Beauty and Beast

Beauty and Beast is a story of love, liberty, freedom, and identity in the society. It exposes the readers to a widower merchant living in his mansion with his six children, three daughters, and three sons. Even though the three girls are beautiful, the youngest, Beauty is the prettiest. She is equally kind and pure-hearted. The other two are selfish, spoiled and vain. In explicating the things that happen in the story, the author uses different literary tools to make the story electrifying while giving the readers an outlook that contrasts the inner beauty with the outer one (Warner, 1995). The stylistic devices are essential for the progression of the characters and development of the plot.The merchant finally loses everything at the sea. Live becomes challenging and the family moves to a farmhouse where they work for a living. As stated in the story, â€Å"Suddenly the merchant lost his fortune, and the only property he had left with was a small country house quite far from the city† (Zipes, 2005 pp. 806). From the statement, it is apparent that the life has taken a different twist for the family and it has to adjust to the new status to survive. Some years later, he gets the news that one of the ships that had sent off has landed on the port after escaping destruction. He then leaves for a journey to check on it but before leaving, he asks his children what they would want him to bring for them. The sons ask for weapons and horses, the oldest daughters' requests for jewels and good dresses while Beauty is only comfortable with a rare rose.However, it does not ogre well with him as he finds out that his ship has been apprehended to settle his debts. He is left with no money to buy the gifts that he promised his children. While on his way returning home, he is lost in the storm and cannot trace his way home. He looks for shelter and bumps into an elaborate palace, where he finds tables with sufficient food and drink, which appears to have been left for him by an unknown person. He accepts the gifts and spends the night at the palace, but in the morning sees a rose and remembers to take it to her daughter, Beauty. That decision opens a bandura box for more challenges that force him to accept tough conditions for his safety. After plucking the rose, the Beast told him â€Å"You're very ungrateful† he then added, â€Å"I saved your life by offering you hospitality in my c astle, and then you steal my roses, which I love more than anything else in the world. You shall die for this mistake† (Zipes, 2005 pp. 808). Life becomes tougher every moment for the merchant. The Beast makes a demand that he would only let him go if he would allow one of his daughters to return. Even though not happy about it, he has no otherwise than to accept the condition. The Beast gives him enough wealth, fine clothes, jewels, but tells him that Beauty should not know about their agreement (Warner, 1995). When he reaches home, he talked to his children. His sons are willing to go, but the merchant is unready to allow them to go. Beauty then agrees to go, and upon arrival, she is well received by the Beast who graciously tells him that she is the mistress of the castle and that the Beast would be her servant. Beauty spends three months in the castle but was troubled by the fact that every time before she goes to bed, the Beast would ask for her hand in marriage. She insists that she is only a friend, but not interested in getting married to him. She says, â€Å"I'll always be your friend. Try to be content with that† (Zipes, 2005 pp. 812). At night, he dreams of a good-looking prince persuading her to accept the proposal. At first, she cannot comprehend the relationship between the prince and the Beast but later realizes that he is a captive in the palace. One major takeaway from the story is that even the dreadful people in the world also have something good out of him.Later, the Beauty gets sick and asks the Beast to allow her to go home to see her father. She agrees to get back soon, but while home, her sisters become envious and uses tricks to shed false tears after rubbing onions on his eyes. They do so to make her delay so that the Beast would get angry with her. She then feels guilty for having broken the promise she made to the Beast (Zipes, 2005). She uses the mirror to see him back in the palace but is horrified to see him heartbroken near the rose bush where her father had plucked her gift. She weeps over him telling him that she loves. Suddenly, the Beast is transformed into a handsome prince that she has always seen in her dreams. He narrates to her that he was turned into a beast by a fairy and that the only thing that could save him is finding a true love.To conclude, the story has a lot for the readers to learn and disinter. For instance, through Beauty, one can appreciate the character. The content of one's character enables him or her to attract good things, including the lost fortunes. Through the Beast, one can appreciate that even the dreadful people have the other side of life that can be appreciated. Finally, even if the family was challenged and walked from grace to grass, through one good person, their glory could be restored.