As one of the most famous and beautiful fairy tales in the world, Beauty and the Beast carries the message to love, not to judge others by their appearance. Through Disney’s 1991 animated film, the story of Belle became even more famous and loved by many people.
However, perhaps few people know that the original Beauty and the Beast is not so pure and dreamy. The fairy tales about Belle and the Disney animated film must “distort” and edit two extremely important details in the original.
Although this story has a history dating back thousands of years, the official version is derived from the novel by French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, first published in 1740.
The Disney animated film ends when the beast is transformed back into a human, and from then on, he and Belle live happily and fully together forever. However, that is only half of the original story. There are four later chapters of the writer Villeneuve’s story about the origin of the prince’s transformation into a beast.
Turns out, he was turned into an animal not because of his selfish, evil nature. This curse was carried out by an evil witch who kidnapped him at a young age, then raised him and intended to seduce him. When he refused to love her, she turned him into a beast.
However, a kind fairy took pity on the prince. She transforms the curse that true love will make him back to the way he was. Besides, she also secretly arranged everything for Belle to meet him, thereby making the two fall in love.
Oh my God! Incestuous!
Another shocking detail is that in the original, the prince and Belle both have a very close relationship. Belle’s biological father is not actually the father in the movie or the book. In fact, Belle is the child born from the love of a king with a good fairy. This king is also a brother to the prince’s mother. So in short, Belle and the beast are close relatives. The fact that two people love each other can be considered incest.
Chapters about the origin of these characters were later deleted, “reduced” in many versions because they did not contribute much to the content, in addition, it only made everything darker and more difficult to continue. approach for children.
Image source: Disney, Synthesis
