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The origins of Beauty and the Beast are traced back as far as the story of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius' The Golden Ass, otherwise known as The Metamorphoses.
Plotinus:Cupid and Psyche http://www.plotinus.com/myth_cupid_psych... illustrated version Beaumont reduced Villeneuve's story, cutting out the supernatural and putting more emphasis onto marriage and morality for young English ladies. Women should sacrifice themselves to marriage.The opening sounding something like a mix between the trials of Job and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin: “All at once the merchant lost his whole fortune, excepting a small country house at a great distance from town, and told his children with tears in his eyes, they must go there and work for their living. The two eldest answered, that they would not leave the town, for they had several lovers, who they were sure would be glad to have them, though they had no fortune; but the good ladies were mistaken, for their lovers slighted and forsook them in their poverty. “ Ashlimann: Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie lePrince de Beaumont http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html full text of Beaumont's version Edmund Dulac: Illustrations for Beauty and the Beast Sur LaLune Fairytales http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illus... However, Beauty receives many suitors, who were willing to forego a dowry, in spite of the hardship encountered by by the loss of her father's fortune, due to her amiable and industrious nature. The conflict lies in the emotional attachment to her father in opposition to a future husband. Beauty is a daddy's girl. In Cupid and Psyche, the conflict arises between Venus and Psyche for the Cupid's attentions. Venus is intensely jealous of the young woman who attracts the eyes of men and orders Cupid to entangle her in some slovenly affair to get her out of the public eye and circulation. As a poor wife, she would be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen with a parcel of rugrats tugging at her hem. Instead Cupid falls for her himself with the one command that she should never see him. The theme appears also in Lohrengrin, where Leonora is rescued by the nameless knight who must remain unnamed. However, the jealous Ortrud contrives to cast doubt on Lohrengrin's character by insinuating that no honest or trustworthy person can remain nameless or anonymous. Leonora succumbs to the temptation and asks the forbidden question which causes the swanboat to arrive and ferry him off. In Cupid and Psyche, the sisters whisper that Psyche has been sleeping with a monstrous serpent who will devour her and insist that she must kill it some night when her husband is asleep. Psyche succumbs to the temptation. In lifting a lamp to view her sleeping partner, Cupid vanishes, returnign to his mother's home. Her faithlessness has destroyed the sanctity of their relationship. From this point, Psyche must seek Cupid and endure task after task to prove her love and win him back. Trust, once broken, is not so easily regained.
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