The short story, The Tiger’s Bride by Angela Carter is a version of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast. The original version of Beauty and the Beast, specifically the Disney version attempts to convey deeper message that you should accept someone for who they are on the inside rather than for their physical beauty. Carter’s version of Beauty and the Beast is similar to the fairytale in many ways. For instance, both the Beauty characters are valued for their outward appearance while their other characteristics are largely ignored. However, Carter’s ending of The Tiger’s Bride truly demonstrates the morals that Beauty and the Beast is trying to express when the Beauty character abandons her outward beauty to embrace who she truly is.
In both The Tiger’s Bride and Beauty and the Beast both Beauty characters are mainly valued for their outward appearance. For example, in The Tiger’s Bride the Beauty character is used as a pawn in a card game and gambled away by her father. To her father she is a possession that is remarkably more valuable because she is beautiful. Her father refers to her as his pearl and says, “I have lost my pearl, my pearl beyond price.” (55). He does not even refer to her as his daughter but rather a pearl, which is a possession known for its beauty. In the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, Belle is thought to be the most beautiful woman in the village. She is known solely for her beautiful appearance. The town bachelor, Gaston, wants to marry Belle simply because she is so beautiful. He knows nothing else about Belle and doesn’t value any other attributes about her. He only decides to marry her once he realizes that she is the only person in the village as good looking as him.
Furthermore, in The Tiger’s Bride, the Beast only wants Beauty because he wants to see her naked body. To him, she is a possession that is valuable because her outward appearance is attractive. The valet tells Beauty, “My master’s sole desire is to see the pretty young lady unclothed nude without her dress” (58) after which point she will be returned to her father with all the money that he lost. Beauty has no other value to the Beast than her appearance. He simply wants to look at her naked body and does not care about anything else. This is similar to Belle in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. The Beast and the castle’s inhabitants only value Belle because she is a beautiful woman and could potentially break the spell on the castle by being so beautiful that the Beast will fall in love with her and she will fall in love with him.
In both versions of the story, the Beauty character’s are only acknowledged because they are beautiful while the other parts of their character are ignored or rejected. For example, in Beauty and the Beast, Belle is mocked by the society she lives in because she is intelligent and loves to read. The townspeople find her odd and constantly talk about how she is strange because she is curious and loves to learn from the books she reads. Belle’s intelligence is rejected and eclipsed by her beautiful exterior. Similar to Belle, Beauty in The Tiger’s Bride is strong willed and wild. She explains that she “was a wee wild thing and [her nurse] could not tame [her] into submission.” (56). However, because she is beautiful woman she is expected to be silent and submissive. When she discusses how her father gambled her away, she says, “I watched with the furious cynicism peculiar to women whom circumstances force mutely to witness folly” (52). Because she is so beautiful she cannot truly be the strong, bold, wild woman that she really is because she would be rejected by her society.
In the ending of both stories there is transformation. In the final scene of Beauty and the Beast, Belle acts as a tool and saves the Beast’s life by telling him she loves him. The Beast is then transformed into a handsome prince. However, in end of The Tiger’s Bride, Beauty sheds her physically attractive skin to become a Tiger and embrace the bold, powerful and strong individual that she truly is.
The ending of Beauty and the Beast complicates the notion that beauty is not important because the Beast is transformed into a handsome man. Additionally, Belle is still beautiful and her beauty will continue to eclipse her other attributes, such as her intelligence. Belle will never become anything other than a beautiful face. However, the ending of The Tiger’s Bride is a deviation from Beauty and the Beast and is significant because by shedding her outward beauty, Beauty is demonstrating that one should look beyond a person’s physical appearance. By becoming a Tiger she is embracing her wild and strong-willed personality that once had to be hidden and silenced because of her outward beauty.
I enjoyed readying our close reading however, it did become a bit repetitive. Your topic sentence for your first few paragraphs are too similar and just a little tweaking would remove the reptitiveness. Your thesis appears to be that outward appearance is perceived as more important than personality and the impiication here from the readings is that the personality cannot be ignored and must be perceived as well as the outward appearance. I think you could drag out the implications of this a bit further, but I enjoyed your comparison of the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast and The Tiger's Bride.
ReplyDeleteYour comparison to Beauty and The Beast to The Tiger's Bride is valid, but lacking in certain areas. For instance, there is more plot summary than analysis. I think that you need to address the ideas in your conclusion sooner in the piece and have them reiterated through your examples. This would definitely strengthen your close read. Also, I think you should include why it is important that Carter changed the ending of her story from the original fairy tale. You address how she does, but not really why.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy the comparison you are making in your close reading. You clearly parallel how both females are valued by the Beast's only for beauty, but I agree with Kelli it becomes a bit repetative. Your title and thesis mention their beauty as problematic (I think this is your "so what" factor) but you don't discuss it until the ending of the piece. If you make this more central to your argument I think the piece will develop nicely! Great work.
I think it's great that you compared Tiger's Bride to Beauty and the Beast to delve into how the different ends encourage different interpretations of beauty. In your third paragraph you say that Belle is beautiful so hopefully the Beast will fall in love with her, but the important thing is that she falls in love with him to break the curse; I'm not even sure if it matters if he loves her. Also at the end of Carter's story, the girl refers to her fur as beautiful; so how does that play into your argument?
ReplyDeleteSarah, I liked your comparison of the Tiger's Bride to Beauty and the Beast and I agree with your argument on the concept of beauty being problematic for individuals. It might be interesting, or help further your argument if you compare the elegance and overall appearance of the Beasts' palaces. It has been awhile since I've seen the movie, but I recall Belle and the Beast dancing in his magnificent ballroom at the end. Not to mention, his palace was quite elegant overall. In the ending of the Tiger's Bride, the palace begins to crumble, and before that, it's stated as being quite desolate and abandoned almost.
ReplyDeleteSomething interesting to consider (which Michelle kind of brought up already) is the conditions for the Beast's transformation in the movie. He must get Belle to fall in love with him by displaying his human qualities. Conversely, the Beast in "The Tiger's Bride" forms his connection with the Beauty by removing his "human" attributes and putting his tiger self on display. Maybe you can think about the way this human/beast relationship coincides with (or complicates) the concept of beauty you are trying to present.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteBeing a huge disney fan, I really enjoyed your closed reading. I also agree with Michelle and Dane that you should consider The Beasts transformation in the movie. There is also the contrast of Belle's father (who comes looking for her) and The Beautys father (who gambles her away). I don't know if this comparison would be helpful at all.
I like the comparison you are making, but I feel that you only touch on some of the things rather than delving into a deeper reading of them. I think maybe you can do a closer read of looking on the inside of someone rather than just the outside and still continue to use the movie to contrast this argument. I feel that you were repeating a bit, but this can be fixed with some editing and revising. I think that you have a great argument, it just needs to be developed further.
ReplyDeleteI think you could take Melissa's advice and focus on the different treatment of male characters from film to short story, which can work into a discussion about the transformation (and its requirements). I think your close read is off to a great start, but needs to be edited to be more concise. You make your points well, but you also make them several times, which works against your argument as opposed to supporting it. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI think there's a lot of interesting arguments you could make comparing the text with the Disney movie, but right now your argument lays at a very basic level. You focus on plot summary more than anything, and seem to be pointing out observations rather than further analyzing these moments. However, I think you have a lot of potential with this and you most interest me when you contrast the endings to the two stories. I would go back and further consider the implications for how these stories end and how this comments on beauty. Dane and Michelle bring up good suggestions of where to start! Yes, the protagonist in Tiger's Bride turns into a "beast," but a beautiful one. What does this mean?
ReplyDeleteI like the comparison you're making, between the story and the movie especially because I am surprisingly not familiar with the movie. Obviously I know of it, but I never saw it growing up. You make solid comparisons (to the best of my knowledge of the movie), so that makes it easy to follow. Maybe try to focus a little more on fully answering the "so what?" question. Solid work though!
ReplyDeleteYou have a very clear argument and it flows and develops nicely. The comparison is great and interesting. The only thing missing is the so what factor. Why does one story go one way and the other another? You just need to go a little deeper. Otherwise great job.
ReplyDeleteI think the most interesting comparison between these two texts is in the transformation, which you write about briefly at the end. But I would write more about the significance of this difference between who is being transformed. The Beauty in "The TIger's Bride" seems to be more completely and selflessly expressing love/commitment to the Beast, compared to Belle in the Disney version.
ReplyDelete...or is it? Maybe the Beauty in TB is more selfish, because she is able to use the Beast to transform into her more natural self. I don't know. Something to ponder.
I love the connections you made between Beauty and the Beast and Tiger's Bride. You make a lot of good points that I followed pretty closely. However, I wasn't entirely sure what your so what factor was until the last paragraph. If you moved that to the beginning of the piece and referred back to it throughout, it would be that much stronger.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm nitpicking, but at the same time I think it's important to keep in mind: you reference the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast as the "original," but the film didn't come out until 1991, and "The Tiger's Bride" was published in 1979. Also, the "true" original (in as much as a story that was told orally for many, many years before finally being written down can be considered the original) is an old French tale, and is actually much closer to Tiger's Bride (for instance, the Beauty's father loses her in a card game in that version as well). It doesn't change your argument very much to acknowledge that, but I think it's worth keeping in mind when considering how and why different versions of the same basic tale evolve.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the other comments on here about including the Beasts transformations. I had trouble identifying the greater "so what" argument in your paper, but I think if you include those transformations, you could further your argument by maybe discussing gender differences in relation to beauty. I know this might be a long shot or not at all in line with where you want your argument to go. As your post is now I understand the comparisons you are making, I just think you need to elaborate more on why embracing this inner or "wild" beauty is so significant. What else does this say?
ReplyDeleteI like where you're headed here, and for this reason I think you should start at the second to last paragraph--I think this is the point where it gets really interesting. Yes, the similarities are important, but I think the difference in transformation is where you can make the most of your argument. Also, I think it's important to note that the Beast wants to see the girl's body, not for sexual purposes, but as a means to force her into becoming free: to show her how.
ReplyDeleteYou are off to a great start with your close reading, but I believe that the strongest part of your paper is your fourth paragraph. Right now I am unable to determine what your “so what” factor is, but I think if you push the ideas you raise in that paragraph it could be made evident. If you discuss why it is so problematic that Belle and Beauty were only valued by their societies for their beauty and not for the characteristics they possessed like their intellect and strong will and possibly also discuss the implications this has for women today it could make your paper even stronger. Another thing you might consider including in your piece is the differences in the power dynamics for each tale. In Beauty and the Beast it is Belle who causes the transformation of the Beast into his true self, wielding her some type of power, but in The Tiger’s Bride it is the Beast who possesses the power to transform Beauty into her true self. I would also be careful of being redundant within your piece.
ReplyDeleteI like the comparison you make by using Beauty and the Beast. You use a ton of evidence which is helpful in me agreeing with you claim.
ReplyDeleteSomething to consider: What is the significance to your claim? In other words, why does this matter? I think I can tell what you're trying to say implicitly, but making the significance of your essay more blatant will help greatly.
Great comparison. Like others have said, bringing out more of the 'so what' argument would make your close read stronger. You have great points, you just need to dig a little deeper. Good start so far.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you decided to compare this to Beauty and the Beast. It seemed to be a sort of elephant in the room comparison, but never actually came up in discussion. One area of your paper I might reconsider or re-tweak is the part in which you mention that The Beast (Tiger's Bride version) only wants the daughter for her appearance. I am not sure this is entirely true, and I think this complicates your argument.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good comparison topic! I like that you put these obviously similar texts together. i felt like there was a lot of summary and statements, but not as much evidence or analysis. i think if you brought in more specifics and realy dug deep, your argument would evolve and specialize itself and youd have a really awesome paper :)
ReplyDeleteGood comparison and good start. Omitting some of the plot summary or possibly expanding upon it more with your own thoughts could help strengthen your read. I think really diving into the implications of the beast becoming beautiful whereas the Belle of The Tiger's Bride becomes an animal. How would things change for the viewer if Belle of Beauty and the Beast turned into a beast upon her realization of true love and if the tiger turned human?
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good start to your paper. I really like the comparison between the two stories. One part of your paper that I don't agree with (and probably because I just took something different away from the story) is this idea that the Beast only likes the narrator in the story for her beauty. I originally read the story thinking that him wanting to see her naked was more than just a physical nakedness, but wanting her to symbolically remove her clothing and reveal her true self underneath. That's also why I thought he cried every time he made that request--she thought he only wanted her for sex. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI love the comparison. I actually agree with everything Ashley said right above me. We touched on that in class a little bit but you could really take it to new places in this paper.
ReplyDeleteThis is good so far. I really think you can push the texts, but I love the comparison you have brought out. I would just try to make your thoughts a bit more layered. Good job though.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a good start, but there are a few things I have an issue with. The first one being the part where you claim that because Belle is beautiful, she is not able to speak up to her father (you use the quote, “I watched with the furious cynicism peculiar to women whom circumstances force mutely to witness folly”). In my opinion, she is not able to speak up because she is female - so if you want to connect this silence to her appearance I would push your analysis of this portion of the text further. Additionally, when you discuss the transformation, you talk about how she sheds her outward beauty and the focus is merely on her strong personality, etc. However, her decision to be bold and go to the beast's room is made before her physical transformation and then once that transformation is made, her fur is described as beautiful..or "a nascent patina of shining hairs". The story actually ends with, "I shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur". I don't think that your argument is off base or wrong, I just think that you should acknowledge this in your paper and argue around it or offer another perspective.
ReplyDeleteIs the beast really accepted? It seems like he has to conform to a persona or at least an outward appearance that isn't his (mask, robe, walking, etc). I think this is something that you must visit to wrap up some loose ends in the paper.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your piece. I thought you had a great connection between the two stories. You outline your argument clearly, but as others have said it does get a little repetitive. I like the suggestion of talking about your "so what" factor (nice job by the way) earlier on and making that more central to your piece.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comparison, but I saw the essay as just that: a comparison. I felt that at times your essay lacked the "so what" factor, and needed to make more of a claim.