Some people may consider self-love to be a synonym of narcissism. However, the concept of narcissism encompasses much more. A narcissistic person has an inflated sense of their self-worth and pride. To the surprise of many, narcissists have difficulty finding true self-love and are hollow and unsatisfied deep inside. A notorious example of this type of person would be Disney's Gaston from the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast. Gaston serves as the movie's main antagonist and desperately tries to marry the protagonist, Belle, even though she rejected him time and again. Gaston displays a strong narcissistic personality, which can be seen through his vanity, unfulfillment in his life, and entitled attitude.
The character of Gaston is full of vanity. According to the Oxford Dictionary, vanity refers to "excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements (Oxford Dictionaries.)" Gaston constantly brags throughout the movie about his excellence and achievements, such as in his introductory scene. In this scene, Gaston's close friend
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Narcissism leaves people searching for fulfillment, which is unobtainable for someone with unhealthy self-love and greediness (Smith). Gaston displays this characteristic as his main motive in the movie. Gaston desperately desired to have Belle as his wife and form a large family (Woolverton et al.). While the rest of the village's men would give anything to be like Gaston, Gaston himself is not satisfied with all he has. He wants more and more to fill his unquenchable greed, for he is empty inside. His reaction to his rejection is not at all surprising. Gaston becomes depressed and dejected (Woolverton et al.). He plunged into a pit of despondency because he could not find satisfaction with what he already had and desperately wanted to fill the hole in his life. However, this may not be the only reason he has trouble coming to terms with his