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If the Beast isn't a villain, can I even talk about his characterization in this essay? One could argue he has villain potential. He is characterized as a villain in the beginning until he is introduced to the prospect of finding love and returning to his human form.

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According to critic Jack Zipes, fairytales are “the applied verbalization of social interactions” (10). This implies that authors of fairytales compose their stories with the intention of embodying the practices and principles of society, both positive and negative. Some argue that fairytale authors address the practices of society in the creation of their fairytales via the implementation of a moral.

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However, I assert that the authors of fairytales also provide commentary on society’s beliefs through the characterization of their villains. In his tale “Bluebeard” Perrault communicates the commonly used prejudice lookism as the protagonist is rejected by society and incapable of finding love due to solely having a blue-colored beard. In “Rumpelstiltskin,” the Grimms brothers also reflect the antisemitic ideals of their target audience with Rumpelstiltskin's inherently Jewish traits and appearance. Beaumont creates commentary on ableism in her tale "Beauty and the Beast" by characterizing her beast as an unintelligent monster that must transform to achieve fulfillment.

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Through an analysis of the attributes and development of characters in each of these tales, this essay will demonstrate that villains in fairytales are physically and behaviorally characterized to directly reflect the target audience's prejudices.

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Synopsis:
Bluebeard is a murderous husband who stores the dead bodies of his previous wives in a chamber. Bluebeard secures a new wife who is only interested in his riches and leaves her for a business trip with the sole instruction of not opening the chamber. Unable to resist her curiosity, the wife opens the chamber, sees the dead wives, and drops the key in blood. Bluebeard returns early, see the bloody key, and immediately makes to kill her. The new wife stalls until her visiting brothers arrive and slay Bluebeard where he stands.

Target Audience:
Curious/disobedient wives of the French aristocratic court who valued physical beauty as a means of procuring social mobility.

Tale details that reflect prejudice:
"There once lived a man who owned fin townhouses and fine country houses, dinner services of gold and silver, tapestry chairs and gilded coaches; but, ala, God has also given him a blue beard, which made him look so ghastly that women fled at the sight of him" (204).

"Whoever could take him could have him. But neither of them wanted him" (204).

"The youngest daughter began to think that the beard of the master of the house was not so very blue, after all; that he was, all in all, a very fine fellow" (204).

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“Every disabled story becomes a narrative – a story that has everything to do with what culture perceives of as good (able-bodiedness, beauty) and bad (disability, disﬁgurement), and how we, as a society, are supposed to act toward one another – and what society, or the higher powers that be, will do to us in return” (3).

“It is inconceivable to so many that someone could be disabled and also happy because we as social beings have been taught, through the books we read, the ﬁlms and television we watch, and the music we listen to, the stories we tell one another, that to be disabled is to be at a disadvantage: to be a lesser body, to be a body that cannot function at the same level as other bodies in society" (14-15).

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Synopsis:
A poor miller promises a King that his daughter can spin straw into gold. Miller gives his daughter to the King, who threatens to kill her if she doesn't spin all the straw in the dungeon into gold by morning. In exchange for her necklace, a little man spins all of the straw into gold by morning. The impressed king asks her to spin even more straw into gold the following evening, and the girl gives him her ring. The king proclaims that if the girl is successful a third time, she will become his queen. The girl has nothing left to give Rumpelstiltskin, and so she promises him her firstborn. A year later, the queen has her firstborn child and refuses to give it up. Rumpelstiltskin gives her three days to come up with his name so that she can keep her child. On the third day, the Queen's messenger overheard Rumpelstilskin sing his name. On the third day, she tells Rumpelstiltskin his name, and enraged, he tears himself in half.

Target Audience:
German families/children

Tale details that reflect prejudice:
“The little man is often pictured with a large nose. He has an unpronounceable name. He trades in gold, exchanging it. Could it be that what we have encapsulated in the body of this German tale is an anti-semitic story?" (Yolen).

Rumpelstiltskin wants to eat the child of a Christian mother -> an allusion to Blood libel.

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Silverman's Perspective on Antisemitism in Fairytales

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Silverman's Perspective on Antisemitism in Fairytales

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“Indeed, antisemitic attitudes are woven through their stories, both reflecting and reinforcing popular attitudes of the time. Caitlin Hewitt White characterizes the Brothers Grimm as active participants in a “German romantic nationalist project that aimed to construct a central German identity by racializing Others,” including Jews. Considering this, it’s perhaps no coincidence that Nazis were able to use the Grimms’ stories as key propaganda tools for Aryan supremacy” (Silverman)

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Rebuttal: The moral of a fairytale often coincides with the prejudices of the target audience. If the moral dictates the characterization of the villain, then it remains true that societal prejudices determine the villain's attributes.

“But it is never society that changes, no matter how many half-animals or scullery maids are out there arguing for their place at the table. It is almost always the protagonists themselves who transform in some way – becoming more palatable, more beautiful, more easily able to ﬁt into the mold of society already in place” (7).

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"Kisses and tears (with their power to symbolize passion and
compassion) often release a beast from his enchanted condition, but decapitation and other acts of violence can prove equally effective"

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Women must fight their desires of curiosity and obey their husbands; one should not blindly trust a man

Fighting curiosity --> Women should not explore things that challenge societal norms; a metaphor for disability; women should not engage with practices or people that are different.

“We find it difficult to avert our eyes from those who would lead us into the moral abyss” (FFT 195).

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Counter: The tale's intended moral (B&TB = love's humanizing power) dictates the characterization of would-be villains; authors are not concerned with stereotypes

Physical deformities may make Riquet a Ia Houppe (in the
story of that title) look like a beast, but his other attributes are so winning that they inspire a love that transforms him from a hunch-back into the most handsome of men. Here we are no longer in the realm of "fairy enchantment" (as Perrault makes clear), but in the sphere of psychological allegory.

The theme of love's humanizing power has so overshadowed the link between sexuality and bestiality that few readers are shocked by the appearance of the animal groom.

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Moral: always be honest and accountable for your own actions and words

--> Alternative significant meaning: don't interact or deal with Jews no matter how helpful their advice or skills may be to your predicaments.

Reinforces Aryan supremacy perspective

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Moral: True love, based on virtue, can conquer all.

One should not have to change one's appearance or the way they conduct themselves to be worthy of love. All are worthy of love. Society should change its standards to accommodate all instead of others changing their appearance/principles to conform to society.

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By analyzing the role of prejudices in fairytales, we can identify the shortcomings of our society and identify the areas of our world that require change.

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Synopsis:
A poor merchant with three daughters went to settle a dispute over his merchandise. His youngest, Beauty, requested he only return with a rose for her. The merchant experiences misfortune with his merchandise and the weather, but on his journey home, he plucks a rose from the castle garden for his daughter. For the act of stealing, the beast provides the ultimatum of the merchant sacrificing himself or one of his daughters. Beauty returns with her father three months later and lives with the beast in her own quarters, having dinner every evening with him. She began to enjoy his company, but the beast asked her to be his wife each evening, which made her uncomfortable. Beauty seeks to see her father and is permitted by the Beast but must return in eight days. Ten days later, she returns and accepts the Beast's proposal. The Beast is transformed into a beautiful man, and together, they fix up the castle and rule the land benevolently.

Target Audience:
French aristocratic daughters who are scarred by the husbands of their arranged marriages.

Tale details that reflect prejudice:

" 'I am indeed very wicked,' she said, 'to cause so much grief to a Beast who has shown me nothing but kindness. Is it his fault that he is so ugly and has so few wits? He is good, and that makes up for all the rest." (136-137). --> for counter

"At her feet, she saw no longer the Beast, who had disappeared, but a prince more beautiful than Love himself, who thanked her for putting an end to his enchantment" (137).

"The good man had no intention of sacrificing one of his daughters to this hideous monster" (131).

" 'It is you who are mistress; you have only to tell me to go if my presence annoys you, and I will go immediately. Tell me, now, do you not consider me very ugly?' ... 'and in addition to being ugly, I lack intelligence. As I am well aware, I am a mere beast" (134).

"What a pity he is so ugly," she said "for he is so good" (135).