A handful of times, over the past handful of years, I’ve come across the fan-theory that, in Disney’s 1991 adaptation of the classic fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast,” Gaston, despite his villainous characterization, is acting in a genuinely heroic capacity. This alternative perspective makes his fate in the movie’s climax a tragedy and twists the fairytale ending into a strange sort of unrepentantly wrongheaded decision that cost a good man his life. Is Gaston the real hero, robbed of his happy ending?
The argument goes that, from Gaston’s perspective, and from the perspective of the townspeople, the behavior of Gaston and the villagers is heroic. All of these characters are outsiders to the magical and inexplicable experience of Maurice’s reports and Belle’s capture. What other behavior would be logical, but for a man already demonstrated to be strong and capable? What is more reasonable than to rally the village around him to avenge the ill treatment of the woman he loves and prevent further disturbance of the village’s peace? Gaston’s ultimate fate, by this argument, comes down to something between being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or Belle’s feminist failure to have recognized his heroic nature, accepted his proposals thankfully, and settled down to producing those six or seven strapping boys.
There is a tender nugget of truth to the twist of perspective that the argument presents. Unfortunately, the critiques that it gives rise to betray a similar failure to recognize the moral of the “Beauty and the Beast” tale to the fateful error of Gaston himself.
A Tale of Two Beasts
The Prince/Beast
The Beast is introduced first, in the film’s prologue/overture. The Beast’s beastliness is overt – the narrator describes him as “spoiled, selfish, and unkind to others.” The setup is simple; a spoiled and cruel young man in need of a serious personality transplant unwittingly doles out his cruelty to a sorceress in disguise. Only the prince can change his own heart – the sorceress forces the process upon him by making his outward appearance as beastly as the inward.
We are told, rather than shown, much of the Beast’s prior nature, but we see glimmers of the personality and behaviors that prompted the sorceress’s curse. He is unkind to Maurice, imprisoning him rather than providing even basic hospitality. He is selfish, initially only interested in Belle for what she could do for him and her potential role in breaking the spell. The objects remind and beg him, repeatedly, to treat Belle with basic dignity and respect early in her captivity. And he is spoiled; this behavior and treatment is at least permitted by the people (and eventually objects?) around him to have been allowed to continue.
Gaston
Gaston is introduced to us early in the film’s story proper, midway through the introductory song. He absolutely has elements of the heroic in his appearance and characterization. He fits the mold, he embodies the tropes, at least from the outside and at first glance. He’s tall, muscular, and handsome. His first lines come not before, but after, he demonstrates his skill as a hunter, a proxy for his assumed skill as a potential protector and provider for a wife and family.
Gaston is popular in the town, with the same scene introducing his devoted follower LeFou and the village women who are infatuated with him. That popularity is reinforced in a later scene and with Gaston’s eponymous song. So far, so heroic, right? The man is a living legend among his people, and he has the receipts. Belle’s father, Maurice, goes so far as to suggest that his daughter accept Gaston’s advances – although he accepts her dismissal and her reasons for giving it.
The beastly part of Gaston’s characterization is covert. Despite all that Gaston has going for him, all about him that has the makings of heroism, there are cracks in the gleaming armor where we see the same failings that the narrator points out for The Beast.
“Heroic?”
Spoiled
Gaston could have his choice of the beautiful women in the town. Instead, he wants to marry the only available woman in the village who is uninterested in him. He pursues her to the point of obsession. Gaston presumes that what he wants, he will get, and becomes unstable and mocking when the response is even a polite “maybe some other time.” When she declines his proposal (with the wedding party all prepared for immediate vows to follow her assumed acceptance), he becomes petulant, angry, and broods until he thinks of a way to force her to accept him. Gaston’s behavior is overtly celebrated by the villagers, and the approval reinforces the “beastly” behavior.
Selfish
Gaston’a selfishness comes out in his lyrics and dialogue, particularly in regards to his feelings for and about Belle. “She’s the most beautiful girl in town… that makes her the best! And don’t I deserve the best?” and “Here in town there’s only she, who is as beautiful as me, so I’m making plans to woo and marry Belle.” Gaston’s desire for Belle has very little to do with Belle aside from her physical appearance and how that contributes to the picture of his future. It is clear that, if Belle looked like the old beggar woman who knocked on the door of the Beast’s castle, if Gaston would not have given her the same dismissive treatment, he certainly would not have looked at her twice. He wants Belle selfishly for what she can give to him, his ego, and his image in the village.
Unkind to Others
The Disney film plays it largely for laughs and using LeFou as its physical object, but in nearly every Gaston scene there is an example of his underlying unkindness and outright cruelty in action. More seriously, Gaston’s cruelty manifests in his disregard for Belle as anything more than another trophy. He goes so far in that disregard as to unnecessarily consign his ostensible future father-in-law to an insane asylum as leverage against her will in the matter.
Contending with the Shadow
There is no shortage of commentary on the Jungian notion of contending with one’s shadow, and the idea that one must integrate that dark side of their own personality and capabilities alongside the more positive aspects. The Beast and Gaston in this way have the same challenge as characters – at the start of the film, neither man has integrated his shadow.
Embracing the Shadow
The Beast has chosen the route of embracing his shadow in reaction to the sorceress setting him forcibly on the road to facing his dis-integration. The sorceress leaves the Beast with an outward image to match his inward darkness, and the Beast initially casts any active pursuit of goodness aside as well. He destroys his physical surroundings, hides away from the world, rages cruelly at the people who believe that he is not yet beyond redemption, and lives out the role of the monster by imprisoning outsiders who stumble upon him and his beshadowed existence, dragging them down with him. The Beast lives as if there is no light in him, and believes it of himself at the beginning of the story.
Ignoring
Gaston has chosen the route of ignoring the reality of his shadow. He covers over his shadow nature with a broadcast show of heroic perfection. He has cultivated a set of skills and an image of himself that is so noble that no one around him questions when the unintegrated shadow peeks through – when he is cruel or dismissive of LeFou, when he betrays his carelessness for the actual feelings of the woman he claims to love, or when he plans the committal of her father to the asylum expressly to blackmail Belle into marriage. These are demonstrations of disintegrated personality, not a shadow heroically encountered, mastered, and integrated. Gaston lives as if there is no darkness in him and believes it of himself even as his darker impulses control his actions, until the bitter end.
Who Is The Hero of the Story?
Something well worth recognizing and remembering about Beauty and the Beast is that it is fundamentally a feminine incarnation of the hero myth. To “take sides” between Gaston and The Beast as the hero misses the point that the entire tale represents the journey and progression not toward the idealized heroic masculine, but the idealized heroic feminine. While Gaston and The Beast each of course have their own character arcs (as well-written supporting characters generally do), the hero we’re actually meant to follow is Belle.
Female Hero Archetype – Teaching College English
In a masculine hero arc, the hero subdues or conquers the antagonist, a zero-sum win/lose contest. The idealized arc for the feminine, in contrast, is to change the antagonist. Through this lens, “Beauty and the Beast” is one of the clearest exemplars of the idealized heroic feminine story – it is exactly what it says on the tin, and in the most literal possible sense in the tale’s conclusion.
The only way for an archetypal male hero to complete the heroic arc is to utterly vanquish the foe, and for his trouble he wins the heart of the princess (sometimes the original goal, but not always). The only way for an archetypal female hero to complete the arc is to utterly transform the foe, and for her trouble she wins the heart of the prince (also not always the heroine’s original goal). Belle’s heroic struggle is to facilitate transformation in a positive direction.
Heroic Feminine Tropes in Other Story Contexts and Properties
The basic pattern plays out across genres and generations of tales. More recent pop-culture examples include the Twilight and 50 Shades franchises, and the early portions of Daenerys’s arc in Game of Thrones. Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler’s romance in Yellowstone echoes the same pattern. In more traditional Western Canon literature, we have Jane Eyre, and Elizabeth Bennett. Similar beats go back as far as the myths of Psyche and Eros and Persephone and Hades. There are elements of the story of the woman taming the heart of a brutal, uncivilized man and facilitating his self-integration in everything from mythology to classic literature to fairy tale to modern prestige tv to paperback romance novels with “dude where’s my shirt” cover art.
Belle does not transform Gaston; indeed, she would perhaps be unable to even if she wished, as Gaston himself is pointedly ignorant of any need to transform. The Beast, in contrast, comes off as palpably cognizant of a need to transform, with a ticking clock and looming deadline on the task, but feels that the task is impossible. To paraphrase the old psychological truism, The Beast admits that he has a problem, even as resigned to his fate as he is at his introduction. Gaston utterly refuses to admit the obvious truth of Belle’s affections; the fact that she does not love or wish to marry him is a “her problem,” that he needs to force her past so that he gets what he justly deserves.
The Heroism of Gaston’s Attack on the Castle
I’m sympathetic to the argument that Gaston’s actions when he learns of the Beast’s existence and Belle’s imprisonment are logical and plausible. The argument goes, loosely, “who wouldn’t naturally assume that Maurice and Belle are crazy?” and from there to “who wouldn’t mobilize the village to neutralize a threat that’s not only scary-looking but has proven capable of imprisonment?”
The heroic difference between Gaston and the Beast at the climax of the story is how each responds to the opportunity to trust the word of the woman he professes to love. Will either man respond to the heroine and allow her to be the conduit of his transformation and renewal?
Belle tells Gaston the truth, that there is nothing to fear from the village’s beastly neighbor, but he ignores her without hesitation, immediately discounting her words as crazed raving. He shoves her aside and locks her away, rejecting literally as well as symbolically her heroic feminine value to act on his own assumptions. Later, after her escape, Belle returns to the castle in the thick of the battle, proving her care for him which both breaks his despair and gives him the will to fight back, and inspiring his compassion to spare Gaston’s life when it is literally in his hands. The Beast accepts Belle’s heroic feminine virtue and allows it to inspire his actions toward a healthy masculine heroism.
Heroic Defense of Home and Family?
Gaston hears a truth that sounds mad from the woman he claims to love, but he fails to respond lovingly. Instead, his shadow takes over, wearing the mask of heroism, and he leads an unprovoked and unnecessary attack on the castle. Belle is home at this point in the story, set free by the Beast, and in no further need of rescue, and the fact that the Beast has been exactly where he without attracting the notice of the village for years bolsters the irrationality of the villagers’ march under Gaston’s leadership.
Heroic Wisdom, Mercy, and Love?
The Beast, in contrast, hears a truth that sounds mad from the woman he claims to love, but he chooses to respond with love, and in so doing transforms himself. He sets the monster, the shadow, aside, chooses the heroic path. The Beast is willing to spare his attacker’s life on her word.
Villainous Motivation In the “Hero’s” Own Words
I’ve purposely left this segment to the end, as I believe the case that Gaston is no hero is easily borne out by the analysis so far. What if we got the story from Gaston’s perspective instead? Would we then recognize Gaston as the rightful hero done wrong?
I do not think that that is the case, simply because the film itself states, directly in the dialog, that the villainous characters (Gaston, LeFou, and the asylum-keeper) are entirely aware of Belle’s wishes, of Maurice’s harmlessness, and that their activity and plan are plain and simple bribery (of the asylum-keeper) and blackmail for Belle’s hand in marriage.
Fade to Gaston’s tavern, which is empty except for Gaston, Lefou and Monsieur D’Arque, who are all sitting at a table.)
- Monsieur D’Arque: I don’t usually leave the asylum in the middle of the night, but they said you’d make it worth my while.
(Gaston pulls out a sack of gold and tosses it in front of him. He takes out a piece, scrapes it on his chin and continues.)
- Monsieur D’Arque: Aah, I’m listening.
- Gaston: It’s like this. I’ve got my heart set on marrying Belle, but she needs a little persuasion.
- Lefou: (butting in) Turned him down flat!
(Gaston slams a beer mug on his head.)
- Gaston: Everyone knows her father’s a lunatic. He was in here tonight raving about a Beast in a castle…
- Monsieur D’Arque: Maurice is harmless.
- Gaston: The point is, Belle would do anything to keep him from being locked up.
- Lefou: Yeah, even marry him!
(Gaston gives him another threatening look, and he ducks back under the mug.)
- Monsieur D’Arque: So you want me to throw her father into the asylum unless she agrees to marry you? (They both nod in agreement.) Oh, that is despicable. I love it!
(Transcript from Beauty and the Beast (1991)/Transcript | Moviepedia | Fandom)
Gaston might not understand the why of his rejection, but rather than heroically try to work it out and resolve the character flaws that Belle rejects in him, he doubles down and chooses leverage to get his way. The plan is made, explained, and put into motion before Belle returns from the castle and the Beast’s existence is confirmed.
Into the battle sequence itself, Gaston again reiterates his motivation for being there – it isn’t about saving the village, or rescuing his beloved for her own sake and safety (and possibly sanity). It is about removing an obstacle to his own selfish desire
- Gaston: Come on out and fight! Were you in love with her, Beast? Did you honestly think she’d want you when she had someone like me?
(Beast has been provoked enough. He emerges and they fight again.)
- Gaston: It’s over, Beast! Belle is mine!
Gaston certainly sees himself as the hero, but so does every villain in every story (and history) ever told. But what makes a hero? What makes an act a heroic one? Motivation is key, and Gaston’s motivations are never a mystery. Nothing that he ever does, in the entire film, is about anything more than personal gain and self-aggrandizement. And he owns it, leaving the viewer precious little room for doubt about why Gaston is doing what he’s doing. There is no virtue under the veneer.
A “Problematic” Story?
There is much cultural currency surrounding the reduction of Beauty and the Beast to anything from Gaston as a good guy done wrong by plot, to a study of Stockholm Syndrome, to a gateway drug to modern feminism. No matter your “culture war” affiliation, this classic film can provide a straw man for the skewering.
The trouble with all of that cynical reduction is that it strips away the very nature of a fairy tale. The point of the story isn’t the psychology of a hostage, or the failure of the “local feminist” to recognize a true hero and what he has to offer through the lens of her own ambitions. The story is simpler, older, and deeper than that. It is a presentation of the arc of feminine heroism, the yin to the hero’s journey yang. It is a deeply archetypal journey that is not feminist, but feminine, and one that, based on the enduring popularity of fantasy stories that mirror it’s beats among women, speaks to most of us lacking a Y chromosome. And not because Gaston is really the tragic hero.
Comments are closed.