The Gospel According to Beauty and the Beast

by Mary Scifres

  However hesitantly, Beast embraces this hopeful spirit as he prepares a ball to celebrate their budding friendship. Recognizing the effect Belle’s beautiful attitude has had in the castle and in his life, Beast wants to honor her with a night of romantic music and royal dancing. Now that he can perceive the beauty of this new friendship, Beast can also perceive the beauty within his own magical castle. Unsure whether Belle will ever truly see beyond his beastly outward appearance to perceive an inner beauty he can scarcely see in himself, Beast hopes for the best as he prepares for this special evening.

  In what we would expect to be the climax of this great love story, our unlikely pair arrive in gorgeous tuxedo and gown for an evening of candle lit dining, romantic violin music tableside, and a magical dance in the castle’s magnificent ball room. After days of strolling through the castle gardens, relaxing over a good book, and laughing over their contrasting table manners, these two young friends dance across the ballroom floor and into our hearts. We can see love blooming before our eyes. Something new is developing and a happy ending seems imminent—not only possible, but likely. For just as Belle and Beast see each other differently, we too see a handsome prince in this giant, but regal, beast floating around the dance floor with the beautiful Belle of the ball. Beast is becoming human again where it counts the most—his frozen heart is melting away to embrace warmth, kindness and friendship. Love is already transforming more than their perspectives and perceptions, it is transforming their very selves. As Belle and Beast become the people they see in each other, they live the truth Shakespeare expresses in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

  Things base and vile, holding no quantity,

  Love can transpose to form and dignity.

  Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.[37]

  Perceiving Love

  Pete Townshend’s poetic lyrics point to this powerful, awakening gift of love, when he sings “Let my love open the door.”[38] As Belle begins to see Beast with loving eyes, she is filled with an even larger sense of wonder. As Beast begins to perceive Belle with his own eyes of love, he rediscovers the power of hope.

  As they relax on the balcony at the end of their romantic evening, Beast discovers another aspect of the transformative power of love: the ability to put someone else first. When Belle expresses her desire to see her father again, Beast presents her with the gift of the magic mirror he once hid from her. This seemingly large gift of trust pales in comparison to the next gift he offers. When Belle sees her father in danger, Beast releases her from their agreement, sending her away from the castle as a free woman to aid her father. Beast knows this will result in his demise, for the castle is crumbling, he is aging, and the final rose petal is about to fall. Without Belle, he cannot break the spell. Nevertheless, love has made these considerations mute. Love has transformed him into the prince he was born to become—a kingly being with such heart and virtue he is willing to sacrifice his own life to save the life of his beloved’s father. The formerly self-absorbed prince is willing to sacrifice his own hopes and dreams for a better future, in order for Belle to return home to care for this beloved old man in her life. This is a transformed perspective indeed.

  Love changes everything, even our story’s ending. What might have led to true love’s kiss and Beast’s transformation into a handsome prince turns into a sacrificial act that seems to doom the physical transformation he has sought for so long. And yet, this turn of events is the very step both Belle and Beast must take if love is to truly transform Beast into a creature directed by love, and Belle into a loving hero who can see with the eyes of her heart enlightened. In the end, this detour will not only guide their steps, but transform their lives.

  The Power of Love

  Sometimes, a change in circumstances or scenery is necessary to expand our perspective. Even our open-minded hero Belle, with her loving heart and wide-eyed optimism, needs to expand her perspective in order to love Beast fully and thus become the savior of our story. As she departs the castle to find her father, Belle sees Beast as a loving being, a kind-hearted friend, and a special gift. But she still sees Beast as a beast, not as a human being like her. Only after leaving the castle does she give voice to her expanding perspective and changing perception.

  After returning to the village, Belle tries to describe Beast’s newly emerging inner beauty to her father, who can’t believe his ears. She tries to explain his kindness and gentleness to Gaston and her village neighbors, who look at her like she’s concussed. As Belle looks at Beast through the magic mirror, eyes aglow with emotion, even Gaston notices she might be falling in love with this mysterious creature. Belle’s perspective is expanding toward a very different perception of her former captor, and her heart is opening to the possibility that he might just turn out to be the love of her life. Surely, such a realization must have been shocking, revealing how very far her perception of Beast has changed and how her perspective of who would make a good life companion has expanded exponentially. When Belle rushes back to the castle, she is frantic to protect Beast from Gaston; but it is only when she sees Beast dying before her that she can finally give voice to the truth of her heart: “I love you.” The idea of losing him forever has unlocked the final resistance to love’s full bloom and to Belle’s own transformation. From the silence of love’s inexhaustible reservoir, Belle speaks the words rising in her heart: “I love you.”

  Henri Nouwen writes: “Out of eternal silence . . . God spoke the land, the sea, and the sky. God spoke the sun, the moon, and the stars. God spoke plants, birds, fish, animals wild and tame. Finally, God spoke man and woman. . . . A word that bears fruit is a word that emerges from the silence and returns to it.”[39] When Belle breaks the silence in her heart, her words of love bear fruit and break the enchantment holding Beast and the castle under its spell. As the words fall from her lips, Beast is resurrected from the dead and his beastly form transforms to reveal a handsome prince. Belle has learned to love with the eyes of her heart enlightened. She has learned to see beyond appearances, to give and receive love in spite of spells and mysteries that get in the way, and to love with an all-embracing and accepting love.

  Instinctively, we know that this is the powerful lesson of their love story: To love unconditionally is to expand our perceptions and embrace even those who seem to be “other;” it is to love beyond the limits of previous perspectives. We know that Belle has learned to love Beast just as he is, regardless of whether he ever appears “human again.” When we visit Disneyland or Disney World, we don’t see Belle and the prince together for character appearances. We see Belle and Beast. Watching them dance or sing or sign autographs, we know that this is how they looked when they discovered true love. Disney’s marketing team is wise enough to portray the prince before his return to human form—for we grow to love Beast just as Belle does, and we hardly recognize the man standing before Belle when the spell is broken. Every time we see artwork of Belle and Beast, or watch them waltzing before us, Belle and her handsome prince are transformed in our minds by the love we know that they share in this classic tale.

  Perhaps this is what Jesus means in the Beatitudes when he says the pure in heart are blessed, for they shall see God.[40] Loving with a pure heart allows us to see deeply into the loving truth of everyone we encounter. When Belle perceives Beast with a pure heart, his beastly form doesn’t matter. He is a beautiful being, a child of God just like she is. Of course he can be her true love. Pure hearts do not need a handsome prince or a perfect princess to experience the love that lasts a lifetime. Pure hearts perceive each human being as a beautiful child of God, and strive to love others as fellow children of God, despite appearances.

  In Greek, there are three types of love: agape, eros, and phileo. Beauty and the Beast is more than a story of eros, or physical love; it is a story of phileo, or loving friendship. As Belle and Beast discover the love of friendship, phileo, they are able to move, however haltingly, toward eros. But eros is not the love that ultimat
ely transforms the pair; that is agape, or unconditional love—a self-giving love that does not count the cost, a love that does not expect anything in return. Agape is the type of love Jesus speaks of in the Gospel of John when he says: “Love one another.” Agape is also the type of love Paul writes of in his advice to the Corinthians, and the type of love John speaks of in his epistles, which are often referred to as “love letters.”[41] Love is the heart of the gospel, just as it is the heart of this fairy tale.

  As Belle and Beast open their hearts to love in all its glorious forms—the love of friendship, the love of attraction and affection, and the love of self-giving—their perceptions of each other expand and they move toward transformation. Unlike stories like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast is more than just a story of two young people who find romantic love together. They discover and learn much from one another, and find the love of friendship and self-sacrifice before they ever discover romantic love. Together, they create amazing beauty before they ever marry and create a family of their own. For, this is the story of transformative love—a love that changes perspectives, changes perceptions, changes lives, and changes the world. Now, that is truly a story that can help people live happily ever after.

  4.THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF SELF-GIVING LOVE

  Greater love has no one than this:

  to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.[42]

  Love is a big deal in the gospels. Love is a big deal in fairy tales. Ask a Sunday School teacher, a romance writer, or even the Beatles, “What’s the primary point of life?” and the answer will undoubtedly be, “Love.” But in many fairy tales, love is reduced to romantic attraction: Love brings two young people together; love conquers evil; love helps a prince and princess find one another and live happily ever after. If it’s all romance all the time, we’re only talking about eros. This is not the case in Beauty and the Beast, which introduces a more complex and self-giving journey of love.

  Our journey begins when Belle chooses to take her father’s place as Beast’s prisoner. The journey continues when Beast makes an unexpected gift of self-sacrifice to save Belle’s life in a forest full of wolves. Even after Belle breaks her word never to run away, Beast saves his prisoner at great personal cost, almost dying in process. Belle, in turn, saves Beast, returns to her castle imprisonment, and nurtures her wounded captor back to health. Immersed in these adventures, we realize this is not your typical Disney fairy tale and this is not your typical Disney couple. Before they are even friends, these two characters give of themselves generously, even sacrificially.

  Jesus speaks often of loving and self-giving generosity. He calls love the “greatest commandment,” teaching us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Through the parables he shares and through his own example of self-giving love, Jesus offers a vision of what it means to put others’ needs ahead of our own: healing when it’s against the rules or when it causes trouble; interacting with outcasts, and dining with sinners, even when it leads to condemnation; refusing to abide by unjust laws or corrupt government demands; and speaking against injustices, even when it threatens our very lives. Self-giving love lies at the heart of the gospel and guides Christians to not only admire the teachings of Jesus, but to follow them as well.

  Self-giving love pervades the story of Beauty and the Beast, creating deeper paths toward transformation through love and self-sacrifice. First, we see Belle’s generous nature toward her father, as she sacrifices her freedom to protect him. As the story progresses, we see her love grow and expand beyond her family to include this strange beast who has imprisoned her. Eventually, we see Beast’s generous nature grow and expand through his friendship will Belle. As Beast learns to love, we see him discover his “muchness,” to borrow a phrase from Alice in Wonderland. In the previous chapter, we saw that the love in friendship, phileo, has transformative power of its own. But when it leads to agape, the self-giving love at the heart of our story, anything is possible.

  The theme of self-giving love runs deep and strong in this beautiful story, with characters expressing their compassion and care in a variety of ways. And by the end of the film, Belle, Beast, and many others have given of themselves selflessly, creating a transformational ending unlike any other fairy tale we know and love.

  The Hero’s Journey: A Journey of Service

  When Belle leaves home to search for her missing father, we realize she is not a typical Disney princess. She leaves without hesitation, doggedly pursuing him through dangerous forests to a dark and enchanted castle. Like Jesus traveling through Galilee, Belle is on the hero’s journey as she searches for her father and finds an enchanted castle. Often, the hero’s journey toward transformation starts out in a similar way, with a similar choice. We are called away from hearth and home to a new adventure, not for adventure’s sake, but as a response to a crisis, a need, or a deep sense of purpose. Belle and Jesus personify a beautiful version of the hero’s journey: the journey to serve, the journey to help another, and the journey to serve a higher purpose.

  This journey emerges from the yearning to serve another, to seek the lost, and to save the one who is in danger. Belle’s guiding value is one of service and self-giving love for a father who has loved and nurtured her over the years. Not every hero’s journey in life or literature begins this way, but it is the reason that Belle begins her journey. The self-giving nature of such a journey adds its own spiritual power and imaginative strength. Self-giving in our journeys to understand and embrace our highest selves transforms us in beautiful ways. Powered by self-giving love, Belle and Jesus embark on journeys that will transform more than just themselves, they will inspire and nourish the transformation of others along the way as well.

  The hero’s journey is at its strongest when others benefit from our journeys, even as we benefit from theirs. As we embrace our new perspectives, expanding perceptions, and opportunities for self-giving on the journey, we move faster and faster toward the life-giving transformation we seek.

  Love Is Beautiful to Behold

  And so, Belle embarks upon just such a journey. Over the river and through the woods, to an enchanted castle she goes. Upon discovering her imprisoned father in a dark, dank castle tower, suffering in his sickness, Belle vows to help him escape. When Beast arrives, Belle has options beyond self-sacrifice. Belle could have fought, perhaps discovering a miraculous power to best even a huge beast. She could have played the trickster, a common trope in fairy tales like this one, out-thinking and out-maneuvering the cruel beast to escape the treacherous castle. But Belle chooses self-sacrifice, taking her father’s place as Beast’s prisoner, and setting up the primary theme of our story. While cleverness, courage, trickery, or even magic might have freed her father, love alone, particularly self-giving love, has the power to transform lives.

  Envision the moment of Belle’s first gift of self-giving love. In the dark prison tower, even as Belle kneels in fear and trembling to be near her father’s prison door, she looks up at the villainous monster who refuses to release her father, and offers herself in his place: “Wait! Take me instead.”[43] Even the hard-hearted beast before her is softened for just a moment at this surprising gesture—one she has offered humbly, quietly, perhaps even regretfully. Beast asks incredulously: “You would take his place?” Beast, who had been a selfish adolescent, can hardly fathom the selfless love Belle displays in this moment. Has he never known a loving family? Has the love he once knew been corrupted by a tragedy in his past? Or has his own heartless attitude prevented him from receiving the love that was offered? At this point, all we know is that he is surprised to witness this beautiful act of self-giving love.

  Imagine what a sad childhood Beast must have endured to find a selfless act between parent and child so shocking. Generous and self-giving acts of service are common in families—but apparently not for the young prince. His reaction is a vivid reminder that self-giving love can effect powerful change when witnessed by others, particularl
y those who have not known such love.

  Many years ago, during a long overnight flight with our young son—a son who struggles with motion sickness and excruciating stomach cramps—my husband and I sat awake, trying not to move as our small child settled across our laps and sought the relief that only sleep can bring. As we endured fatigue and stiffness in an effort to spare our son pain, we were doing what thousands of other parents have done before us, and thousands more will do in the years ahead: sacrificing personal comfort and the need for sleep in order to care for this small person in our care. It didn’t feel like much of a sacrifice at the time. After all, we had just enjoyed a wondrous vacation together on Maui, and we knew we would return home in a few hours to a warm, comfortable bed, where we could rest and recover from our long flight. But as we departed that flight several hours later, an older woman touched me on the shoulder and said, “Your son is a very lucky little boy. Your love for him is beautiful.”

  Unexpected Moments