Once upon a time...
The classic opener for any fairy tale, which is no different in the case of Beauty and the Beast. Fairy tales were meant to teach our children life lessons that society, at the time, deems important to learn. They teach us the difference between right and wrong, black and white, good and bad, light and dark, and beauty and ugly. There are many different variations and names to Beauty and the Beast. This famous fable has been passed down and integrated into our culture time and time again, each time adding different lessons that were thought to be important in that day and age. What has changed over the years? How have the fairy tales of Beauty and the Beast affected the children of yesterday, today and tomorrow? I hope to show how fairy tales, more importantly Beauty and the Beast, is helpful to children in many ways, but mostly by teaching them the way that they should act in society.
Illustration by Warwick Goble to Beauty and the Be...
English: Old, Old Fairy Tales: "Beauty and the Bea...
Illustration for Beauty and the Beast by Walter Cr...There are three very important lessons that Beauty and the Beast teaches us. First, and probably, the biggest one, is that beauty is only skin deep. It is what is on the inside that counts. Second, which ties in with the first lesson is, don't be too greedy because you will only be looking for the beauty on the out side. Finally, do unto others as you would have done to you, this will make you beautiful on the inside were it counts.
In this paper I am going to take a look at two versions of Beauty and the Beast. Although The Lady and the Lion and Beauty and the Beast are very different, the base story is there. True beauty is determined by what is on the inside and...