Sunday, October 25, 2009
Reflection on Dr. Shabbir Mian's Presentation on Folk and Fairy Tales from Bangladesh
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Beauty and the Beast in Relation to Cupid and Psyche
The versions of Beauty and the Beast vary throughout history; that is no secret. The version by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont relates to the fable Cupid and Psyche because of the different time periods and places they were created, the two versions are very different; but contain similar motifs. In both versions there is talk about love between the “beauty” and the “beast”, and trials that the female figures have to complete successfully and transformation.
The love between the two main characters is a blind-type of love. Beauty loves the Beast even though he is ugly. She is not blinded by his terrible looks instead she sees that he is “very kind” and bases her view point of him only on his kindness and begins to ignore his ugly looks. In the fable Cupid and Psyche, the two main characters (Cupid and Psyche) do not see each other when they are married. Cupid just talks to Psyche and she falls in love with his kindness just like Beauty and Beast.
Psyche and Beauty undergo tasks that highlight their inner beauty and not just their outer beauty. Psyche undergoes three tasks in which she proves her loyalty to Cupid. She trusts his judgment when he tells her how to complete her tasks for Venus. Like when she has to go and retrieve Golden Fleece, separate the grains and to travel safely to the kingdom of Pluto. With Beauty and Beast her kind heartedness is tested when she is brought to the castle and gives herself to replace her father’s death. She also is rewarded for her kindness by not being killed. Through these test and trials the female characters prove that they are both beautiful inside and out.
In the end of both stories a transformation occurs. Psyche transforms into an immortal goddess to love and be married to Cupid for eternity. In Beauty and the Beast, the male character Beast transforms into a handsome prince when Beauty confesses that she “can’t live without [him]”.