The Disney 1991 animated classic Beauty and the Beast tells a magical tale with the important moral of learning to love beyond appearances. The popular film was followed up with sequels and in 2018 Disney released their live-action version that starred Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. However, despite these family-friendly versions filled with songs, talking objects, and lighthearted comedy, the original 1740 French novel by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve told a very different, much darker story.
Later on, this version would be rewritten as a short story for children by another French writer named Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. Her version would become more popular than the original, and be the basis for retellings of the fairy-tale, and though the two stories are fairly similar, each varies with its own version. Here are the biggest differences between the Disney films and the original fairy tales.
The Rose
In Disney's version of the classic tale Beauty and the Beast, the rose represents the duration left for the Beast to break the curse, as each fallen petal is an indication that the Beast is running out of time. However, in the original French story, Beauty asks her merchant father to bring her back a rose as a gift.
In Beaumont's version after Beauty's father goes to the castle and takes refuge, he picks a branch with several roses on it to bring back to his daughter but is stopped by the Beast who demands that the merchant must die or present one of his daughters in his place to take the punishment, and unlike the Disney version, that is how Beauty ends up at the castle.
Family
In Disney's animated version of Beauty and the Beast, Belle doesn't have any siblings, but in the original story, Beauty has two jealous older sisters as well as three brothers. Just like in the Disney version, Beauty and her father, who's a merchant in the French tale, but is an inventor in the movie, have a special bond, as she is the kindest and most hard-working of her siblings.
When her father manages to revive his fortune with gold coins from the Beast, Beauty is the only one told about their wealth, as the merchant knows that his other children will want to move back to town and revive their lavish lifestyle.
Wicked Sisters
While the movie version of Beauty and the Beast doesn't feature any siblings for Belle, her sisters are a big part of the original story serving as the main antagonists. In Beaumont's version, Beauty's two sisters are extremely jealous of the attention that their younger sibling receives due to her extreme beauty and kindness. They mock Beauty for happily staying at home and reading, and blame their father's confrontation with the Beast on her due to Beauty's request for a rose.
After Beauty returns and they see that she is happy and has been living lavishly, they decide to make her stay longer than the Beast requested in hopes of making the Beast angry enough to devour her. Their plan fails, and in the end as punishment for their wicked behavior towards Beauty, the sisters are turned into statues by a good fairy.
The Beast's Request
In the original versions of the classic story of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is eager to lift the spell cast upon him, and each night he asks Beauty the same question in hopes of breaking the curse.
In Beaumont's version, he asks Beauty to marry him, to which she replies no, but in Villeneuve's version he asks her to sleep with him, which she refuses until she returns from her visit to her father and finds the Beast near death. She eventually agrees to marry him.
Evil Fairy
In both versions of Disney's take on Beauty and the Beast, the curse placed upon the Beast is due to his selfish behavior, refusing to help a kind old woman who turns out to be an enchantress, but this is not the case in the original stories.
In Beaumont's tale, a wicked fairy cursed him to remain a beast until a beautiful virgin agreed to marry him in his disfigured form, but in Villeneuve's version, the prince's backstory is more complicated. He was raised by a fairy who turned out to be evil, and when the prince reached adulthood the fairy tried to seduce him. When he rejected her advances, he was turned into a beast as punishment.
Enchanted Objects
One of the most lighthearted elements of Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast is the enchanted objects that serve as both comedic relief and companions for Belle. Of course in the original versions, there's no Lumiere, Cogsworth, or Mrs. Potts, in fact, the servants of the castle have all been turned into statues.
Instead, Beauty's companions in the books are birds and monkeys. This drastic difference between the stories and the films, also changes how isolated Beauty actually is from the rest of the world without the talking objects to keep her company.
Belle's Origins
In Disney's version of the tale, Belle is simply the daughter of the inventor Maurice, but in Villeneuve's version, Beauty's backstory turns out to be much more complicated. After the prince's ungrateful mother voices her displeasure with the idea of her son marrying a merchant's daughter, a good fairy reveals that Beauty is actually the child of a king and another good fairy.
She tells them that Beauty was switched with the merchant's deceased daughter in order to hide her from a wicked fairy that wanted to marry the king and murder her. The surprising twist about Beauty's origins is certainly an unexpected element in the original tale.
Gaston & LeFou
Both Disney's animated and live-action version of Beauty and the Beast features the self-centered villain Gaston and his silly sidekick LeFou. Though it's hard to imagine an interpretation of the story that doesn't have the bragging antagonist, neither of these memorable characters exists in the original version of the tale, or the retelling by Beaumont.
Instead, the villains of the books are Beauty's extremely jealous and selfish sisters who spend their time mocking Beauty and trying to plot ways to punish her out of resentment and envy for her new lifestyle.
Song & Dance Numbers
While many of the songs like "Be Our Guest" and "Beauty and the Beast" are extremely memorable in the Disney film versions of Beauty and the Beast, it probably doesn't come as a large surprise that the original fairy-tale doesn't feature any show-stopping song and dance numbers.
It is yet another of the many notable difference between Disney's versions and the classic French tale. Losing all the colorful and uplifting musical elements of Disney's interpretation certainly makes the original feel a bit colder.
Courtship
In Disney's version, viewers watch as Belle and the Beast build their relationship by getting to know one another and dining and dancing, however, this is very different from what happens in the book versions of Beauty and the Beast. The original story shows significantly less interaction between the two characters outside of the Beast's nightly requests to Beauty.
Beauty also sees a handsome young man in her dreams that requests that she not judge what she sees with her eyes and to help release him from his torment. Unfortunately, though he tries to indicate that he is the true form of the Beast, Beauty does not understand his meaning and it ends up causing more conflict for Beauty as she tries to make sense of her feelings for the handsome young man and the Beast.