Belle - Women as Civilizers of Men

The Characters that Really Matter

‘Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme’ 

I didn’t grow up watching the Disney Princess films and only discovered them in my early twenties. When I first watched Beauty and the Beast, I instantly knew that Belle was going to be my favourite Disney Princess. Therefore I wanted to talk about her today as part of my ‘Characters that really matter’ Series.

 I am only going to briefly touch upon the original fairytale in this article, as the more popular known Belle is the one from the 1991 Disney Classic.

As one might expect, the character of Belle does not differ greatly in any of these adaptations. She is portrayed as the beautiful youngest daughter of a merchant who gets lost and stumbles upon the Beast's castle. In all versions Belle is portrayed as the most virtuous and beautiful of all her siblings, she is hardworking and diligent, she loves her father and sacrifices herself for him. 

We know Belle as an outlier in her own small community. She is described as funny, strange and different from the rest of them. Her head seems to be either buried in a book or up in the clouds, with her vivid imagination and keen intelligence she baffles the villagers. They however also acknowledge her beauty and fair appearance and that she is incredibly kind to those around her. We can immediately see the close and loving relationship she has with her father. She nurtures his strange interests with pure feminine love and encourages him to follow his dreams. In these scenes especially her femininity shines through. 

While being the typical portrayal of a masculine man, Gaston, lacks a number of virtues desirable in a partner. He is arrogant and preoccupied with himself and his appearance. On several occasions he mistreats those around him that are weaker and he views Belle as an object to possess, rather than a cherished partner. Indeed the only reason we get from him for wanting to be with Belle is that she is as beautiful as him and therefore they should be together. 

But unlike Gaston who is too proud and self-absorbed the Beast allows Belle’s gentle feminine guidance to soften his heart and manners.  

Belle herself sees that change in the Beast as she remarks: 

‘There's something sweet, and almost kind

But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined

And now he's dear, and so unsure

I wonder why I didn't see it there before’

What Belle hasn’t realised in this scene, is that she is the one that has inspired this change.

Men have a natural drive to live up to the standards that are set before them. That’s why they like to challenge each other physically and mentally. I do wholeheartedly believe that men have a natural instinct to serve the women around them. Not because of a misplaced sexual desire as some might argue, although I am sure that is sometimes the case, but because they were born for it.  

Our entire biology and mindset is designed to complement and serve each other.  

Personally, I have noticed that the more I allow others to do me small favours, but specifically men, the happier that person and I become. I am not losing any of my dignity or strength by allowing someone to hold a door open for me, letting me get off a train first or by letting my male neighbour carry a parcel up for me that I couldn’t possibly have managed to carry up myself. 

I used to look at these actions with the mixed feelings of many modern women, it made me feel uncomfortable to admit that I wasn’t strong enough or more polite by letting others go first. I had to humbly accept that thinking that actually made me more selfish and prideful than accepting these small favours. Now I smile and say a wholehearted thank you, and many tired commuter that has let me of the train before him, suddenly had a smile on his face because I didn’t tell him off or try to awkwardly bargain with him, but rather acknowledged the small effort he was making to make my journey more comfortable.  

If women don’t hold men accountable and let them live up to their mission of servant kings and protectors, well, we live in a society much like we already do. Full of confusion, hate and distrust of one another. So ladies, next time a man tries to do something for you just consider letting him and just say a sincere thank you.  

But back to Belle, she actually continues to challenge the Beast to be a better man. She doesn’t allow herself to be mistreated by the Beast and isn’t afraid to correct his impolite behaviours. After he rescues her from the wolves she tenderly cares for him and for the first time in a long time the Beast experiences genuine love from another person. It softens his heart towards life again and he begins to behave much more like a man again after this interaction. 

He needed her love and nurture to realise what it is to be human again. After this his natural instincts kick in, alright he does have some help from a candlestick and a clock, but overall he tries hard to live up to Belle’s expectations of a good man. Personally, the Beast had me at the library, and I would have dropped everything and moved in, but Belle persists to the point of inspiring the Beast to become a truly sacrificial man. He lets Belle go, despite her ability to break the curse that binds him and his people, he chooses her good over his own. That is true love, willing the good of the other.

Belle recognises this and when she returns to her fathers house she defends the Beast to the others. She even goes back to try and intervene in the final fight between Gaston and the Beast. 

This battle between a man that has allowed a feminine influence to shape him and challenge him and one that lives for the false gods of glory, envy and greed is the ultimate show of what feminine strength can inspire others to do. Gaston rides to kill the Beast because he realises Belle loves the Beast and not him, but also to receive accolades from the villagers after his deed is done. He is willing to attack and kill the Beast without hesitation. He pursues him relentlessly, the Beast, however, cannot bring himself to kill Gaston. In the end Gaston dies because he cannot accept Belle’s choice, attacks the Beast in a cowardly fashion from behind and loses his grip as he tries to deal him a deadly blow. The Beast, however, is finally saved by the love of a woman, who he ‘got to see one last time.’ Amid this tragedy Belle can finally admit what we saw all along, she loves the Beast, and with these words she can break the curse that binds him. Now she can see the beautiful and virtuous man that was hidden inside the Beast, that she helped to shape into a better man. Therefore they can truly live happily ever after. 

This is a beautiful portrayal of the power of love, especially the love of a woman for a man. While men are inspired to heroic deeds and great sacrifices within themselves, a woman’s love is transformative. She inspires these feelings and desires in another person. It is important to acknowledge the sway we hold over those around us and to use this great power responsibly. 

A woman should always aspire to promote what is good, true and beautiful in the men in her life, be it a father, brother, husband or son. This power we hold has been recognised for centuries with men like the French writer Vinet stating ‘the value of a people can be measured by the value of its women.’ This statement has been reiterated through the ages and most recently and perfectly by our very own Venerable Fulton Sheen: 

“To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.”