Apuleius
Beauty and the Beast has been traced back to the Second Century AD to the Roman writer Apuleius. In this story of Psyche and Cupid, Psyche marries a serpent that is really cupid under a spell. He comes to her at night as a man but she is forbidden to look upon him. When she does she loses him forever.
This story echoes even further back to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. When guiding Eurydice back to the underworld, Hades warns Orpheus not to look back at her, or he will never see her again.
This story and those similar to it were re-written multiple times in various cultures, being difficult to trace as it was being passed by word of mouth. In the 16th Century Italian Folklorist Giovanni Francesco told the story of Rico Porco (King Pig) about a man who earns his name because of his swinish behavior towards women. One hundred years later Italian writer Giambattista Basile wrote four more beauty and the beast type fairy tales.
Charles Perrault
In 1697 Charles Perrault released his book of fairy tales including the tale of Beauty and the Beast. In this very long version, a wealthy merchant with 6 sons and 6 daughters (the youngest of whom is very beautiful so is nicknamed Beauty) loses everything and they have to move to a tiny cottage. When the merchant has to go travelling he asks all his children what they want as gifts. All the older daughters ask for jewels and dresses but Beauty asks just for a rose. On the way back from his travels, the merchant gets lost and finds a castle that seems empty of people, after eating a meal there he finds a rose in the garden and picks it for Beauty. A beast appears and chastises him for taking his hospitable-ness too far and say's he must die. The merchant begs him not to kill him and tells the beast who the rose is for. The beast says the merchant can live if within the month Beauty agrees to go back to live with him forever. The merchant agrees and goes home. Beauty accepts the rose is her fault so says she will live at the Beast's palace. When she gets there the beast gives her everything she could want and she is entertained with animals, theater shows and fairs all within the castle. Every night the beast and beauty talk for an hour and the beast asks Beauty to marry him, every night Beauty says no. Every night Beauty dreams of a handsome prince who tells her to not believe appearance and to follow her heart, she falls in love with this dream prince. After a few months, she asks the beast to go home to visit her family, he agrees but says if she doesn't return after a month he will die without her. She goes home but after a month still isn't ready to leave. After a dream warns her the beast is dying she rushes back and finds him, nearly dead. She revives him and tells him she will marry him, it is then he is transformed back into the prince she'd been dreaming of.
Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Gallon Villeneuve
In 1740 the French Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Gallon Villeneuve wrote a version of Beauty and the Beast. This tale tells the history of both Belle and the Beast. The Beast is a young fatherless prince who is left in the care of an evil fairy who tires to seduce him when he has reached adulthood. When he reject her, she turns him into a Beast. Belle's history reveals that she is the offspring of a King and the same evil fairy. The fairy tries to kill Belle so she can have the King all to herself. The King gives Belle to a merchant man in hopes of concealing her identity and saving her.
In 1957 French Aristocrat, Madame Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont adapted Villeneuve's version. She shortened it by taking of the characters histories and ended the story with the Beasts transformation. This version is widely known as the basis for Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast
harryhogwarts. Beauty and Beast (Diamond edition) (2012) [online image] available from: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Beauty_and_the_Beast_(Diamond_Edition_2010).jpg [accessed 4th April 2015]
Grimm's Brothers
In 1812 the Grimm's brothers published their first edition of Children's and Household tales. This contained a story named The Singing, Spring Lark. Although not the same as the older Beauty and the Beast stories, the beginning of it is very similar and as the brothers were collecting German tales this may be the original German version of the French tale.
The story goes that a man is about to go on a long journey and asks his 3 daughters what they want, the oldest two want pearls and jewels but the youngest wants a springing singing lark. On his journey him he discovers a castle, near the castle is a tree with a singing springing lark at the top. He tires to get the bird but a lion jumps out and says he will eat the man. The man tries to get out of this and the lion says the only way he won't eat him is if the man gives him the first thing he meets when he arrives home. The man goes home and the youngest daughter runs down the lane to meet her father. He tells her what this means and she accepts she must go to the castle. When she arrives she discovers the lion is an enchanted prince who assumes his true human form at night. They marry and during the day they sleep and in the night they stay awake so they can be together as humans. When her sister is getting married the daughter asks if she and the lion can go. He doesn't want to as if a single ray of sunlight falls on him he will be changed into a dove and will have fly with the doves for seven years. She persuades him and they go the wedding where the prince is put in a hall that no light can reach. But during the ceremony a single ray of light comes through a crack and he transforms into a dove. The prince says he will be a dove for seven years and have to fly about the world but for every seven steps the wife takes he will leave a drop of blood and a white feather so she can follow him. She follows him for years until he turns back to his lion form when he is caught in a battle with a dragon who is really an enchanted princess. The wife strikes the dragon and both return to their human form. The princess however grabs the prince and flies off with him on a griffon. The wife spend a long time searching for them until she finds their castle, and see's they are about to be wed. She bribes the princess to let her spend a night in the princes room. She tells him everything and he wakes from the spell the princess had on him. They escape together on the griffin and return home.
Angela Carter
Angela Carter is a famous modern fairy tale writer who takes the ideas from classic tales and re-writes them. In her book The Bloody Chamber, their are two adaptations of Beauty and the Beast
In The Courtship of My Lyon Beauty's father experiences car trouble and takes advantage of a strangers hospitality. However the beast (a lion) takes offence when he steals a miraculous white rose for his daughter. Beauty then becomes a guest of the beast and the beast in turn aids her farther get his fortune back. Beauty then joins her farther in London where she almost forgets the beast, causing him to wither away from heartache. When she finds out he is dying she returns and saves him. They admit their love for one another and the beast's humanity is revealed.
In The Tiger's Bride a woman moves in with the beast who is eventually revealed to be a tiger after her father loses her to him in game of cards. The end of the story reverses that of The Courtship of Mr Lyon by the heroine transforming into a tiger who is the proper mate for the beast.
GrahamHardy. Bloody Chamber. (2009) [online image] available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BloodyChamber.jpg [accessed 4th april 2015]
In more recent times the Beauty and Beast story has been used in various retellings for films and TV shows such as the 2011 film Beastly set in modern day and told through the beasts eyes.
amazon. beastly. ( 2011) [Online Image] available from: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ZG975Q?tag=thesurlalufairyt&link_code=as3&creativeASIN=B002ZG975Q&creative=373489&camp=211189 [Accessed 4th April 2015]
As it has so many version and such a long history Beauty and Beast has been retold thousands of different times in different ways. However, one question seems to remain throughout that seems to be a question of humanity - Does the beast transform into a handsome young man or does he simply appear to do so in the eyes of the woman who loves him?
