the life that she had
taken. The next book focuses on what occurs after the typical happy ending and reflects the
concerns of what playing into specific gender roles inside romantic relationships can cause.
Regardless of the tale’s fantasy setting, Feyre and Tamlin offer a new perspective into what it
means to be a heroine and a romantic interest inside modern society and the dangers that
reverting to typical gender roles can have inside those relationships. Feyre Archeron represents a
new type of heroine inside the narrative pattern of Beauty and the Beast and reflects the changing
societal expectations of the ideal woman, both on their own and in a romantic relationship. By
understanding how the representations of these characters have changed and what these
characters have to achieve to reach their happy endings since the original version of their tales
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were published, readers can more thoroughly comprehend the shift in broader society’s frame of
mind towards gender stereotypes and limitations.
Similar to the eighteenth-century versions of Beauty and the Beast, A Court of Thorns
and Roses adventure begins with the loss of her family’s fortunes already established. Unlike
those versions of Beauty, however, Feyre is unable to play the kind, submissive daughter as she
is forced to hunt to provide for her father. In fact, it is her mistaken killing of a fairy while on a
hunt that is the catalyst for her being taken away to the fae lands with the terrifying beast Tamlin.
Tamlin, unlike the eighteenth-century versions of Beast, is not stuck in his terrifying form,
however. Most of the time, he is an incredibly handsome faerie male who was been cursed to be
unable to remove a golden wolf mask. Though he and Feyre actively dislike and distrust each
other for much of the beginning of the narrative, they eventually form a close romantic
connection and begin a sexual relationship. To keep her safe, after a fairy from a rival court visits
and threatens the members of the Spring Court, Tamlin sends Feyre back to her family home
below the wall with riches in tow. It is at this point that the narrative splinters off from traditional
Beauty and the Beast narratives. When Feyre attempts to return to Tamlin, it is only to find that
he has been taken by an evil faerie queen because Feyre did not break his curse. Feyre is
overcome by guilt and love and travels to the faerie queen’s court to make a deal for Tamlin’s
freedom. Amarantha agrees that if Feyre can beat three tasks of Amarantha’s choosing or solve
her riddle, that Tamlin will be free and be able to return to the Spring Court. Despite witnessing
many horrors and brutalities while captive in Amarantha’s court, Feyre is eventually able to solve
her riddle and save everyone, though she loses her life in the process. Because all of the seven
High Lords, the most powerful faeries inside Prythian are present, they are able to save her life
and transform Feyre into high fae. The novel ends with Feyre and Tamlin returning to the Spring
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Court and an internal admission by Feyre that everything she witnessed had broken something in
her.
The second book begins a few months after Feyre and Tamlin return to the spring court,
and the dynamic between Feyre and Tamlin has changed completely. Feyre is clearly struggling
with her mental health due to the trauma of everything she witnessed while saving Tamlin.
Tamlin, on the other hand, has become possessive, controlling, and overprotective. He not only
restricts her movements around his lands, but also refuses to let her learn to defend herself or
wield the magic that she received from the High Lords when she was saved. Tamlin’s restrictions
on Feyre’s freedoms become more and more extreme and when she tries to talk to him about it
and ask for help, he explodes, nearly gravely injuring Feyre. Feyre and Tamlin’s romantic
relationship culminates when he attempts to trap her in their house using his magic when he is
leaving to go out into his lands, despite Feyre’s begging for Tamlin to take her with him.
While at first glance, A Court of Thorns and Roses may not seem to be a reimagining of
Beauty and the Beast, the parallels between the stories cannot be denied. Romance novels are
often spaces where fairy tales can be reimagined to reflect modern concerns inside formulaic
structures. These structures offer support to the new narrative though familiar patterns, while
addressing modern thought processes. It should be stated that these two genres, romance and
fairy tales, are often dismissed as trivial or foolish, due to their tendency to invoke a fantasy
realm and focus on the creation of a romantic pairing (Lee 52). If it is to be said that fairy tales
such as Beauty and the Beast were originally written by women for other young women in order
to provide insight on the mysteries of marriage and sexuality, then it only stands to reason that
modern reinterpretations of this tale, written for adult women, would reflect women’s changing
concerns inside society and romance. In the classical fairy tale structure, Jennifer Cruise Smith
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argues that “the most important aspect of [these tales] is the reason that the heroine lives happily
ever after: the fairy tale assures the reader that warmth and love are the rewards that a good
woman gets naturally. She does not have to earn the reward” (55). In the two eighteenth century
tales, Beauty is portrayed as a very passive character, but the transition of this story from fairy
tale to modern romance novel allows her to become a character that performs action, not just has
it performed on her. In order for Feyre and Tamlin to reach the desired result at the end of the
first novel, Feyre must break out of those confining gender roles and become an active
participant in the story in order to attain her happy ending. Lisa Rettl argues that, Investigating
fairy tales in terms of subject/object positions opens a way of understanding them as a powerful
social force and a cultural practice; at the same time, it makes clear how gender identities and
relations are constituted, reproduced and maintained, and how new dimensions of gender might
be created.
(182)
Though Beauty and the Beast can be framed as a tale dependent on Beauty’s choice to agree to
marry Beast; in reality, the only expectation of her as the female protagonist was that she would
eventually acquiesce to his proposal. This change to subject from object that Rettl speaks of is of
the utmost importance in understanding society’s changing belief that women must actively
pursue their romantic partners and desired life. This is evidenced, in some cases such as A Court
of Thorns and Roses, when female protagonists are the characters that are literally fighting for
their romantic counterparts, similar to the way that male heroes would have been expected to
fight for their loves. Unlike traditional renditions of Beauty and the Beast, Feyre’s actions and
mannerisms throughout firmly situate her as the subject of the story and the one who is
performing the actions necessary to drive the narrative forward. By centering Feyre as a
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developed, active participant in her story, sexually and otherwise, Beauty is changed into a
relatable, modern woman, despite the fantasy elements of the story.
It must be stated that unlike in previous versions of this tale, Feyre’s father is not the one
that enters into the deal with the beast character, Tamlin; it is Feyre’s own choice that lands her in
Prythian. Feyre changes the entire paradigm of what to expect inside this narrative, as she
immediately begins the novel actively, and though her choices are taken away at later points in
the novel, she continues to act and make choices throughout, often at great danger to herself.
Unlike in de Beaumont’s 1756 version of the tale, Feyre is an active participant inside the
narrative where actions and events not only happen to her, but where she performs the actions
and events herself. Feyre never fits into the mold of the helpless woman, desperate for the
protection and security of being with a man, but instead is the primary breadwinner inside her
family after the loss of her family’s fortune. Quite literally, it is stated repeatedly throughout the
novel, that if it was not for Feyre learning to hunt after debtors shattered her father’s leg, that her
entire family would have starved. This new paradigm inside her family immediately establishes
Feyre as different from Beauty as seen in the original publications, where she is passive and
likely incapable of sustaining her family in any other means beyond securing a beneficial
marriage. In fact, it is during one of Feyre’s many hunting trips that she kills the faerie and
begins the events of the story which cause her to be taken to Prythian.
By changing Feyre’s role inside the family to that of the sole breadwinner, her
relationship with her father is irrevocably changed. Gone is the trusting, obedient father-daughter
relationship of the past publications, and in its place is a daughter that has had to move past the
point of her father’s protection. Due to resentment that Feyre holds towards her father for being
unwilling to provide for her and her sisters, Feyre’s narrative as Beauty is immediately fractured
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and changed from the original trusting, loving relationship between the father and daughter.
Without the patriarchal family head, Feyre becomes the one who is responsible for the lives of
her sisters and her only desire is to find them marriages, with the only benefit being that there
would be two less mouths for Feyre to feed. Feyre has no romantic hopes for herself at this point
in the narrative; she simply does not want to struggle to survive any longer. The text states,
“sometimes I would even indulge in envisioning a day when my sisters were married and it was
only me and father, with enough food to go around, enough money to buy some paint, and
enough time to put those colors and shapes down on paper” (Maas 3). It is clear by this one
statement of Feyre’s that she is unlike traditional heroine from fairy tales, in that she is entirely
focused on survival and is not thinking beyond her role as the provider for her family. In fact, it
should be noted that Feyre’s father is reduced to a passive role inside this novel, as he would
have willingly let their family starve after the debtors injured his leg—a passivity that would
typically be expected of female characters inside similar narratives.
Feyre’s active role as the sole provider for her family would have been unheard of in the
eighteenth century, and Maas’s portrayal of Feyre is reflective of many modern day living
situations in which a woman is head of the household. By subverting these gender roles Feyre
immediately is set up as fundamentally different than Beauty in de Villeneuve and de
Beaumont’s iterations of the tale. Gone is the timid and meek heroine, on whom actions happen,
and in her place is a strong, fierce, angry woman who is desperate not only for her own survival
but that of her family. It must be noted here, that in both the 1740 and 1756 versions of this tale,
one of the defining characteristics of Beauty was her grace and acceptance of whatever situation
was forced upon her, a description that could not be placed on Feyre at the beginning of the
novel. It is not until Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship develops that readers start to see Feyre
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reverting back to the supposedly appropriate gender roles that one would expect from female
characters in fairy tales: that of gratitude, acceptance, and meekness.
While Feyre being taken to Prythian based on her own actions as opposed to that of her
father may at first seem like she has taken some of the power back inside the narrative, it must be
stated that in the original publications, Beauty’s consent to the arrangement was paramount. In A
Court of Thorns and Roses, Tamlin, when coming to collect Feyre, does not give any regard to
her consent, but instead says that she must come with him to Prythian in order to repay a life debt
for the killing of one of his faerie guards. The text states, “Prythian must claim your life in some
way, for the life you took from it. So as a representation of the immortal realm, I can either gut
you like swine, or… you can cross the wall and live out the remainder of your days in Prythian”
(Maas 37). While this aggressive and hostile version of the Beast is not atypical when looking at
other iterations of the story, it must be noted that Tamlin, unlike Beast, is directly hostile towards
Feyre. In previous versions of the tale, Beauty’s father was the only one to whom the Beast ever
showed any measure of hostility, but because of Feyre’s actions in killing Tamlin’s guard,
Tamlin approaches her in anger. Though Feyre does eventually agree to go into Prythian with
Tamlin, it can be argued that her agreement is not from a place of actual consent, but rather out
of fear for her life and that of the lives of her family. Tamlin directly threatens her life multiple
times and leaves her little other choice than to acquiesce and go to Prythian with him. Though
Feyre willingly walks out the door to accompany Tamlin to Prythian, it is under multiple death
threats, and is a desperate act to save her family.
To take it further, when Tamlin breaks into the decrepit cottage that the Archeron family
is living in, Feyre is the only one that actively tries to defend her family, once again taking up the
role of protector in a way that is atypical in most variations of the tale. Whereas previous version
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of Beauty had all cast the character as meek, submissive, and kind, Feyre breaks the gendered
stereotypes established by previous iterations of the tale and portrays traits and behaviors that
would typically be expected by the males in the story. It should be stated here that, unlike Beauty,
Feyre repeatedly begs Tamlin to allow her to go back to her family so that she can continue to
provide for them—in a way that she feels only she can. Though previous variations of Beauty did
eventually ask Beast to go home to see her family, her request was out of boredom or loneliness,
not out of a place of genuine concern for them. Feyre was completely consumed by worries of
her family’s safety and survival, and though Tamlin did provide her family with comfort and
wealth, Feyre was expected to simply take her abductor at his word. In her essay
Feminism and Fairy Tales, Karen Rowe argues, “today women are caught in a dialectic between
the cultural status quo and the evolving feminist movement, between a need to preserve values
and yet accommodate changing mores, between romantic fantasies and contemporary realities”
(253). Changing Feyre’s motivations inside the narrative reflects women’s developed
expectations inside society, where they are not only allowed, but encouraged, to take up an active
role inside their family and greater society.
This is a serious shift from the confining roles that women were typically kept in until
modern times. Before that, women were, as Mary Wollstonecraft claims in A Vindication of the
Rights of Women, “to be considered either as moral beings, or so weak that they must be entirely
subjected to the superior faculties of men” (512). Wollstonecraft’s eighteenth-century essay
describes perfectly the way that Beauty was represented in both de Villeneuve and de
Beaumont’s iterations of the story. Feyre breaks that mold, however, and is a representation of
Beauty that is only able to depend on herself. It is Feyre’s actions that keep her family alive,
defeats Amarantha, and saves Tamlin and the rest of Prythian.
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As Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship develops, readers see Feyre’s entire personality shift
from inquisitive and bold to meek and more submissive. Tamlin actively keeps information from
her throughout the entire narrative, and as opposed to how Feyre was when she first arrived at the
Spring Court, Tamlin’s territory in Prythian, Feyre slowly stops fighting him and allows him to
control what information she receives. The text states, “even painting couldn’t distract me until
he returned, covered in blood that wasn’t his own, sometimes in his beast form, sometimes as the
High Lord. He never gave me details, and I didn’t presume to ask about them; his safe return was
enough” (Maas 169). Up until this point, Feyre had been trying to attain important information
about the blight in Prythian, in order to send a warning to her family below the wall.
As their relationship develops, however, readers see Feyre’s character reverting to that of a
submissive, weak woman who is afraid to ask questions—or perhaps just accepts that she will
not receive answers, even if she asks. Feyre is being forced out of a role that she had always had
to fulfill, that of the active protector, to one that sits her firmly in the role of the passive
observer—the one that is being protected. To be clear, it is not the fact that Tamlin wants to
protect her that is the issue, it is that she is, again, being forced into a role that those around her
need, one that, perhaps, she would not choose for herself. It is clear from Feyre’s many questions
throughout A Court of Thorns and Roses that she is aware that there is something severely wrong
in Prythian. Though no member of the Spring Court could explain the full details of the curse to
Feyre, and Feyre is aware that they are keeping information from her, she stops trying to attain
the truth for herself. Feyre explains, “I’d stopped asking—like a stupid, useless, obedient
human” (Maas 170).
Though Tamlin is the Beast character inside the narrative, after he and Feyre’s initial
encounter in which Tamlin is transformed into a horned beast with lupine features, he appears
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humanoid in shape and is extremely handsome, possibly even what could be considered as the
ideal version of male attractiveness. Tamlin is described as High Lord of the Spring Court, an
immensely powerful faerie who rules over a large swath of land inside the faerie nation of
Prythian, and who can shapeshift at will into an amalgamation of a lion, wolf and elk. It is
important to notice the difference in the power dynamic between these two, with Tamlin being an
extremely dangerous, powerful being, and Feyre being a captive mortal woman. It is repeatedly
emphasized throughout all the novels in the series that humans have basically no chance of truly
standing up against a faerie. To take it further, it is almost immediately apparent that Tamlin
shows signs of possessiveness towards Feyre—especially in her interactions with
Lucien, one of Tamlin’s courtiers. Even though Feyre and Lucien have a clearly antagonistic
relationship with each other through a lot of the first novel, Tamlin still acts jealously and
possessively towards Feyre—going so far as to threaten Lucien. Despite the fact that Tamlin and
Feyre are not even in a romantic relationship at this point, he clearly sets boundaries as to what
type of relationships she is allowed to have with any male other than himself.
This dynamic continues between Tamlin and Feyre throughout the majority of the novel,
until the point that Tamlin is forced to send Feyre back to her family’s home for her own safety.
Immediately before this separation takes place, however, Feyre and Tamlin have sexual
intercourse, though neither party confirms their romantic feelings towards the other. It is at the
moment of her departure that Feyre realizes that she has fallen in love with Tamlin, and due to
the seeming finality of their separation she has, by all appearances, lost him forever. It is only a
short while after she joins her family again that Feyre desperately returns to the Spring Court in
order to be with the High Lord, only to find Tamlin gone and his manor wrecked. It is at this
point that Feyre finally learns the truth of everything that had been happening in Prythian and the
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truth of the Blight, which had been so carefully hidden from her through the months of her stay
at the Spring Court. Tamlin, and the rest of Prythian the high fae, had been cursed to lose most of
their power, wherein the only way out of the curse was for Tamlin to get a mortal woman, who
previously hated fae-kind, to fall in love with him and tell him. Feyre is forced at this point to
take up a role once again as an active participant in the novel in order to save Tamlin from the
evil faerie Amarantha by whom he and the rest of Prythian are being held captive. Feyre
determines, “if Amarantha ripped out my throat, at least I would die doing something for him—
at least I would die trying to fix the destruction I hadn’t prevented, trying to save people I’d
doomed. At least Tamlin would know it was for him, and that I loved him” (289). Building off of
Bengt Holbek’s scholarship about the movements, or patterns, inside fairy tales and their
reinterpretations, as the essential point in Beauty and the Beast is the resolution of gender
opposites; Feyre must overcome a crisis that forces her to take on an even more active role than
she previously held. Feyre makes a deal with Amarantha that if she can complete three tasks, one
on each full moon, or solve a riddle, she will be able to free Tamlin from his curse. At this point,
Feyre and Tamlin’s gender roles are basically reversed, in that he functions as the helpless, for
lack of a less gendered term, damsel, whereas she is forced to, once again, step into the role of
the savior—despite severe obstacles and hardships.
Feyre’s trials take place Under the Mountain, a cave system previously used by the high
fae of Prythian as neutral meeting space, inside which Amarantha has built her court. During the
two and a half months Feyre is held captive, she is subjected to countless tortures and horrific
brutalities—on herself and others. Throughout this entire section of the book, Tamlin never once
attempts to assist Feyre, very rarely even deigning to look at her. It is at this point that Tamlin
steps into a fully passive role, wherein he does not even attempt to help the woman that he loves
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while she is very nearly killed multiple times. Feyre is forced to rely on Lucien for what aid he
can give her or make deals with faeries that she does not trust. In fact, she is so desperate to be
healed after her first trial, that Feyre enters into a bargain with the High Lord of the Night Court,
Rhysand, a faerie who had, up until that point, outwardly presented himself as an enemy of
Feyre, Tamlin, and the rest of Prythian. She agrees to spend one week in his court each month in
exchange for Rhysand healing her injuries and getting rid of an infection that was quickly killing
her. During the final trial set by Amarantha, Feyre is tasked with killing three innocent faeries,
two that were strangers and the final being Tamlin. Though Feyre is initially horrified to find the
third victim to be Tamlin, she, very astutely, figures out that Tamlin’s heart is actually made of
stone, and stabbing him would not kill him. Angered by the human woman’s cunning,
Amarantha begins brutally beating Feyre, before she snaps her neck. It is in her last breath that
Feyre solves Amarantha’s riddle and saves everyone in Prythian. At that point, again following
Holbek’s scholarship, Feyre is able to move from her lower human self to that of her higher,
complete self, when the combined power of the High Lords transforms her into high fae.
Though Feyre is successfully able to solve Amarantha’s riddle and return peace to
Prythian, she is utterly devastated by everything that she witnessed during her time Under the
Mountain. Feyre narrates, “tomorrow—there would be tomorrow, and an eternity, to face what I
had done, to face what I had shredded into pieces inside myself while Under the Mountain”
(416). By following the basic narrative structure and patterns of most fairy tales, it is at this
point that Feyre and Tamlin would reach their happily ever after. Instead, readers are left with the
knowledge that despite achieving their desired ending, Feyre is struggling. This is the first real
revelation of Feyre’s trauma that becomes so apparent in the next novel. It is important to note
here that one of the key factors that distinguishes Feyre from earlier versions of Beauty, firmly
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rooting her as a modern model of female behavior, is the portrayal of the character’s pain
throughout the last half of the book. Previous iterations of Beauty were expected to let go of any
negative feelings that they may have harbored in order to achieve their desired outcomes. Max
Luthi argues that fairy tale characters are, “as a rule such mutilations call forth no expressions of
physical or psychological suffering. Tears are shed only if this is important for the development
of the plot” (13). Feyre was able to overcome every single one of the challenges that she faced
while Under the Mountain primarily on her own, without the help of Tamlin, but the torture she
endured at that time was absolutely devastating to her psyche. Whereas Beauty was expected to
be gracious, kind, and appreciative for successfully making it to her happy ending with Beast,
Feyre openly admits that she is suffering, if not explicitly to Tamlin in this book, then at least to
the reader. This acknowledgement of her trauma significantly varies from other versions of
Beauty wherein she simply accepts everything that she has gone through. With Feyre and
Tamlin’s return to the Spring Court, the stereotypical narrative of Beauty and the Beast has come
to an end, but what then occurs after the original story ends and the characters are mentally and
emotionally traumatized?
“A Court of Mist and Fury”
When the second novel, A Court of Mist and Fury, begins, readers immediately see that
Feyre’s trauma has done nothing but get worse since the closing of the last book. In fact, she is in
such a poor mental state, that it is clear that she is still not receiving any help from Tamlin in
resolving her feelings over her ordeal. The entirety of part one in this book revolves around the
culmination of Feyre and Tamlin’s relationship, leading up to their wedding, and shortly
thereafter. In this section, readers clearly see two people who have been, in different ways,
broken. Gone is the moderately protective romantic partner that Feyre knew from before her
55
trials, and in his place is a male that is so scarred by watching Feyre nearly die, multiple times,
Under the Mountain that readers are fully able to see what labels him as a beast.
Readers are immediately confronted with Feyre’s mental health struggles, as the book
opens directly into a nightmare where she is being forced to relive her killing of the two innocent
faeries in Amarantha’s final task. Tamlin and Feyre never speak of the trauma that they
individually or collectively witnessed while Under the Mountain. Feyre narrates, “it was easier to
not have to explain, anyway. To not have to tell him that though I’d freed him, saved his people
and all of Prythian from Amarantha… I’d broken myself apart” (Maas 8). It is clear that though
she defeated the evil fairy and technically achieved what should have been her happy ending,
Feyre has been isolated in her recovery. She completely accepts that she is alone in her trauma
and seems to have thoroughly given up on any hope of ever healing from it. This is compounded
as the novel progresses and Tamlin gets more and more restrictive and controlling of Feyre.
Tamlin essentially forgets that it is thanks to Feyre’s actions that he is able to return to the Spring
Court at all. Tamlin attempts to force her back into the meek, submissive role that she was
fulfilling before everything that occurred Under the Mountain, and while she does acquiesce, it is
clear that this is detrimental to her mental health. Tamlin is assisted in his repression and control
of Feyre by a long-time friend of his, the fae High Priestess Ianthe. It is to her opinion that
Tamlin is, in most situations, going to listen to, and she, as successfully as Tamlin, works to limit
Feyre to the role of a submissive wife. Tamlin uses Feyre’s love for him as a means of controlling
her every action and offers his love as a platitude for her unhappiness and loss of autonomy. In
her essay Voices of Survivors in Contemporary Fiction Laurie Vickroy defines and characterizes
trauma as,
56
An individual’s response to events so intense that they impair emotional or cognitive
functioning and may bring lasting psychological disruption… Traumatic responses
may include shame, doubt, or guilt, or may destroy important beliefs in one’s own
safety or view of oneself as decent, strong, and autonomous. (Balaev
131)
As evidenced by her dream at the beginning of A Court of Mist and Fury, Feyre is very clearly
struggling with feelings of guilt and self-doubt, feelings that are then only compounded and
reinforced by Tamlin and Ianthe’s repressive responses to any complaints or requests that Feyre
makes. In fact, it can be argued that they stop viewing Feyre as a person and begin to see her
only as a mere object which they could use and manipulate for their own purposes. Despite Feyre
being the person that won their freedom for all of the high fae of Prythian, she is expected to
completely submit herself to Tamlin and his desires. While this would have been a relatively
normal, expected response to trauma during the eighteenth century when the original iterations of
Beauty and the Beast were published; Feyre’s reactions to these restrictions are evidence of the
changing expectations women have when approaching the modern world.
Tamlin’s use of societal pressure when manipulating Feyre must be mentioned at this
point, as he and all the members of his court pressure Feyre to conform to a specific role: that of
the High Lord’s submissive Lady. All the members of the Spring Court repeatedly offer
congratulations to Feyre on her defeat of Amarantha, despite how uncomfortable being
approached like that clearly makes her. It is at those times that readers are able to see how far
removed she has become from everyone surrounding her in her life. Tamlin and the other
members of his court seem most focused on the wider public’s response to and view of Feyre’s
actions and sacrifices, using them as a means to control her actions and behaviors. At one point,
57
Feyre specifically asks Tamlin if he will teach her to defend herself. Having a desire to learn to
fight would be considered by most to be an understandable reaction of a person who had nearly
had their life taken from them. On Tamlin’s refusal, Feyre says this, “I was too watched—too
monitored and judged. Why should the bride of the High Lord learn to fight if peace had
returned? That had been Ianthe’s response when I made the mistake of mentioning it at dinner.
Tamlin, to his credit, had seen both sides: I’d learn to protect myself, but rumors would spread”
(Maas 15). Despite the fact that it was Feyre’s brash, bold, and courageous nature that gained the
faeries of Prythian their freedom, once she had defeated the common enemy, she was expected to
simply forget all of her struggles and fall back into the soft, submissive woman she had been
after she found safety in the Spring Court but before she went Under the Mountain. Feminist
scholars argues that traditional Beauty and the Beast narratives offer, “a strengthening of
patriarchal norms, the subordination of female desire to male authority, and a glorification of
self-sacrifice” (Tatar). Tamlin, by denying Feyre the opportunity to learn to defend herself, is
trying to force her into the subjugated female role in which her only responsibility is planning
parties and having children. Tamlin and his courtiers are constructing a cage around Feyre built
of gaslighting, guilt, and manipulation as a means to control her every thought and action. Feyre
is completely isolated from any type of healing environment to begin getting her out of trauma,
an isolation that is reinforced by Tamlin and the rest of his court until Feyre socially and
emotionally withdraws from everyone. The first time this tension truly comes to a head is at
Feyre and Tamlin’s wedding, where Feyre has a visceral reaction to red rose petals that had been
scattered down the aisle, as they remind her of the blood of one of the faeries that she was forced
to kill during Amarantha’s final trial. In that moment, Feyre also reacts to the fact that she is
being watched by over 300 faeries, further reinforcing the flashback, and she is unable to move
58
any further down the aisle. Flashbacks are, “reliving the past in highly sensory ways and being
unable to inhabit one’s body in the present moment are both signs of trauma. The latter is often
called dissociation and is a common side effect of unresolved trauma” (Jorgenson 9). Feyre has,
by this point, almost completely withdrawn into herself, very rarely letting any insight into what
she truly wants out, as everything she says is completely ignored or downplayed as irrelevant.
It is after Feyre’s flashback occurs in her wedding that Feyre, through the psychic link
formed between Rhysand and Feyre when they made the bargain to save her life, she
unknowingly reaches out to him and begs for help as she does not want to go through with the
wedding. Rhysand calls in their bargain and brings her back to the Night Court. Once they make
it into his lands and begin arguing, Rhysand tells Feyre to change out of her wedding dress. He
states, “you look exactly like the doe-eyed damsel he and that simpering priestess want you to
be” (Maas 47). Further, it is Rhysand who notices Feyre’s extreme weight loss in A Court of Mist
and Fury, not any of her supposed friends in the Spring Court. This weight loss is caused by
Feyre waking up from horrific nightmares of what she witnessed and was forced to participate in
while Under the Mountain and subsequently vomiting everything in her stomach on a nightly
basis. She specifically references the fact that Tamlin never wakes up with her, nor does he ever
express concern at her clearly deteriorating physical condition. Jeana Jorgenson argues, “the fact
that Feyre’s traumatic weight loss is noticed by an apparent enemy of the Spring Court—
Rhysand—and not those closest to her highlights how toxic her new home is, and how much the
environment prevents her from addressing and healing from her trauma” (10). Because of the
bargain with Rhysand, Feyre is able to leave the Spring Court for the Night Court for one week
every month, and every time she arrives, she is even more physically worn down. It is during
these visits that Rhysand begins instructing Feyre on how to read, as she was previously
59
illiterate, a shortcoming that nearly got her killed in her second task given by Amarantha. He also
begins teaching her to shield her mind from unwanted magical attacks, and though these lessons
may seem insignificant when one considers everything that Feyre has been and is currently going
through, they offer her the first step towards the one thing Feyre had been trying to attain:
selfreliance and protection.
It must be stated here that while Tamlin was protective of Feyre in A Court of Thorns and
Roses when she was a—by all definitions—weak human, after they return from Under the
Mountain, Tamlin’s protectiveness explodes into a such a controlling direction that Feyre is not
even permitted to leave the manor grounds, and eventually the manor itself. This is a change that
can be hard to comprehend when one considers that by her transformation into high fae, she
automatically became physically stronger and more durable than she ever was as a human.
Tamlin’s possessiveness and controlling tendencies only escalate as readers get further into the
novel, when Feyre begins demanding information and help, to devastating consequences. Feyre
narrates, “’I am drowning. And the more you do this, the more guards… you might as well be
shoving my head under the water” (Maas 100). Being confined both physically and mentally
reinforces Feyre’s claustrophobia and causes her to have a whole new traumatic response. She, at
points, literally feels as if the walls are closing in around her or that she cannot breathe, directly
reminiscent of the first to tasks she had to complete while Under the Mountain. Further, “When
Feyre is initially imprisoned and tortured under the mountain, this is traumatic; when she is
actively confined to Tamlin’s estate, this only exacerbates her trauma, trapping her in the same
state as before and preventing her from healing” (Jorgenson 11). Tamlin responds to Feyre’s
direct plea for help by losing his temper and destroying his study in a blast of magic, thoroughly
terrifying Feyre. His actions are almost immediately followed by his guilt, regret, and apologies,
60
to which Feyre naturally succumbs. Even still, at every turn when Tamlin imposes some new
form of restriction or tightens his control on her, Feyre repeatedly justifies his actions and
attempts to understand why he is feeling the way that he is, something that he never truly did for
her.
All this tension comes to a head on Feyre’s final day in the Spring Court when Tamlin
casts a spell around his manor to prevent her from following him as he leaves on an important
mission to his border. He essentially locks her into this manor, despite knowing that she is
severely claustrophobic after being trapped in Amarantha’s dungeon. It is at this moment that the
Feyre that Tamlin was in love with fully fractures, and readers see the feelings that Feyre had
been trying to repress in order to make Tamlin happy. Feyre narrates,
That girl who had needed to be protected, who had craved stability and comfort…
she had died Under the Mountain. I had died, and there had been no one to protect
me from those horrors before my neck snapped. So I had done it myself. And I
would not, could not, yield that part of me that had awoken and transformed
Under the Mountain … I was not the human girl who needed coddling and
pampering, who wanted luxury and easiness. I didn’t know how to go back to
those things. To being docile. (Maas 121-22).
By trying to force Feyre back into the submissive female stereotype that she had started to fall
into before the events of Under the Mountain, Tamlin tries to repress and minimalize all the
traumatic experiences she had while going through Amarantha’s trials. Forcing Feyre into that
suppressed, gendered role of submissive wife, Tamlin completely discounts every experience and
obstacle Feyre was forced to overcome in A Court of Thorns and Roses and forces her to begin
having a panic attack wherein she cannot breathe and feels as if the walls of the manor are
61
closing in on her. It is at the moment when he locks her in the house that Tamlin is perhaps the
most beastly. Tamlin’s treatment of Feyre is irrevocably changed after Under the Mountain. He
no longer seems to value her for who she is, but simply what he wants her to represent.
Feyre is rescued from that confinement by a member of Rhysand’s court after he, once
again, felt her distress coming through the mental bond of their bargain. Though she leaves the
Spring Court and decides to live in and join the Night Court, Feyre’s healing is not instant.
During the first dinner she has with Rhysand and the rest of his inner circle, when prompted in a
moment of privacy by Rhysand to reveal something that she is thinking, Feyre states,
I’m thinking that I was a lonely, hopeless person, and I might have fallen in love
with the first thing that showed me a hint of kindness and safety. I’m thinking that
maybe he knew that—maybe not actively, but maybe he wanted to be that person
for someone. And maybe that worked for who I was before. Maybe it doesn’t work
for who—what I am now. (Maas 156).
This admission is when Feyre’s character first truly steps away from the eighteenth-century
version of the complete, ideal woman that Beauty is supposed to represent and recognizes that
there is more to a romantic counterpart than simply kindness and protection. In fact, it is
Tamlin’s twisting of these traits to their furthest extremes that causes Feyre to be unable to
complete the cycle that Holbek speaks of and ascend to the highest version of herself.
Once she is permanently at the Night Court, Feyre begins a thorough training routine in which
she is taught to hone her not only her body but her magical abilities as well. It is the training
that Feyre receives that fully allows her to begin moving through and healing from her
traumatic experiences, and as she does so, Feyre is able to reflect on she and Tamlin’s
62
relationship in an even more insightful way. When contemplating everything she experienced
both Under the Mountain and afterwards in the Spring Court, Feyre narrates:
[Tamlin] hadn’t tried to kill her, hadn’t crawled for me. Yes, he’d fought for me—
but I’d fought harder for him. And he had the nerve once his powers were back to
shove me into a cage. The nerve to say I was no longer useful; I was to be cloistered
for his peace of mind. When he got what he wanted—when he got his power back,
his lands back… he stopped trying. (Maas 296-7)
At this point, Feyre had been separated from Tamlin and the Spring Court for long enough that
she was able to gain some distance and perspective to be able to see the ways that Tamlin had
been manipulating her and attempting to keep her from being the self-reliant person she had
always had to be in her life. The support from Rhysand and the Inner Circle of the Night Court
conclusively and finally moves Feyre away from the 18th century version’s insistence upon
female submission and into a much more modern take on female power and independence. By
finally recognizing and admitting what Tamlin had attempted to do to her, Feyre moves into the
realm of a fully realized woman that recognizes her own strengths and values, even while dealing
with traumatic situations. While Feyre does still, at this point, have a long road ahead of her
before she fully heals from the trauma she has experienced, it can be argued that her cycle as the
female protagonist of Beauty and the Beast is complete.
Final Thoughts
Tamlin’s shift from kind and considerate lover in the first book, to controlling, repressive
abuser in the second novel forces one to consider what message Sarah J. Maas was trying to
impart on her readers. If the original iterations of Beauty and the Beast were written by women
for young ladies to encourage them to look for the goodness and happiness in whatever marriage
63
situation they are in, how then do the lessons and morals of the story change when it is written by
a woman for adult women. Unlike in past times when marriages with romantic love were
considered rare, modern marriages are, under most circumstances, romantic partnerships. Women
are allowed to pick whomever they want to be their husbands and are not reliant on their father
finding a suitable match for them. This changes the messages and lessons that would need to be
passed on inside this tale. The A Court of Thorns and Roses series takes on modern romance’s
problems in that sometimes the most beautiful, attractive person can be a beast on the inside. In a
world where most couples can marry whom they want, a person being physically or
temperamentally unattracted to their romantic partner is a rarity. If that it is the case, it is only
natural to assume that the tales used to offer guidance on female romantic endeavors would have
to reflect the concerns of modern women. Tamlin is always described throughout the series as
beautiful, but at the same time, he is also described as angry, controlling, and aggressive.
Particularly in the parts of the text that Feyre is struggling with her trauma, Tamlin takes on the
role of the abuser who does not allow Feyre to get the help she needs.
A Court of Thorns and Roses, despite its fantastic setting, becomes a story that women all
over the world can relate to intimately due to the continuing problem that women face in regard
to agency and bodily autonomy. Feyre is repeatedly told what she can do with her body, first as a
human and even more so in her relationship with Tamlin after she returns from her trials Under
the Mountain. Similarly, in the last decade, women’s right to bodily autonomy in the United
States of America has been repeatedly jeopardized through legislation controlling the availability
of safe, legal abortion. While one could argue that Feyre not being allowed to train her magic and
body is in no way related to modern women’s struggles, consider the fact that those at the
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Spring Court tried to relegate Feyre into the housewife role, wherein the only expectation for her
is that she would marry Tamlin and one day begin producing heirs. While in modern society
women are not being forced to stay home or unallowed to train their mind or body, by taking away
a woman’s agency over her body, lawmakers are essentially trying to force women back into that
familiar submissive housewife role, just as Tamlin and Ianthe tried to do to Feyre.
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CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION
Beauty and the Beast is one of many stories that has been repeatedly reproduced
throughout the years, and though, as exemplified through A Court of Thorns and Roses, the
characters, expectations, and motivations have changed, the underlying issues presented in the
narrative have not. As Beauty and the Beast directly addresses romance and marriage, by
examining these stories, one is able to clearly see the ways that expectations and roles have
changed inside our society. While initially written to ease young women’s fear of marriage and
propagate what was seen as the ideal traits for women, modern retellings, especially those written
for adult audiences, become a means for women to address the changing concerns that they may
have in modern times.
While Beauty was praised inside her narrative for her kindness, gentle nature, and
grateful obedience to first her father and then the Beast, Feyre embodies, in many instances, the
opposite of those traits. Just as the twenty first century woman is expected to be strong,
independent, and bold, Feyre exemplifies the expectations women have for themselves and their
romantic relationships. The fact that Feyre does not marry Tamlin and instead chooses Rhysand
as her romantic partner, shows the way that women have come to value themselves and prioritize
their own happiness in a way that would have been unheard of at the time of the original tale’s
composition and publishing. Just as Feyre breaks the previously established societal gender
confines, women of the twenty first century do the same every single day. Feyre’s rejection of the
submissive, cloistered housewife rings true for women internationally who prove time and time
again that they can be the vehicle for their own happiness.
Women in the twenty first century are at a point in time in which basic rights, such as
one’s bodily autonomy and the availability of safe, quality medical care, are at a crisis point that
66
they had not been to in fifty years. This overturning of Roe V. Wade has and will have
devastating effects on women’s agency and reproductive rights on the world-wide standard.
Rarely are people ever happy to be told what they are allowed to do with their bodies. Just as
Beauty’s only choice was when she would agree to marry Beast, and Feyre’s only choice in the
Spring Court was to be a submissive housewife, women internationally, but especially in certain
states in the United States, are facing a strong attempt by patriarchal law makers to take away
their ability to make choices for themselves in their lives. Just as Feyre fought to be able to
determine what she could and couldn’t do with her mind and body, women are now facing that
same struggle in the twenty-first century. Just as Tamlin tried to determine what was acceptable
and right for Feyre, lawmakers inside the United States are essentially attempting to do the same
thing to women on a national scale. To put it simply, should have the right to determine if and
when they want to carry a child to term, beyond when a pregnancy is potentially harmful to
them. As Feyre comes to learn, no person should be able to restrict another’s right to bodily
autonomy, even under the pretense of this restriction being ethical or for the greater good.
Fairy tales have been a means of cultural propagation since the time before they were first
anthologized. Inside these tales, people have always been able to express their fears, concerns,
and desires inside formulaic storylines where good is rewarded and evil is punished. It is likely
that aspect of fairy tales has prevented this genre from fading into memory, despite those who
say it is only for children. Though these stories are varied, one cannot deny the hold they still
have over our society’s collective imagination. Fairy tales have always been a vehicle in which
the composers and the listeners or readers could express concerns or joys about aspects of life
and their societies, and modern retellings offer the same escape, but with modern concerns and
perspectives woven into the narratives.
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VITA
LAUREN NICOLE LEFLER
Education: M.A. English, East Tennessee State University, Johnson
City, Tennessee, 2024
B.A. English, East Tennessee State University, Johnson
City, Tennessee, 2022
A.S. History, Northeast Sate Community College, Blountville,
Tennessee, 2020
Public Schools, Jonesborough, Tennessee
Professional Experience: Graduate Assistant, East Tennessee State University, College of
Arts and Sciences, 2022-2024
Fiction Editor, The Mockingbird, East Tennessee State University,
2023-2024
