Essay about Beauty Is Power

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Beauty is Power Fairy tales, aiming at children, focus on a moral lesson, usually clear and recognizable. However, this tale engages in an unexpected idea; women are indeed powerful and independent. Although teaching an audience about how judgment of others is based on appearance, is essential, “Beauty and the Beast”, by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, portrays actions of a surprisingly audacious woman taking no orders from a man, guiding the audience in a peculiar direction for this fairy tale. The classic story, “Beauty and the Beast”, begins with an introduction of a wealthy merchant and his six children, three boys and three girls. One of the daughters is gracefully known as Beauty, as opposed to the two other envious and malicious sisters. Due to an unexpected event, the family is left with no fortune, leaving behind a small house in the country. Disappointed and devastated, the father apologizes for his failure. Accepting the tragic event, Beauty does not show fear of being poor; however, the two sisters express great hopelessness. The story then continues with a call that requires the father to travel in hope of regaining their fortune. If prosperity is reclaimed, Beauty simply asks for a rose. After learning their wealth is truly gone, the father encounters a castle on his return – home of the ugly and terrifying Beast. The father, treated like a divine guest, decides to leave and remembers to get Beauty the rose. Catching the father in the garden, the Beast erupts with anger. In exchange for one of his daughters, the Beast offers forgiveness. Beauty steps forward, courageously, and offers her life. Once at the castle, the Beast repetitively asks Beauty to marry him; the answer is always no. Granting her wish to see her family, Beauty is able to go home and visit them, under strict rules of the Beast. Miserable and wed, the two sisters show their jealousy and anger by manipulating Beauty to stay longer than the Beast’s desire. The Beast could not bear to live without her, which leads to his devastating attempt to starve himself, believing that she will not return. Surprisingly, Beauty adores the Beast and his personality – regardless of his appearance – which leads her to willingly agree to marry the Beast. Breaking the spell and transforming the Beast into a handsome prince, they live happily ever after. (de Beaumont 32–42) The traditional fairytale, “Beauty and the Beast”, illustrates the transition of the Beauty’s judgment of the Beast from a horrific and ugly creature into a compassionate and generous human. In the short story, the audience learns to accept a person for who they are and not based on their appearance. The Beast is first introduced to the reader when the father “[sees] a beast coming toward him. It [looks] so dreadful that he almost [faints]” (35). After hearing what their father has been through, his three boys want to kill the monster. Without knowing the Beast, the family jumps to conclusions, assuming the worst. The course of his transformation begins here. An act of kindness exposes the Beast’s warmer side when he tells the father to “fill [a large chest] with whatever [he likes]” and take it back home with him (35). Slowly but surely, the creature becomes more and more human in Beauty’s eyes. Terrified of the Beast, Beauty learns more about the Beast as she stays prisoner in his castle. He admits to Beauty that he knows he is kindhearted, however, still has a monstrous appearance (38). The story’s lesson becomes more apparent throughout the fairy tale as Beauty discovers the sympathetic side of the Beast. Even though Beauty is able to see through him and uncover his true identity, she thinks to herself, “it is too bad he is ugly, for he is so kind” (38). The moral of the story takes an unexpected leap because the heroine, the character one must learn from, is confessing the truth about his looks. She, too, is guilty of judgment; however, Beauty experiences her own
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