Told in many different ways Beauty and the Beast is the story of a young beautiful girl held prisoner by a hideous beast. The story always ends with the Beast winning Beauty over even though he is an unattractive creature. Expressed in a third person point of view, but with the focus on Beauty, De Beaumont’s version is different then Straparola’s version “The Pig King.” “The Pig King” is also told in a third person point of view, but the focus is on the Pig King and not Meldina. This completely changes the focus on the story and the way that the reader interprets it. De Beaumont’s version focuses on Beauty as the protagonist and she is the savior of the two most important men in her life. She saves the Beast and her father throughout the story. Beauty behavior is kind and sweet and empathetic. De Beaumont focused on Beauty’s struggle to accept the Beast’s inner beauty to portray this classic love story. In the Pig King, with the focus on the Pig, the story was not about the love story between Meldina and the Pig, but it was about the transformation of the pig into the King and the Pig’s struggle of finding someone to accept him. The focus of …show more content…
In De Beaumont’s version of “Beauty and the Beast” the merchant and Beauty had an amazing relationship. Willing to sacrifice herself for her father, Beauty agreed to sacrifice her own free will. Her father also got himself into trouble with the Beast because he wanted to bring a rose back for his daughter. When Beauty left to go to sacrifice herself, the merchant wept because he was losing his daughter. In Straparola’s version, the queen did anything for her son. She loved him even though he was a pig and she accepted him for what he was. Their relationship was similar to Beauty’s relationship with the merchant because they both had someone who would do anything to help their family