Friday, October 23, 2009

Beauty and Beast Continue


I feel so happy today because professor announced a great news which give all of us a hope to bring up our grades by doing well on presentation part. Everybody in class cherry up and said that “ we love you more now”. Anyway, it’s so nice of her to make this kind of wise decision. Thank you, Professor. Your decision really saves me from the hell. I was so depressed when I had a “F” on my first essay because I know there is no way I can bring up grade even I work hard, but the miracle really happened now. Finally, I can see a hope from this class. Thanks again.
My journal today is about the reason that made Beauty changed her mind and marry the ugly Beast. Beauty said to the Beast that “I would like to marry you, but I am not too candid to allow you to believe that could ever happen. I will always be your friend” (Tatar 38). So, what is her motivation for marrying the Beast? Why would she want to marry someone she even does love? Some classmates believe the reason Beauty decides to marry Beast is money, and others think she wants to escape from the humdrum life with her sisters and live in the opulence of a castle. I believe she wants to marry Beast because she is selfish and avaricious. Beauty is selfish because, rather than live with the guilt of not marrying such an ugly creature, she is marrying him to escape from this guilt. She does not really love Beast, but feels respect, friendship, and gratitude toward him. If she made him unhappy, her lack of appreciation would make her feel guilty for the rest of her life (Tatar 40). Also, she never said the words “I love you” to Beast, although she gave her hands to marry him and swear that only belong to him. Therefore, I consider her an egocentric character based on her self-centered behavior. Now, let’s explore her avaricious nature. According to one of our classmates, Beauty loves the life Beast provided to her, all the accoutrements and luxuries life. I agree with this idea because I think this is what Beauty eventually wants to get. She is just like the character Belle in the Disney’s version of “Beauty and the Beast.” According to the article “culture review”, it says that Belle pretends to be a funny and good person when she stays with those villagers. In fact, she never fit in because she considers herself are different from those villagers: Her dream is to be a princess. So, she is looking for someone to take care of her, spoil her, and give her the finer things in life. True, Belle rejects the role of the traditional housewife: she does not want to clean up after, cook for, and tend to a husband. Domestic work is not on her agenda—ask not for whom this Belle toil—but her rejection of domesticity and its associated labor is not in the name of independence and equality. Rather, Belle is the one who wants to be pampered, to have a husband rich enough to have a staff work her. Both Belle and Beauty are obviously looking for a rich man and willing to marry them; therefore, their dream will come true—they will get whatever they want without any effort. Once again, the first time Beauty heard the story of Beast from her father, she knew that Beast was a rich and powerful man. She goes with her father to the castles to pursue her dream of marrying a rich man. Belle had the similar situation. She knew the Beast is the one who could make her dream come true, so she took a risk to rescue him from the curse. Considering all of these elements, I feel that Beauty and Belle are both sophisticated tricksters.

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