The Father's Fault

I cannot think of a single version of Beauty and the Beast in which the reason for Belle's initial encounter with the beast is not the father's fault. However, it is the means by which the father is guilty that marks the major differences in the story. In Angela Carter's "The Tiger's Bride," the responsibility of the father is clearly stated in the story's opening line: "My father lost me to The Beast at cards" (50). This dad's carelessness and the narrator's statement that "You must not think my father valued me at less than a king's ransom; but, at no more than a king's ransom" display the absence of the great familial love of the more traditional versions (53). In this story, the girl has the option of returning to her father, but she choses to remain with the beast.

In "The Singing Rose," the father tells his daughters to "go out into the wide world, and the one of you who brings back a singing rose shall inherit my throne, and she shall be queen over the entire land." The daughter that does receive the rose must return to the beast's castle in 7 years. Again, it is ultimately the father's fault for her stay with the beast. Although he hands her over "with a bleeding heart," he does still hand her over. However, unlike the narrator of Carter's story, "Day after day she sorrowfully thought about her father and her sisters" and takes every possible opportunity to return home.

In Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," Belle makes the conscious choice to take her father's place and live with the beast forever. Their familial love is so strong that she is completely willing to make this sacrifice. It is still the father's fault, although it is the daughter's decision. The main reason for her initial sorrow with the beast is the fact that he does not allow her to say good-bye to her beloved father. In the climax of the beast's love for Belle, he allows her to return home to her father, this being the greatest gift he could offer.

The father is always the catalyst for Belle's meeting with the beast. However, his role after this encounter depends entirely on the reason behind his catalyst and, consequently, on the familial bond between father and daughter.