Brief Analysis on Christian Themes of Beauty and the beast

Abstract： Beauty and the beast，first published in France in 1740，is the most symbolic and classical fairytale after Cinderella. Although time is flying，some basic motif the story embodies still keep alive and continues touching readers of generations. It must bear something valuable in this work. Here this essay will try to interpret it from the perspective of Christian，hoping to help us have a fresh understanding of the classic literature works.

Key words： Christian themes； love； salvation； beauty and the beast

1 Original sin of human and punishment

Compared with easterner’s view that man is inherently bad，the westerners hold that the essence of humanness is good. In this fairytale，the beauty’s two elder sisters embodied the original sin fully，including pride，indulgence，jealousy，laziness，selfishness. While the beauty is charming，sweet，kind，obliging，selfcontent，and industrious，humility，patience and selfcontrol. It seems that the beauty embodies all the virtue of human beings Christian doctrine has promoted. But God makes everyone disinterested！ He is fair to anyone. Beauty gives up her own happiness for his father and during this tough process，she gets more and more mature which is the way towards final happiness. However，her elder sisters were punished by God becoming two statues and standing before the beauty’s palace gate until they confessed their sins. They pay expensive price for their selfish，immature acts in the end.

2 Love and salvation

Love is a consistent thread running through this folktale. There are three pairs of love and salvation examples in this story.

2.1 God’s unfailing love and salvation to all man

The chapter of John in the new testament has mentioned：”For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son，that whosoever believeth in him should not perish，but have everlasting life.” So we know that God loves everybody，no matter you’re beautiful （Beauty） or ugly （the beast），kind （Beauty） or mean （beauty’s elder sisters）. No matter how evil，heinous，or undeserving，God still loves them. God loves that person fully and completely，and wants the best for him. God’s love is unconditional，but God’s salvation is always conditional. For us to experience God’s salvation，we have to respond to God’s love and love God back. We must act in faith to return that love. And then we have to live in the relationship of that love. In Beauty and the beast，only the elder sisters confess their sin，they could be saved. The magic spells on the prince was removed not only out of beauty’s love but also out of God’s unfailing love.

2.2 The beauty’s love and salvation of her father

Comparing to the two elder sisters，Beauty is closer to her father，so is he. Both of them did follow the orders of their natural master—God. So in the end，both of them got God’s unfailing love and got salvation. This story suggests Beauty’s oedipal attachment to her father not only by her asking him for a rose but also by our being told in detail how her sisters went out enjoying themselves at parties and having lovers while Beauty always stayed home and told those who courted her that she was too young to marry and wanted“to stay with her father a few years longer\".Thrown into a conflict between her love for her father and the Beast’s needs，Beauty deserts the Beast to attend her father. But then she realizes how much she loves the Beasta symbol of the loosening of ties to her father and transference of her love to the Beast. After she has resolved her oedipal ties to her father，she becomes truly beautiful. It is her oedipal love that saved her father，and the love to the beast also saved herself.

2.3 The beauty’s love and salvation of the beast

To Beauty，the fear，scare even disgust were the only feeling towards this ugly animal at first. But in fact，opposite to his ugly appearance，Beast owns the soul that is as beautiful as Beauty. During the contact with him，beauty comes to realize his kind，gentle heart beneath the scaring appearance.What beauty did in this story followed God’s instructions，which exactly embodied the Christian doctrine.

It is her love that saved the appearance of the beast. At the beginning of meeting with Beauty，he desires to be loved by her completely out of his own interests. During the following days，he gradually falls in love with her. In this process，he also learn an important lesson in lifehow to love and be loved，how to give his love to others. The best example is when Beauty sees her ill father lying in the bed from the magic mirror； she decides to return home looking after him. Despite his own life is also in danger，he lets her go. Beast finally learns the meaning of love. He got saved at last by beauty’s love and God’s unfailing love.

3 Conclusion

This fairytale “Beauty and the beast” is a typical work embodying rich and impressive Christian message. It conveys what the true love and salvation are in unique way through fairy story. Original sin，punishment，love and salvation are important issues that Christian doctrine promoted. Christian play a very important role in instructing，informing and guiding people’s lost mind and soul. Both literature and culture are related closely with each other and both serve people’s life. That’s why I am studying on them.

References：

[1]Holy Bible[Z].南京：中國(guó)基督教協(xié)會(huì)印發(fā)，2000.

[2] 梁工，盧龍光.圣經(jīng)與文學(xué)闡釋[M].北京：人民教育出版社，2003.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：劉平平（1985—），女，英語語言文學(xué)碩士，三亞學(xué)院國(guó)際旅游學(xué)院助教，主要研究方向：跨文化交際，旅游英語教學(xué)，國(guó)際旅游管理。