Beauty and the Beast

Fiction | Novella | Middle Grade | Published in 1740

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “There Once Was a Merchant”

The merchant of the chapter title lives comfortably despite having a large family, which includes 12 children (six sons and six daughters). One day, they lose everything when their house catches on fire, which is the first of many misfortunes—including bankruptcy and the loss of the merchant’s ships. All the family has left is a small country house, and the merchant moves them there when the city people blame and ridicule him for bringing about his own misfortune.

The merchant’s eldest five daughters are most disrupted by this change because they lose all their suitors and are unable to attract new ones simply by their privilege and wealth. The youngest daughter, however, accepts the misfortune, and though she misses her former life, she realizes that nothing can be done except live as they do now. She tries to cheer up her siblings, but they aren’t interested and don’t understand how she can be so cheerful in “the state it had pleased Providence to reduce them to” (17). While her family doesn’t appreciate her, others who meet her are taken in by her inner beauty and ability to see the goodness in a tough situation. Because of these qualities, she becomes known as “the Beauty.”

Two years later, the family learns that one of the merchant’s ships wasn’t lost and arrived in port with its full load of goods. The merchant travels to make sure his wares are sold for a fair value, and each of his children asks him to bring something back, the eldest five daughters requesting opulent and expensive gifts. The merchant insists that Beauty ask him for something too, and wanting to please him but not burden him, she requests a rose because, since they left the city, “I have not had the pleasure of seeing one” (21).

Upon arriving in the port where his ship landed, the merchant finds that the goods were sold out from under him. No richer, he makes the journey home, but is delayed by a terrible snowstorm in the woods near his house. After searching for some time, he finds a path and follows it.

Chapter 2 Summary: “The Castle of the Beast”

The path leads the merchant to a magnificent castle where the snow didn’t fall and which seems to be inhabited only by statues. He falls asleep in front of a fire and wakes to find a table of food laid before him. Grateful, he eats and then searches for someone to thank. Finding no one, he decides to bring his family there to live. On his way to leave, he passes through a blooming rose garden, and remembering his promise to Beauty, picks a flower. As soon as he does, a horrible beast with a trunk like an elephant’s arrives, demanding to know why the man so selfishly plucked a flower after all the hospitality he was shown. The merchant begs for forgiveness, but the Beast is not moved, saying “thou shalt not escape the death thou deservest” (30).

The merchant explains that he picked the rose for his youngest daughter because it was the only gift he could afford after all his misfortune. The Beast agrees to let the merchant go on the condition that he or one of his daughters return within a month to carry out the sentence. The merchant considers this choice no choice at all, but he agrees and swears not to break his promise. The next morning, a seemingly enchanted horse brings him home, and on the way, the merchant resolves not to tell his daughters about the Beast or the deal.

Upon arriving home, the merchant presents Beauty with the rose and, despite his promise to himself, tells them about the Beast and the bargain he struck. The merchant’s sons wish to kill the beast, but the merchant refuses to let them. Next, the sons try to convince the daughters that they should go and save their father, but the five eldest daughters don’t believe they should sacrifice themselves because Beauty’s gift caused the problem. To everyone’s surprise, Beauty agrees that it’s her fault and resolves to return to the Beast’s castle in a month.

When the day comes, a second enchanted horse arrives to take Beauty and the merchant to the castle. As night falls, a colorful explosion of fireworks lights the forest, and they arrive at the castle to find all the statues bearing torches and decorative lamps lining the palace. Beauty is amazed at so much fanfare just so she can die, thinking that it is “more brilliant than the bridal pomp of the greatest king in the world” (44).

Chapter 3 Summary: “Beauty Meets the Beast”

Beauty is afraid when she sees the Beast, but she quickly masks her discomfort. The Beast asks if she has come willingly, which Beauty confirms, and when he further asks what she thinks will become of her, she responds mildly, “I submit blindly to the fate which you may doom me to” (50). The Beast is satisfied by this and directs Beauty and the merchant to select gifts for the rest of their family. The following morning, the merchant leaves, silently vowing that this goodbye won’t be forever.

That night, Beauty dreams of a handsome young man who tells her not to be upset with her new situation. She’ll find the life and love that is due her, and only she can free him and make him happy, which will lead to her being her own woman. She wakes, wishing she could return to her dream and the love it promises. Later, she explores the castle and is confused to find the man’s picture hanging on a wall. Even his image seems to look at her with tenderness, and Beauty feels herself grow warm under his stare, as if “he had had witnesses of her thoughts” (59).

The Beast joins Beauty for dinner that night. He asks her many questions, including whether she could marry him. Taken aback by such a blunt inquiry, Beauty says no, and the Beast leaves. That night, she dreams of the handsome man again. To keep from daydreaming about him when she wakes, she goes to the garden, where she recognizes locations from her dreams. She wonders if the handsome man is another prisoner but dismisses the idea, and she spends the rest of the day exploring the palace, finding singing birds, talking parrots, and other animals, all of which treat Beauty like a queen.

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

The first third of the book introduces the important conflicts of the story, all of which the prince and fairy explain in Chapters 7 and 8. The tale begins with a seemingly normal and well-to-do family that suddenly experiences unprecedented hardship, a common quality of fairy tales of the time. The merchant and his children are unaware that these hardships are manufactured—and that Beauty isn’t part of their family by blood. The blame and ridicule by the people of their city home is misplaced. The merchant had nothing to do with the hardships that befell him; rather, he was targeted by the fairies, whose goal was to bring Beauty to the castle and break the Beast’s spell. This manipulation of humans by fairies or other supernatural beings is another common trope of fairy tales, and it suggests that humans aren’t actually responsible for their own fates or choices.

From Chapter 1, the story sets Beauty apart from her siblings, especially her sisters, foreshadowing that she isn’t really part of their family. While her sisters complain about everything they’ve lost, introducing the theme The Effects of Greed, Beauty is much more gracious and adaptable; she’s content with her current situation as it is and resolves to make the best of whatever comes next. When the family learns that their former wealth might be restored to them, Beauty’s sisters ask the merchant to bring them back unreasonably extravagant gifts. By contrast, Beauty asks for something only after her father insists, and even then, she wants only a rose, which will cost nothing but give her joy she hasn’t experienced since the family left the city.

These chapters show how the magic inherent in the story world doesn’t obey exact rules. In more modern fairy or fantasy tales, magic is expected to work a certain way that is consistent with the world the author creates. At the time Beauty and the Beast was first published, however, such restrictions weren’t placed on magic, and authors were free to make magic work however they wished. While the fairies have worked magic all through Beauty’s backstory, the snowstorm in Chapter 1 is the first time the story describes magic. The snow falls only where the merchant is—and disappears as soon as he arrives at the palace, showing that he’s reached the destination the storm was intended to lead him to.

The statues are a hint that something is wrong at the palace, and they foreshadow the Beast’s spell being broken. The way the castle grounds change upon Beauty’s arrival shows that she’s the one who will break the spell. Instead of the dark, foreboding place the merchant found, the castle transforms into a place of celebration. Neither Beauty nor the merchant question the magic at the castle. Although they aren’t aware of the magic that brought them there, their previous exposure to magic may allow them to accept the castle’s displays without question—or the magic is an accepted part of the world because supernatural influence from fairies and other creatures is known to be real.

Beauty’s internal and external conflicts within the castle begin in Chapter 3. Externally, she fears the Beast because he’s enormous and ugly. After speaking with him only once, she realizes that he isn’t as vile as his appearance suggests, which support’s the book’s theme Appearances Versus Reality. Overcoming her fear of him allows her to roam the castle and its grounds to discover the wonders they offer, which include the magic mirror. Internally, Beauty meets the prince in her dreams, which sets up a conflict between the handsome prince who appears only in her dreams and the ugly beast who is real but not what she wants. Although the narrative gives many hints that the Beast and prince are the same person, such as the portraits, Beauty never reaches this conclusion. She briefly considers the possibility that the prince is a prisoner but quickly dismisses it, either because she doesn’t really think it could be true or because the author wants to show Beauty thinking about him but not suggest that he’s being held physically captive, foregrounding the theme The Many Types of Captivity.