Quicknation    Beauty and the Beast

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Beauty and the Beast is a traditional folktale (type 425C -- search for a lost husband -- in the Aarne-Thompson classification). The first published version of the fairy tale was a meandering rendition by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in in 1740. The best-known written version was an abridgement of M. Villeneuve's work published in 1756 by Mme Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, in

Beauty's father, caught in a storm, finds shelter in the Beast's palace. As he leaves, he plucks a rose to bring back to Beauty, offending his unseen host, who tells him he must now die. The father begs to be allowed to see his daughters again: the Beast says that if one of the man's daughters will return to suffer in his place, he may live. Beauty journeys to the Beast's castle, convinced she will be killed: instead, she is made mistress of the enchanted palace, and the Beast asks her to be his wife. She says she can be his friend, and will stay with him forever, but not as his wife, asking only to return to her home for a week to say farewell to her father. Her sisters entice her to stay beyond the allotted week, and she returns belatedly to the castle, finding the Beast lying near death from distress at her failure to return. She begs him to live, so that he may be her husband, and by this act the Beast is transformed into a handsome prince. Beauty's family comes to live with them at the palace.

The tale has been notably adapted for stage and screen several times. In many of these adaptations, there is a common problem with the dramatic impact of the story; by the end of the story, the audience is so accustomed to and charmed by the Beast, that when he changes back into the prince, it is a disappointment to see him reduced to just another pretty face.

with screenplay by Linda Woolverton, music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by Howard Ashman. It won Academy Awards for Best Song and Best Original Score and was the first animated feature ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. This version gave Beauty a name (Belle). The Beast's name, though never mentioned in the movie, was Adam. Also, in this version, the servants have been transformed into personified objects. The story is changed much also in this version. Belle's father is given a name, Maurice, and Belle is his only daughter. A handsome and popular, but boorish, man named Gaston wants to marry Belle so she can be wife. But she does not want to marry him due to his boorishness, and he and his friends threaten Maurice and the beast, but eventually Gaston is killed during a final confrontation with the beast. It is now considered one of the Walt Disney Company's classic animated films.

The Disney film was adapted for the stage by Linda Woolverton and Alan Menken, who had worked on the film. Howard Ashman, the original lyricist, had died, and additional lyrics were written by Tim Rice. Four new songs, "No Matter What", "Home", "Me", and "If I Can't Love Her" were added to those appearing in the original film score in the stage version. "Human Again", a song written for the movie but eventually cut from the final release, was added back in for the DVD release of the movie, as well as the stage production. Later, another song, "A Change In Me", was added for Belle. There is a great deal of emphasis on pyrotechnics, costuming and special effects to produce the imagery of the enchanted castle. It was produced by Disney Theatrical. This version of Beauty and the Beast is often examined in gender studies because of underlying female and male roles it presents to young audiences.

, which owed as much to bodice-ripping romance novels and fantasy fiction as to the fairy tale, originally broadcast from 1987 to 1989, was centered around the relationship between Catherine, an attorney who lived in New York City, played by Linda Hamilton, and Vincent, a gentle but lion-faced "beast", played by Ron Perlman, who dwells in the tunnels beneath the city. Beauty and the Beast has been the subject of many novels, most notably in by Robin McKinley, the Newbery Award-winning author. McKinley's second voyage into the tale of Beauty and the Beast resulted in "Rose Daughter." Donna Jo Napoli wrote a novel centered around the Beast's point of view.

George C. Scott turned in a memorable made-for-TV rendition in 1976, in which, early in the presentation, his Belle Beaumont Trish Van Devere spots him devouring some of the local wildlife in the of a lion, only later to comport himself in his dialogs with her (still as the Beast) with the nobility and charm of a knight. Scott was nominated for an Emmy for his performance.

Beauty and the Beast are characters in the Fables comic book. They are resident in the New York City branch of Fabletown, and are rather poor at the beginning of the series. After the election of Prince Charming as mayor of Fabletown, they are promoted to, respectively, assistant to the mayor and sheriff, vice "Bigby Wolf" (Big Bad Wolf) and Snow White, the previous holders of these offices, who do not wish to work with Prince Charming due to prior difficulties with him.

The story was adapted by Mercedes Lackey into her