Gives the audience an idea of the nature
of the plot
Mystery and
suspense
Beauty's
Father
Not knowing
who his host is
Beast
Keeping his true
feelings secret
Supernatural
Events
Beast transforming into a
man
"And then it was no longer a lion in her arms but
a man, a man with an unkempt mane of hair and,
how strange, a broken nose, such as the noses of
retired boxers, that gave him a distant, heroic
resemblance to the handsomest of all the beasts."
Gender roles
Beauty
She is the protective one in the relationship
She is the heroin, she
saves the beast
'Don't die, Beast! If you'll have me, I'll never leave you.'
Dominant character
Beast
His physical appearance follows
the stereotype
Isolation
The beast is isolated from
society due to his animal form
Entrapment
The beast is being trapped by his
animal form
Corruption of innocence
Beauty's innocence corrupted
through his father wealth
"was learning, at the end of her
adolescence, how to be a spoiled
child"
"the one white rose she said she wanted;
the only gift she wanted, no matter how
the case went, how rich he might once
again be"
Women in distress
No women in distress
Beauty's father in distress
His car breaks down
"But the old car stuck fast in a rut,
wouldn't budge an inch; the engine
whirred, coughed and died and he was far
from home"
Beast in distress
He lives alone
Fairytale
Gender role reversal
The beast
The Beast begs the Beauty to
come back and visit him
Instead of the Beauty being scared of the Beast, the
Beast feels threatened by the idea that the Beauty
leaves him
"It will be lonely here
without you",
Vulnerable and
subjective towards the beauty
'Since you left me, I have been sick. I could
not go hunting, I found I had not the
stomach to kill the gentle beasts, I could
not eat. I am sick and I must die; but I shall
die happy because you have come to say
good-bye to me.'
Beauty
Shows Arrogance and materialism
dismisses the Beast because of
his appearance
Innocence corrupted in
the story
Corrupted by money and the
life her father gave her in
London