Synopsis

• Belle/Beauty is bored with her small provincial life, and the borish Gaston who courts her. Her father journeys into the woods and becomes lost.
• He happens upon a castle, and goes inside seeking shelter. Here he makes a deal with the master of the castle, a beast. His Daughter can live here in stead of him dieing there.
• Belle/Beauty goes to the castle and after a time the beast falls in love with Belle/Beauty, and allows her to glimpse home using a magic mirror.
• After this glimpse Belle/Beauty had no choice but to return home and the Beast let her.
• While Belle/Beauty is away the beast wastes away from want of her.
• She returns just in time to tell him she loves him in return thus breaking the spell, revealing the beast's true face.

Analysis

The mirror in this story only occurs in the Disney and Perault versions, and plays only a minor role, but the reason I included this page on the website was because the way the mirror is used in this particular fairy tale intrigued me.