Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast

In Beast’s magical library, Beauty reads about technology from the future, revealing that the story takes place before steam engines and telephones are invented. In what ways would the story be different if it were set in the 1970s when Beauty was written and published? What additional themes and ideas might these changes support?

How does Beauty’s nickname employ irony to develop the text’s themes? Based on what the Background section reveals about feminist fairy tale retellings, what did the author accomplish by using Beauty’s name differently than in previous versions of the tale?

Why does Beauty say she can’t marry Beast right after he resumes his human form? What does this reveal about women’s status in Beauty’s society, and how does this relate to issues that were important to the women’s rights movement in the 1970s?

Beauty is characterized by very little conflict and tension. None of the characters act as antagonists or pose major obstacles to Beauty achieving her goals. Enchantments provide every convenience and further prevent obstacles and conflicts. How does this differ from conventions of the Realism movement? Considering the book’s target audience and thematic aims, does this lack of tension make the text more or less effective, and why?

What function do animals serve in the story? Consider Greatheart, Cider, the canary, wild birds in the forest, and any others that hold significance.

Beauty makes several observations which suggest city residents hold stereotyped beliefs about life in the country, and vice versa. For example, she notes that she’s “not entirely free of the city bred belief that the north was a land rather overpopulated by goblins and magicians, who went striding about the countryside muttering wild charms” (10). Within the context of the larger story, what message do these observations convey about human nature and overcoming differences?

Beauty loves to read, and she peppers her narration with literary allusions. What does this say about Beauty’s character attributes? What does it suggest about the author and about the idea of literature as a form of ongoing discourse?

After Beauty faints in Beasts arms and gains a new kind of sight, she says, “I thought I knew what Persephone must have felt after she ate those pomegranate seeds; and was then surprised by a sudden rush of sympathy for the dour King of Hell” (169-70). Research Persephone’s role in Greek mythology and describe how it compares to Beauty’s experience. What theme or message emerges from this comparison?