Before the 18th century, fairy tales were played orally and it was not until authors like the Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, began collecting and started writing them that they appeared in writing. One of the better known fairy tales is Beauty and the Beast, which was originally written in the 18th century by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (Pook Press). Though there are many versions of Beauty and the Beast, the most common version is by Leprince de Beaumont (Pook Press). Jack Zipes and Maria Tatar describe that fairy tales contain wishes, fantasies, victimized character, and supernaturalist settings (Crabtree). When examining Beauty and the Beast, the different characteristics of fairy tales such as magical elements, setting and the types of characters, and lessons within the tale demonstrate an ideal example of a fairy tale that is described by Jack Zipes and Maria Tatar.
One day, an old beggar woman comes by a castle offering a young, selfish prince a rose in exchange for a place to stay for the night and the young prince denies her. Since the prince denies her due to her unattractive outward appearance, the old woman punishes the young prince by turning him into a monstrous beast and his servants into sentient objects. The old woman gives the prince 10 years, or by the time he turns 21, to find a girl who will fall in love with him despite him being a beast. The time is counted down by an enchanted rose whose petals will slowly fall off until his time is up.