Beauty and the Beast

Chapters 7 and 8 are summary chapters, a common part of books of the time. Rather than presenting information and backstory throughout, as is common in modern-day novels, summary chapters were a device by which the appropriate characters filled gaps in narrative. Chapter 7 is entirely told by the prince, who reveals his thoughts and emotions throughout the duration of his curse as well as what led to the curse. In Chapter 8, the fairy tells all the prince doesn’t know, answering any final questions about how Beauty and the prince came to where they were before the story’s opening.

The fairy from the prince’s past in Chapter 7 represents the difficulties women faced at the time the book was written. The entire story comments on the circumstances of marriage for women, including the need for a dowry and having little to no say in the arrangements. The prince’s situation shows how women were used or forced into marriages they didn’t want. The fairy is much older than the prince and even helped raise him. By modern-day standards, these facts make marriage questionable in many parts of the world, but at the time, women were often promised to much older men—or men manipulate the situation so that the women had no choice but to be married. The fairy uses her power to back the prince into a corner, and when even this doesn’t get her the result she wants, she curses him to make him ineligible for anyone else, similar to how men would besmirch a woman’s reputation through rumors. The prince’s attempt to delay or stop the process by saying he couldn’t wed without consulting his mother represents the limited power women had and how men used this to their advantage. Although it isn’t in the prince’s power to outright refuse, he manipulates the situation toward one he hopes will result in the outcome he desires.

While the narrative doesn’t reveal this until the explanations in these chapters, Beauty and the Beast relies heavily on manipulation as a driving force for its characters and plotlines. In Chapter 7, the prince reveals that the fairy made him invisible so that he could watch and learn about Beauty—a violation of Beauty’s privacy and comfort. The prince’s appearing in her dreams is likewise a form of manipulation. The fairy lets her see him so that she might fall in love with him and, by extension, fall for the Beast because he treats her well. In the dreams, both the prince and the fairy urge Beauty to marry the Beast and tell her not to trust appearances. Since Beauty doesn’t know that the prince and fairy are real people, she assumes they’re part of her subconscious, and as a result, she thinks these messages come from her inner self. In truth, the messages come from outside sources that nudge Beauty toward the action they want her to take, which is dishonest and manipulative.

In addition, the fairy created the conditions that led the merchant to find the castle and send Beauty there, which means that others fabricated Beauty’s entire situation. Even after learning this, Beauty doesn’t change her mind about the prince or seem to realize how much she has been manipulated. Such involvement from fairies might be considered an honor, so she willingly accepts everything that happened because supernatural forces brought it about. Alternatively, Beauty’s lack of awareness may be a commentary about the trappings of society. Often, manipulations occur in such a way that the truth is never learned. If not for the fairy and prince telling all, Beauty may have never known the extent to which her life was altered, which shows how people can be directed a certain way without their knowledge.

Although fairies have access to power that mortals don’t, their magic and lifestyle comes with many limitations. During the fairy’s retelling in Chapter 8, she lays out how different fairies participated in the events that led Beauty to the merchant, specifying the limitations on their power and influence. Beauty’s mother denied her duties, and as a young fairy, she was at the mercy of the elder fairies, who punished her for her transgressions rather than listening to her story. Fairies gain power as they age. As a young fairy, Beauty’s mother had no power to fight back against the consequences she faced. Being a bit older, the fairy who helped Beauty and the prince’s family could do more, but even she had to be careful to not anger those with more power than her. Fairies may not undo spells cast by others, which is why she didn’t just undo the prince’s curse instead of constructing an elaborate scheme to free him.

The miraculous appearance of Beauty’s mother in Chapter 9 shows how fairies grow more powerful with time. Sixteen years ago, she was too weak to fight against the older fairies. Since then, her power grew, and she could free herself and return to her family. Her appearance, as well as that of the merchant and his family, exemplify Deus ex machina, a literary device in which a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly resolved. The king wishes to see his wife, so she just appears, having gained enough power to escape the fairies at that exact moment. Similarly, Beauty wishes for the merchant and his family to attend her wedding, and they’re abruptly at the castle, magic having conspired to bring them there at the precise moment they were wanted. While often frowned upon as a way to resolve conflict in modern-day stories, Deus ex machina was common, especially in fairy tales, where a “happily ever after” often necessitated that all remaining conflict was resolved just in time for the story to end, regardless of any obstacles still remaining.