Symbolism in The Beauty and The Beast

Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. The ring, the curse, and the rose pressure the beast into transforming his cruel heart into one that is pure and full of love. These items help to cleanse him of his spiteful ways and allow him to find true love. The fairytale all starts when an old woman arrives at the castle, requests shelter, and offers the prince an enchanted rose in return. The prince being the coldhearted person he is laughed and refused to take the rose.

Once she saw how heatless he was, she revealed herself to him and transformed him into a hideous beast as a punishment for his cruel and selfish ways. She also explains to him that he should never judge a book by its cover.

Meaning never judge a person based on how they look on the outside because, it does not matter, it is about what is on the inside. The old woman also placed the curse on the entire castle as well.

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Anyone inside the castle was cursed for allowing the prince to become such a cruel and terrible person. The prince image on the outside was prefect but on the inside, he was full of hatred. The Beast showed a lot of characteristics on not being able to love someone, but eventually Belle help him overcome that. The Beauty and the Beast exhibits several acts of symbolism, but the ring, rose, and the curse are the most significant.

Changing him into a beast was a reflection of how he was seen in the inside.

The curse allowed the prince to be seen as a monster, the person he really was only disguised in ugliness and fear. “The curse has power only to the degree that you believe in it. When you believe in your own ugliness the spell cannot be broken, when you fall prey to your deep beliefs about who you think you are or engage in shameful feelings this gives power to the curse” (Barlow). The beast represents the dark animal nature of a man. The Beast is also a symbol of an illusion of your inner bad side. The part that is connected to a person fears and untamed self. To undo this curse, the beast must allow his heart to fall in love and earn love in return before his twenty-first birthday. If he does not succeed, the prince will live as a beast for eternity. Being under the curse cause the beast to realize that everything the woman said about him was true. He was having dreams while under the curse, the dreams being a symbol of the truth. The dreams were the Beast inner soul. He then allowed his heart to love, he started to trust.

Belle is a beautiful young woman who is a reflection of beauty and goodness. Because she is outspoken and confident she manages to break the Beast’s curse and restore his heart. “They declared that this miserable life was all she was fit for. But she was really far prettier and cleverer than they were; indeed, she was so lovely that she was always called Beauty” (Surlalune). The name Beauty is a representation of how Belle was seen. Belle innocence and pure heart caused others to look down on her. But belle is not bothered by her or other appearances; she knows how to look past how people appear and see into their hearts.

The ring symbolizes the connection between Belle and the Beast. It relates to marriage, as they give loyalty and love to one another. The marriage being a symbol of bring the masculine and the feminine sides together. “The rose acknowledges, spiritual awareness, desire and the longing for growth and development” (Barlow). The marriage is also a symbol of bringing the darkness to the light. Giving Bella the ring gave the Beast power over her life. The ring was a symbol of trust, letting Bella know that if she does not return to him he will brought to death.

She makes a negotiation with Beast to go visit her father and siblings. The family being a symbol of her true identity and protection. Knowing the consequences of if she doesn’t return back to the castle, Bella followed her heart and returned back to the Beast at the castle. After arriving at the palace, she discovered that the Beast was dying. She realizes her love for the Beast and begs for him to live and marry her. The Beast immediately return back into the handsome prince he once was, but instead with a different type of heart.

The rose has many different symbolic meanings to it, which causes confusion as to what it really means. The rose is a symbol of fragile beauty. It can also be a symbol of inner longings and easily broken hopes. The thorns of the rose are symbolic for the pain. It is a symbol of pain because the rose is a symbol of beauty, which is part of the reason he was so protective over it, but when the rose was taken from him it caused him so much pain. The rose also serves as a ticking clock for his cure. The rose represents the transformation petals constantly falling off and as the last petal falls the spell would be broken. The Beast has until his twenty first birthday to earn or find true love if he does not succeed he will be a beast for eternity. He kept the rose safe in his chambers; the rose served as a countdown and reminding him of his selfishness and cruelty.

There are many different symbolisms in The Beauty and the Beast but the ones mention above are the most important ones in the story. They all allowed him to connect with the darkest side of himself. Although, there are many other symbols that helped him connect with himself in many different ways these were the one that stood out the most. The rose, the ring, and the curse all have many different meanings to them. Some that are obvious and some that you would have to read the story over and over again just to understand what their meanings are.

These meanings are not just to be hidden in the story for fun, they are in the story so that you could get a better understanding of what the author is trying to tell the audience. In this case, the author is placing these different types of symbols in The Beauty and The Beast because they want us to get a better understanding of who the Beast and Beauty really is. They also want us to understand the situation much better than it is explained without the readers noticing what the actual meaning of the story is. Symbolism is another way to describe the story in a much better way to understand everything and the rose, the ring, and the curse all came together and helped us understand what the author was trying to tell explain to us.

Written by Sophia Nguyen

Updated: Jan 18, 2024

Keep in mind: this is only a sample!

Updated: Jan 18, 2024