Belle's Coming of Age

I just wanted to talk about something that rarely get's talked about these days with regards to Beauty and the Beast, and that is Belle's metaphorical 'coming of age'.

It sort of get's over-looked behind the more obvious moral of "never judge a book by it's cover".

Or maybe it's because the Disney Version (which I also love) sort of toned this aspect down (understandably because it's more for children) and sadly the General Audience is probably more familiar with the Disney Version then the Original Fairy Tale.

But as someone who absolutely loves the original tale (which the Cocteau film is much much closer to), I've always loved how it's sort of a metaphor for growing up and maturing. Belle is a young woman who is very attached to her father...to the point where she doesn't ever want to leave him to get married and have children and essentially be what she's destined to be...a grown woman.

Her having to live with the 'Beast' is sort of symbolic for a 'marriage' as she's left her father's house to find her 'own' house with someone else. But like a scared young girl she see's her 'husband' as a beast/animal. And feels like she's a 'prisoner'. Because she's still scared of the whole idea of 'marriage' of devoting herself to a man who isn't her father.

But as she get's to know her new 'husband' she realizes he isn't so bad, but she still can't let her father go... and it's only when she returns to her fathers house that she realizes that she has grown up and that her place now is not with her father but with her 'husband'.

Once she let's herself love him and accept him as a 'husband' he no longer appears as a 'beast' to her but a man.

I always felt that's the real 'story behind the story' so to speak, and part of what I've always loved about it. Fairy Tales are meant to be metaphors for real life situations but told in a fantastical way so that children could understand and adults could be entertained.

And at a time when arranged marriages were common, and the idea of marriage itself could be pretty scary for young girls...the tale of Beauty and the Beast could sort of be seen as a comforting tool with a lesson that maybe the guy is not as bad as you think if you'd only give him a chance...etc.

But anyway I just wanted to talk about something that rarely get's talked about and why Beauty and the Beast is my personal favorite Fairy Tale. 