![]() ![]() What do you think? Is Villeneuve's version a feminist tale or not? It is thought that Villeneuve was partly inspired by the tale of Cupid and Psyche, in which the maiden Psyche is wed to the god Cupid but forbidden to see his face. Yet Beauty would not have met the Beast were it not for the promise her adoptive father makes earlier on in the tale, when he agrees to send her to the Beast's home as payment for having tried to take one of the Beast's roses. The Beast begins to die when he thinks that Beauty has forgotten her promise to return to him and it is only upon her return and her declaration of her love for him that he is revived and returned to his true form. ![]() Ultimately it is she, not him, who holds the power to decide whether he lives or dies. Although Beauty is initially a captive, she wields a great deal of power over the Beast's fate. Over time the story has been greatly simplified. After they eventually marry, Beauty's impressive lineage as the daughter of a king and a fairy is revealed. In Villeneuve's version, the Beast asks Beauty to marry him each night. ![]() The original 'tale as old as time' as we know it was penned by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740. The Whitworth - The Beauty and the Beast story we are most familiar with dates back to 18th century France. ![]()
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