"Beauty and the Beast:" The Need for Beauty

Описание: A rich merchant with three sons and three daughters– the eldest daughters hold out on marriage to a Duke or Earl, but the youngest, aptly-named Beauty, does so to stay with her father a few more years. The merchant falls in his fortunes, and they have to move to the country. The men apply themselves to husbandry and tillage, and Beauty to housework, but the eldest stay lazy.

One day, the merchant gets a letter about a ship arriving with effects of his and he sets off, asking his daughters what they would like. The eldest ask for goods of luxury, but Beauty only for a simple rose. When the merchant arrived at port, they went to law with him about the goods, and he left poor as before.

Glad, however, to return to his family, the merchant got lost in the woods as a storm brewed. He spied a castle lit from top to bottom in the distance and took shelter there. Strangely, the beautiful manor was unoccupied, although a large meal was set out. He ate and eventually began to explore the house and its luxurious apartments. Sleep overtook him in one of them.

In the morning he was delighted to see arbours outside, and went to them, dining on chocolate mysteriously set out for him on the way. Remembering Beauty’s gift request, he took a rose, but then a ferocious beast appeared and set on him. For his abuse of hospitality, he would die, but the merchant pleaded with the Beast, mentioning his daughters. The Beast said to return with the daughter, who must willingly enter into marriage with him. He was allowed to leave with a gold-laden chest.
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Please join us as we read and discuss this English translation of Beaumont’s “Beauty and the Beast,” a story about virtue and vice, just desserts, and judgment, and the transformative power of beauty.

Lumsden’s “Beauty and the Beast:” https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Beauty...)


0:00 Introduction
00:43 Brief Meditation
05:43 Reading of Lumsden’s 1820 version
39:28 Ideal Feminine Virtue
41:15 Class in this Story
42:30 The Youngest is Prettiest
44:18 Beauty is the Only Complete Person
46:15 Difference between this story and “Cupid and Psyche”
49:20 The Empty, Ugly Palace
57:14 Why are Beauty’s Sisters Transformed into Statues?
58:45 The Beast Lacks Wit
59:45 The Significance of the Rose
1:03:31 The Power of not Being Deceived by Appearances

Audio episode:
https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/beauty...

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I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.