Transformation Motifs in Fairy Tales

Unlike most fairy tales, Beauty and the Beast has been a traditional tale where there are two paths to be developed in which Beauty faces challenges and the transformation that is sustained by Beast. Therefore, this shows how two opposing allegorical characters resolve their differences in joining wedlock. The version of Beauty of the Beast by Madame de Beaumont shows how Beauty's happiness is found in her abstract quality of good features. In this version, Madame de Beaumont not only stresses the importance of obedience and self-denial but also advocates the transformation power of love and the importance of valuing oneself over appearances. Madame de Beaumont not only shows that looks make a woman happy, but character, virtue, and kindness are significant, which all qualities, the Beast possess. The Grimm's version, Frog King, or Iron Heinrich is similar to Beauty and the Beast.

According to Bruno Bettelheim in his book, The Uses of Enchantment, children need fairy tales to learn the lessons contained in them about dealing with the issues that they will face in their lives (Bettelheim, 25-26). This may not be the primary reason that children are drawn to these stories. However, even if this theory of Bettelheim is not quite true, fairy tales and folklore in general trace back to oral tradition and these stories can help us identify what was necessary to these previous societies through their inclusion of these elements and themes in their versions of the tales. Fairy tales, and other similar genres of stories have remained hugely popular, and each tale has a long history. Some of these stories are more difficult to classify as being specifically a fairytale or a myth, since there is often some overlap in the common themes and situations used in these tales.

As Bettelheim is pointing out here, a story only survives because of public interest, and since that interest changes over time, each tale must transform with it as societies evolve (Bettelheim, 25-26). As a result, the many categories of folklore and fairy tales develop into large traditions. Over the course of the evolution of these traditions, few things have remained the same. However, we have seen that due to the importance of the society and time on different versions of the tale, the tale must necessarily transform along with the cultural change. While there is little that remains in all of the versions of the tale, what does remain are the crucial elements of the tale. By considering the variety of these versions of the tradition, it is apparent that a beauty, a beast, and some type of family are required to make the tale fit into the “Beastly Bridegroom” tradition. Beyond that, education plays a large role in the tale. It is fascinating to note that this category of fairy tales has become exceedingly popular in the past few decades. This popularity and success of the tradition may explain why several scholars have proposed that the story of “Beauty and the Beast” is ...