The Beast: Misbehaved or Misunderstood?

A couple of weeks ago I watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I have always enjoyed this movie (yes, even as a little kid and on until the present) and love seeing the transformation that the character of the Beast takes on throughout the movie. But, this last time I noticed some things that lead me to believe that the Beast is simply misunderstood. The supposed heart of ice is simply a perversion of the true character of the Beast that storytellers have imagined to create a more intriguing story line that will sell more books and more movies.

So, what is the true character of the Beast? Well, allow me to shed a little light on the subject. In the beginning of the story we know that the Beast is visited by an enchantress who determines that he has no love in his heart and is therefore cursed until he can learn to love and be loved in return. I do not think that this was a just punishment for the cruel treatment that the enchantress received and is in reality an exaggeration of what really happened. Throughout the movie we find glimpses into the Beast's past relationships and I would like to share them with you now.

When Belle first comes to the Castle she promises the Beast to remain his prisoner in exchange for the life and freedom of her father. The Beast accepts the trade and after releasing the father, leads Belle to her room where she will remain for the rest of her days. The fact that the Beast gives her a nice room to stay in shows that he can be quite hospitable to his guests. He gives her free roam of the castle, with a couple exceptions, as well as access to all the amenities the castle has to offer. This is a clear sign that Beast is not as cold hearted as we are lead to believe.

In connection to the hospitality of the Beast, we watch a few scenes later that Belle, while on a tour of the castle, enters an area that the Beast asked her to stay out. She enters what appears to be his private room full of his keepsakes. It is quite understandable that the Beast would be a little perturbed when he catches Belle going through his things. All he did was ask Belle to respect his property and his privacy in return for his hospitality and she quite promptly disobeyed those wishes.

Now, I would normally think the harsh reaction of the Beast would be an extreme, but it is clear that he has run into this issue more than once. Belle's father trespassed on his property, and entered his home without even so much as a knock on the door. I am sure others have done the same given that the Beast can be quite patient with others.

I know I am taking a leap by granting the Beast the virtue of patience, but I will explain. Earlier on during the same evening that Belle breaks the trust given by the Beast, she is asked to dinner by the Beast and she just completely stands him up. I think that's a little rude considering he just gave her what almost any girl I know would want, a castle. When the Beast learns she isn't coming to dinner, which she didn't even have the nerve to tell him herself, he goes to her room to find out why. Now, Belle states that he didn't ask politely, and even when he does, she still refuses.

In the Beast's defense, I think he is justified in his actions being that through the media we are taught that women want a man who can take charge. Unfortunately, the take charge type also happens to be the arrogant jerk type who treats women like crap. The Beast tried to be the thoughtful, sensitive man women claim they want, but with constant rejections and seeing girls fall for the jerks, I completely understand his change of tactics.

I believe there is also a second factor that plays into the Beast's reaction to the rejection of his dinner invite. On the walk to Belle's room the Beast makes an attempt to talk with Belle, to get to know her and maybe find a few common interests they share, but he is clearly timid about the whole matter. Is it due to his lack of people skills? I doubt it. I think it is simply caused by the fact that Belle is a stunning young woman, and like many men I know (including myself), the Beast is nervous and often stumbles in the attempt to make a good impression on the girl with the hopes that she may be even slightly interested in him.

Now, it is only after two ginormous events that we see Belle's attitude toward the Beast begin to change. The first takes place after she first runs away from the castle. Shortly after fleeing the castle when caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Belle is chased and trapped by a pack of wolves. She attempts to fight them off, but utterly fails. Now, the Beast, feeling bad about having reacted in such anger, goes after Belle to make amends while also knowing that the woods are no place for a lady to be wandering around alone at night. He sees her in peril, and being the gentleman he is, promptly intervenes to save Belle's life.

It takes this act to show Belle that he cares for her and will take care of her no matter what. You would think that offering her a roof over her head with a bed to sleep in and plenty of food to eat would be enough, but no, Belle had to be rescued before she would even consider eating dinner with the Beast.

The second act takes place a while later. Belle and the Beast have had time to get to know each other and have become good friends. the Beast, like most good men who know how women should be treated, wants to do something special for Belle. He has learned her interests and her hobbies and decides to give her a gift. He has the library cleaned and organized all for Belle. It may be a little extravagant and over the top, but the Beast just doesn't see a single book as being good enough for Belle. Plus, what could be better than receiving one book as a gift? A whole room of books. Belle is extremely enthusiastic about the gift and the Beast receives the best gift a guy could ask for, seeing the girl smile.

Now, back to the beginning of the story and little more on the twists that have perverted the true story of Beauty and the Beast. I believe that in reality, the enchantress was actually a former girlfriend of the Beast. He loved her and wanted to give her everything she could possibly dream of, but it was never enough. She kept demanding more and more of the Beast until finally he had enough. Realizing that the enchantress was really just using him, the Beast broke up with her. She had probably never been broken up with before, and, infuriated, did what most exes in that situation do; spread harsh lies about the Beast to make it seem like she is the victim and played no foul in the matter. The Beast was then betrayed and abandoned by those he thought to be his friends, thus driving him into a life of isolation.

So, is the Beast really a heartless monster who is incapable of love? Clearly not. He is merely a guy who has had too many bad experiences with women, and when he finally met the love of his life, it took a little while to overcome those experiences and break down the walls that had been built over many agonizing relationships.