Gratefulness:
Gratefulness is one of the most positive qualities a person could possess. The merchant finds a splendid castle where he gets a chance to rest and eat after a long journey and numerous misfortunes, what is more there is even a warm stable for his tired horse. When he wakes up, he finds a wonderful breakfast that he eats with a great appetite. Unfortunately, the man forgets that he is just a guest, so he takes a rose without even asking if he is allowed to do so. His initial gratefulness is quickly forgotten, his timidity turns into boldness. 

Love:
Beauty and the beast has the right idea about love. Belle is beloved not because she's beautiful but because she's gentle and kind. The Beast is a little slower on the uptake, but he gets there, too, making sure he earns her affection by the time that last rose petal falls. Belle and the Beast follow the classic arc of hating each other so much, it must be love. But, seriously: try to stop the waterworks when Belle whispers those three little words over his dying body at the end.

Appearances:
Love is not about appearances in this movie. In fact, appearances can be very deceiving. That handsome hero type is actually a supreme jerk. The monster actually has a heart of gold. Even Belle, beautiful inside and out, is more than she appears. She's got a brain in her head and a love for books that send the rubes in her little town into a tizzy. You'll notice that the bad guys in this film, Gaston and his cronies in town, put a great deal of emphasis on appearances. Witness the Unfortunate Marriage Incident, or that odd bald woman trying on wigs in the first scene. Shallow people in this movie look only at what's showing. The wiser ones go deeper than that, looking for the soul despite the fact that it may be owned by a talking tea cup.

Community:
The funny thing about Beauty and the Beast: it doesn't have a lot of faith in community, at least the traditional kind. Disney movies have always tended to stress the value of community and the way tight-knit towns stood together against adversity. The town stands together here…against anyone who might be different or odd. The townspeople are shallow, pigheaded, and pretty darn judgmental, something that Gaston exploits to murderous effect in the finale. Contrast that with the castle, where everyone hangs together through thick and thin. Sure, getting turned into a living housewares-department item will do that to you, but even so, it's a pretty sharp contrast from the town where Belle lives. In some ways, the movie is about Belle finding her home. We're just glad she found one with the singing cutlery instead of those rubes fawning over Gaston's disturbingly large antler collection back at the inn.

Identity:
The last time you had an identity crisis, it was probably something along the lines of "I'm not as generous/good-looking/amusing/klutzy as I thought I was." In this film, it's more of an "I was a human being, but now it looks like I'm a lamp/teapot/cup/hideous beast" sort of thing. Identity is a lot more than personality; it's how we think about ourselves. There are some serious identity challenges in Beauty and the Beast, namely for all those castle residents who lost the most fundamental identity of all. The Beast's struggle to regain a human identity is what drives our plot. The message? We form our identity in relationships. It's our interaction with others that ultimately shows us who we really are.

Exile:
Exile, or being forced to leave your home, can be physical or emotional. The Beast lives completely apart from civilization: stuck in his castle and left to use his magic mirror to look in on the rest of the world. He's been separated from the rest of humanity by the enchantress and now, he isolates himself. Belle isn't all that different. She can move through the town, but she isn't really a part of it, and they let her know that she's not welcome. In a lot of ways, the story is about being exiled—set apart from the group either figuratively or otherwise—and having to find a new community to which you can belong.