Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast

“The only comfort I had in being my sisters’ sister was that I was ‘the clever one.’ To a certain extent this was damning me with faint praise, in the same category as accepting my given name as an epithet accurately reflecting my limited worth—it was the best that could be said of me.”

Beauty’s society values cleverness in girls less than physical attractiveness, so Beauty sees herself as having “limited worth.” This poor self-image represents her character’s major flaw and persists for most of the narrative arc. As her inner beauty grows through kindness, trust, and faithfulness, it manifests as a matching increase in her physical beauty. This transformation culminates in Beauty’s ability to see herself as beautiful.

“What little he had available to him he used to try and cushion the fall for some of his best men; most of it was sent with the third mate from the Stalwart, to try and find the men he had left behind him and help them out of their difficulties.”

Roderick’s efforts to support his employees as he faces financial ruin characterize him as a man of honor and integrity. This fits with the novel’s overall portrayal of humans as kind and virtuous. Roderick’s character in particular shapes the character traits that Beauty values and comes to find in Beast. This creates some conflict as she has to choose between loyalty to her loving family and to Beast. In the end, though, goodness is rewarded and she gets to be with both.

“She confessed to me one night that she felt guilty for feeling so happy: It was very selfish of her to be glad that she was going with Gervain, yet would not be moving away from her family. ‘Don’t be silly,’ I said. ‘Seeing your happiness is what’s holding the other two together.’”

This quote refers to a conversation between Hope and Beauty as they prepare to move to the country. Hope originally thought she’d have to choose between going to the country with Gervain or staying in the city with her family. She now gets to be with Gervain and her family, which makes her happy. This change in circumstance, however, is due to Roderick’s financial ruin, which is why Hope feels guilty. Her choice between love and family foreshadows the choice Beauty will have to make in the novel’s climax.

“I was also very strong, although this is not considered an important virtue in a woman.”

Beauty’s observations about gender norms are part of defining this story as a feminist retelling of the classic fairy tale. Beauty challenges these gender norms and embraces her other assets, like strength and cleverness, even though her society doesn’t value them. She pursues her own interests and passions even in the castle, and encourages Beast to share them with her. These choices lead to love and happiness, reinforcing the message that women shouldn’t be limited by restrictive gender expectations.

“I dreamed that the stream from the enchanted wood turned to liquid gold, and its voice as it ran over the rocks was as soft as silk; and a great red griffin wheeled over our meadow, shadowing the house with its wings.”

Beauty has this dream after offering to go to the castle in her father’s place. Griffins carry symbolic meaning in the story as representations of Beast. The visual of a griffin casting its shadow over Beauty’s house creates an apprehensive mood and an expectation of sorrow and despair. Yet Beauty approaches her future with courage and optimism, despite her fear. In time, the mood evoked by griffin symbolism becomes one of warmth and hope.

“He told Brothers that it was too tall a hill for him to begin to climb again at his age, and while his new life was not so grand as the old had been, still it was a good life, and his family was together.”

When Roderick returns to the city to claim his ship, he sees Captain Brothers, a man that used to work for him. The captain admired Roderick and is eager to help Roderick reclaim his losses and rebuild his fortune. Roderick’s response, as seen in this quote, demonstrates how happy and content he is with his new life. His attitude suggests an authorial view that family and contentment are far more important than wealth and comfort.

“A tiny breeze searched his face as if discovering who and what he was; it was gone again in a moment. Once again he took heart; he must be approaching human habitation. The brief winter twilight escorted him as far as the orchard, and as he emerged from it on the far side, near the castle, his horse started and snorted.”

This scene gives an example of McKinley’s use of personification in the text. At times, it aids the depiction of enchanted beings, like this breeze. Beauty later learns the breeze is the spellbound form of two attendants named Lydia and Bessie. In its first appearance, however, it seems to be only a gust of wind that displays an almost-human curiosity as it touches Roderick’s face. Other examples of personification are not related to enchantments, like this winter twilight that “escorts” Roderick, manifesting a cooperative relationship between humans and nature.

“But if she comes, she must come here of her own free will, because she loves you enough to want to save your life—and is courageous enough to accept the price of being separated from you, and from everything she knows. On no other condition will I have her.”

Beast insists on this because he knows only someone with such a character will be able to love him in spite of his ugliness. This caveat changes the nature of Beauty’s early relationship with Beast, downplaying the aspect of captivity. Similarly, Beast asks Beauty to marry him every night but never pressures her. Thus McKinley challenges problematic gender norms seen in traditional fairy tales, like imposed passivity and forced marriage. By having Beauty choose to go of her own free will, McKinley gives her autonomy and lets her shape her own destiny.

“‘What will you do then, tie me up?’ I said. ‘I will go, and what’s more, if you don’t promise right now to take me with you when the time comes, I will run off tonight while you’re asleep.’”

Beauty’s stubbornness, when it comes to her choice to sacrifice herself and save her father, also supports her autonomy. She is not a passive victim of everyone else’s choices. She shows this stubbornness again when Lydia and Bessie try to make her wear clothes in which she doesn’t feel comfortable. She refuses to leave her room until Beast makes Lydia and Bessie back down. This scene symbolizes female individuality and independence, and shows what it means to be a feminist ally.

“The tension was broken; we were a family again, discussing the weather, and the work to be done in the coming weeks—and the necessary preparations for the youngest daughter’s coming journey. We had accepted it and could begin to cope with it.”

Fear is an important source of conflict in the story. As Beauty prepares to go to the castle and an unknown future, knowing she may never see her family again, fear pervades the household. When Gervain and Roderick insist on Beauty taking her horse, Greatheart, with her, the discussion forces the family to confront their fears. Fear, once openly confronted, is diminished. Holding their fears inside nourishes them, but discussing and addressing them as a family leads to acceptance.

“‘All the stuff in Father’s saddle-bags: I hope you’ll use it. It’s not—I mean, I wish you would,’ I ended lamely. […] ‘Use all that fine silver on my birthday,’ I said at last, not having thought of what I wished to say, or how to say it; and turned away hastily.”

Father returned from his first encounter with Beast and found his saddle-bags full of gifts for the family. Beast had magically loaded them with valuables, an early sign of his goodness and generosity. The family sees Beast as an enemy, however, because he’s taking Beauty away from them. They feel that using his gifts would be a betrayal of their loyalty to Beauty. When Beauty encourages them to use the gifts, she’s letting them know it isn’t a betrayal. She wants them to understand it’s her choice to go and to believe she’ll be ok. Nevertheless, the mood in this scene makes it clear Beauty feels like she’s saying goodbye forever, which emphasizes how a huge sacrifice she’s making.

“I wondered how King Cophetua’s beggar-maid had felt when the palace gates had first opened for her. But there was little resemblance between us; she had a king in love with her, because of her innate nobility, and a beauty that sparkled even through her rags. So much for comparisons.”

Here, McKinley employs irony through one of Beauty’s literary allusions to emphasize Beauty’s faulty perception. Beauty believes she has little in common with a beggar-maid whose beauty sparkles through rags and who is loved by a King. The reader senses, however, that her inner beauty sparkles through her perceived outer plainness, and Beauty will come to learn that Beast is royal and is in love with her. These truths are hidden to Beauty, for now, because fear and a poor self-image distort her perception.

“‘I—er—I hope you weren’t misled by my foolish nickname,’ I said. What if he was angry at being cheated of Beauty, and killed me for tricking him? ‘Misled?’ he said. ‘No. I think your name suits you very well.’ ‘Oh no,’ I said. It was my turn for the tone of convincing horror. ‘I assure you I am very plain.’”

Names are important symbols in the novel. They serve as representations of identity and they illuminate the subjective nature of one’s self-image. Beauty chose her nickname as a child because she admired the trait and wanted to define herself as beautiful, but now she doesn’t think she’s beautiful at all. She maintains this belief despite all evidence to the contrary. She’s unable to believe Beast or anyone else who tells her the name suits her. She must learn to see it for herself, as a manifestation of her character virtues and of the love she develops for Beast.

“‘But then you called me beautiful, last night.’ […] ‘You do not believe me then?’ he inquired. ‘Well—no,’ I said, hesitantly, wondering if this might anger him. ‘Any number of mirrors have told me otherwise.’ ‘You will find no mirrors here,’ he said, “’or I cannot bear them: nor any quiet water in ponds. And since I am the only one who sees you, why are you not then beautiful?’”

These lines elaborate on the message developed in the prior quote. For Beauty, what others see in her is less important than what she sees in herself. When she’s relied on mirrors, she hasn’t seen beauty. When she’s in a castle with no mirrors and can focus on the growth of her mind and heart, she learns to see herself as beautiful. Beast’s question here foreshadows the idea that beauty can be defined in ways other than physical features, contributing to a thematic look at Outward Appearance Versus Inner Beauty.

“There was something rather terrible about this young man’s beauty, though I could not say just where the dreadfulness lay. The hand on the bridle was clenched a little too tightly; the light in the eyes was a little too bright, as if the soul itself were burning. He seemed to watch me as I looked at him, watch me with all the intensity of those eyes.”

These lines refer to the last painting in the castle’s portrait gallery. It depicts Beast’s human form, though Beauty doesn’t know it at the time. In other versions of the fairy tale, Beauty is undeniably lovely, creating an inverse relationship to Beast as far as looks go. In McKinley’s version, where Beauty is outwardly plain, this painting ironically reverses the relationship. The message? It doesn’t matter which of them is lovely and which is ugly. Focusing on superficial things like outward appearances distracts people from what’s truly important and precludes them from forming meaningful connections.

“I had avoided touching him, or letting him touch me. At first I had eluded him from fear; but when fear departed, elusiveness remained, and developed into habit.”

Fear is a central source of conflict in the story. Beast’s physical form, and the stereotyped beliefs that go with it, are the main cause of that fear. Even after the fear has subsided, its negative effects persist as habits, forestalling the growth of trust and intimacy. Beauty does overcome this too, but her experience demonstrates how fear can diminish human connection when it’s based on someone’s appearance rather than their actions and character.

“And it was true, too, that recently I had heard birdsongs sometimes when I was out riding Greatheart. Maybe the spell was weakening? Maybe I wouldn’t have to do anything heroic after all.”

This observation of Beauty’s is another example of irony. She’s been fretting over the idea that she’s supposed to solve some riddle or mystery, based on what she overheard Lydia and Bessie saying. She’s supposed to somehow save the day. She’s intimidated by a belief that it will require some heroic feat of ingenuity. These worries drop into insignificance when Beauty realizes she loves Beast. In one sense, she doesn’t have to do anything heroic to break the spell, only to love. In another sense, perhaps to love so honorably and selflessly as she does is the epitome of heroism.

“My greatest difficulty was the Beast himself. I couldn’t leave him out of my narrative, yet I had tremendous trouble bringing him into it; and when I did mention him I found myself pleading in his defense. The ogre my father had met was the Beast they all believed in; and while they were relieved to hear that he was ‘good’ to me I didn’t seem to be able to tell them how good and kind he really was.”

Beauty’s difficulty resembles any situation in which someone has been judged based on superficial factors. Her family believes Beast is a monster based on his appearance and Roderick’s short interaction with him. Though Beauty knows Beast on a much deeper level, she knows it isn’t easy to change people’s minds, especially when fear is involved. A sense of loyalty to her family and an understanding that they’ve suffered from worrying about her makes it even harder to acknowledge her true feelings for Beast.

“‘You can have—sympathy—for this monster, after what he’s done to you?’ said Father at last. I nodded unhappily, and there was more astonished silence.”

Roderick’s question subtly emphasizes the importance of Beast’s actions and character in passing judgment on him. Roderick assumes Beast has treated her unfairly, if not cruelly, but in fact Beast has been kind, gentle, and respectful. In fact he’s become Beauty’s best friend and a source of joy. Explaining the truth to others who have not gained the depth of perception she has proves incredibly difficult. It’s a testament to the family’s respect for Beauty that they accept her choice and trust her instincts, even if they don’t understand.

“I couldn’t tell them that here, at home with them again, I had learned what I had successfully ignored these last weeks at the castle: that I had come to love him. They were no less dear to me, but he was dearer yet.”

These lines describe Beauty’s epiphany about her feelings for Beast. Despite the new perception she gained at the castle, it took being away from Beast for her to recognize what was deep in her heart. This epiphany marks a turning point in Beauty’s character arc, though not the final turning point. Her full transformation still requires her to recognize her own worth.

“The smooth white road that had brought me to my own back door had disappeared as though it had never been.”

When Beauty visits her family, she must maintain her cover story with the residents of Blue Hill about where she’s been. This threatens to pose a challenge for Beauty, but like many other potential obstacles in the narrative, magic intervenes and resolves the problem easily. Here, magic erases anything that would seem suspicious to the village about Beauty’s sudden return, including the enchanted road. Such magical contrivances minimize conflict and tension in the plot.

“‘I must. I’m sorry. Please try to understand. I promised.’ Father tried to smile, but didn’t quite manage it. ‘You were well named,’ he said.”

Beauty has been torn by the choice she must make between her family and Beast. The enchantment on the castle isolates it from the rest of the world, and Beauty’s family is unable to believe in Beast’s goodness because he looks like a monster and is bound by magic they can’t understand. These factors mean Beauty cannot be with her family and with Beast. Her principles of honor and selflessness guide her choice; she made a promise to Beast and he needs her more than her family does. Though Beauty didn’t see much value in the virtue of honor as a child, she’s since shown how suitable her given name is.

“‘I love you, Beauty. Will you marry me?’ ‘Yes,’ I said, and he took me in his golden arms, and kissed me. When we parted, it was only to a hand’s length, and we looked long at one another, smiling.”

Beauty may depart in several ways from other versions of Beauty and the Beast, and from classic fairy tale conventions in general. However, McKinley does not abandon the traditional “happily-ever-after” ending. Beauty and Beast find true love and the story ends with an implication that all will be well for everyone, forever. This is in keeping with the style of the novel as a whole, which presents the world with comforting optimism.