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Antoine Lewis
Prof. Delsandro (Erica)
English 101 3:00-4:15
Beauty is a rose
Epilogue
(story told by a mythical narrator)
This is a story of true love, romanticized; a forbidden love story, in the form of a fairytale
that challenges gender roles, and social scripts.
This tale takes place at the intersection of two cultures’, who’s differences evokes so
much anger and resentment towards one another that they reside on opposite sides of a land, split
between mountains and other environmental barriers.
To the left side of this great barrier, was a prosperous land, ruled by an arrogant prince,
known to most as beast. This land was known as “Prospera”. The prince was a handsome man,
with good personable qualities. However, he never had to work for anything. He was rich. His
father had given him maids, butlers and a plethora of pretty women to keep him company.
Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, other than the prince had disobeyed his father, the prince
and his land was enchanted with a vicious curse. This curse was a bitter curse. It brought war
upon Prospera and its neighboring land, because it made the other land despise the prince.
This other land was a poor province, known as “Provincia”. Provincia was ruled by a
princess. This princess wasn’t your typical beauty. She was a young conqueror, who conquered
great lands in order to feed her people. She was good with her hands. She was one with her
people, very kind and caring. She was also intelligent. However, she was cursed. Her cursed
entailed a lost of memory; because of this she didn’t trust any man she met and didn’t know why.
Rumor has it that her father didn’t want anyone to marry his daughter, because he loved her so
much. With that being said the princess engraved a mark on her wrist; a rose that shared her
concept of love.
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It has been said that the month of February, on the 14th day, that the prince and the
princess both cried out to their ancestors wishing that they would find true love. On that day their
ancestors, who died in war with each other, sent them each a baby angel that would consult them
on how to find the love they had cried for. The prince’s baby angel advised him to sponsor a
masquerading ball and to invite all females in the land. The prince thoughtfully exclaimed, “I
shall invite all, however I shall have it atop of the mountain that separates “Prospera” and
“Provincia”. He wanted the other land to envy his masquerade.
Later on in that day, the princess after looking at her beloved rose engraving upon her
arm, spoke with her father an exclaimed, “why must I be lonely father”. After hours of stalling,
her father finally told her of his selfish ways and of the curse he bequeathed to her. In a panic she
wrapped herself in robes and hid her face with a hood, and sprinted from her kingdom. In an
effort to keep the princess safe, her baby angel whispered “daddy’s little girl, must find another
world”. So with unease she headed towards “Prospera”.
As soon as beauty first laid eyes on the prince she was immediately attracted to him. One
might say it was love at first sight until they each recongnised, that they were to have a profound
hatred towards one another. However, Beauty’s baby angel advised her to curb her prejudice and
persue her true love. She did. The prince played hard to get. He knew he was in love with
Beauty, but he refused to disobey his father yet again. However beauty continuesly persisted to
pursue him.
The prince had a way to solve his problem, thanks to his baby angel of course. His baby
angel advised him to test beauty’s determination. The prince quickly acted. Beauty not only
passed every test to win her future husbands heart but she convinced her own father to allow her
to get married. The prince and beauty were very pleased. They spent every hour toghether for
about a week until an uprising happened between both villages.
The two towns rebelled against the other village. Beauty and the Beast angered a whole
town full of people.
Their anger was fueled so highly that “Prospera” had plotted to kill the prince and
“Provincia” had plotted to kill its princess. Sadly there was no happily ever after.
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One day, the princess had became obsessed with her emotions of the beast. As a result,
she had decided to propose to her love. She could not wait for a traditional proposal from a man.
One day during the princess’ proposal an arrow was pierced through her arm, where her rose
engraving is located. The prince reached for his love; as he lunged for beauty he was peirced
with three arrows. One went to his heart. One went through his heart and one through his eye.
The town mourned them for a whole year. As sad as this was the prince did not come back from
the dead; the princess was not revitalized due to magic. The couple just died as martyrs. The only
good to come from their death was the fact that the two towns had ceased their war with each
other and the fathers had learned to not be as harsh when raising their children.
(narrator)
This is a tragic love story.
The end.
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Antoine Lewis
Prof. Delsandro (Erica)
English 101 3:00-4:15
Beauty: The analysis
Beauty and the beast is a classic fairy tale that explores true love. True love is explored
through true beauty, or inner beauty. This to me means beauty should first be judged by
personality. However there are a couple of components or aspects of the original beauty and the
beast that I decided to alter in my fairytale revision. These changes are female dependence and
having a male character seem “hard—edged” or unsensitive, as well as categorizing what male
and females are allowed to do by societies standards. My fairytale revision is meant to explore
social scripts and gender roles. I choose to explore gender roles and social scripts after reading
several passages, such as Blau Duplesis’s, “endings in contradictions”.
In Blau Duplesis’s passage she says, women have a tendency to be seen in a light that
displays them as weak or dependent. In my fairytale revision I try combat this by making both
the princess and the prince equally dependent upon each other as opposed to the latter. In my
revision the female lead and the male lead start off as equals, from a status stand point. This
simple revision challenges gender roles by making the female not have to rely on man. I made
this change, because Duplesis argues, “with its ending in marriage, is a successful integration
with society, in which the gain is financial and romantic”. To me Duplesis explores how
marriage in fairytales are used as a necessity and as a “happily ever after” effect. This concept in
fairytales unconsciously slaves women with the belief that in order to be successful one must be
dependent upon a man; inevitably she must get married to be happy. Often in fairytales before
the marriage the male is a rich handsome prince and the female is either poor or perceived as low
class for whatever reason. This is apparent in Maria Tatar’s “The Classic Fairytales”. “Out of the
blue, the merchant lost his fame” (Leprince De Beaumont 32). In this version of “Beauty and the
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Beast” the female, beauty must rely on the beast for wealth, lodging, and mercy for her father. In
most fairytales it is not uncommon to see a female having to rely on the male lead.
Fairytales have a tendency to make assumptions that women belong in specific types of
jobs. Most jobs for women seem to be any job that is submissive and or deals with service. In
“Cinderella”, Cinderella jobs in to cater to the step sisters and clean her household, Beauty does
all the house work while the father works, and Snow White tend to the house while the dwarfs
handle the labor. This simple assumption limits children’s imagination. It stifles children’s
aspirations and develops kid’s social stereotypes at an early age. In my fairytale revision I
combat this concept by having my Beauty not be subjective to household work. In my revision
Beauty still helps others, but her job is to conquer others. I chose her to have this job not only to
have my female character be strong, but to have her have a “mans job”. By doing this it shows
that women can potentially do what men do.
In conclusion, fairytales have a tendency to perpetuate gender roles and social script.
With that being said I attempted to combat those aspects that portray this in my revision.
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Works cited
DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. Writing beyond the Ending. Bloomington: Indiana Universit Press,1985.
Leprince de Beaumont, Jeanne—Marie. Beauty and the Beast. Tartar, Maria, ed. The Classic
Fairy Tales. New York, W. W.
Norton & Company Inc., 1999.