I have always loved the
story of “Beauty and the Beast”. It was an obsession that began
in childhood, when even a six-year-old me knew that there was
something different about this fairy story, first shown to me
through Disney’s marvellous 1991 adaptation. It wasn’t until I
was a little older I could explain it, though. I loved that the
heroine didn’t form an immediate attachment on the hero of the
tale. I loved that you could see them falling in love, slowly and
then all at once.
“Beauty and the
Beast” has its origins in the story of Cupid and Psyche, but
the title comes from a 1740 French novella, La Belle a la Bete, by
Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. It
is one of the few classical fairy tales penned by a woman and its
moral is supposedly not only about not judging by appearances, but
also being patient and not afraid of change. Its primary audience was
young girls, many of whom would be facing arranged marriages. De
Villeneuve wanted to spread a message that their husbands need not be
monsters and they should not be afraid of marriage.
This message is a
little outdated, but the elements of love, fear and patience are
still predominant within my retelling. Our heroine is shown not as
afraid of marriage, but of afraid of falling in love. She watched her
father be torn to pieces by the death of her mother many years ago,
and has quietly resolved never to let herself be that dependant on
another person. The Beast, of course, needs her to love him to break
the curse, and therein lies the bulk of the conflict within the tale.
While the 1991 Disney
adaptation is spectacular, it deviates greatly from its source
material, which I was keen to return to. I wanted a classical
setting, a truly enchanting, fairy-tale castle, but I twisted it
slightly in making the castle completely abandoned and devoid of any
life when our heroine first appears. As her heart softens towards the
Beast, the castle slowly blossoms into a palace reminiscent of the
sumptuous palace depicted in de Villeneuve’s original version.
I also made significant
changes to our heroine, previous epitomised by her beauty and
goodness. This “beauty” is only moderately pretty, has a fiery
temper, and isn’t even particularly kind- at least, not to begin
with. The Beast, by contrast, is unfailingly patient and kind (like
the original) and he is not the first one to undergo a
transformation. Both characters also receive new names. It always
bothered me that the Beast was never given one, as it seemed to me
that placed their relationship already on shaking, uneven footing. I
called Beauty “Rose” instead, after the gift that brought them
together in the classical stories, and the Beast “Thorn”- a name
that she gives him as she feels uncomfortable with the premise of
calling him Beast. It is after this moment that the love story
between them finally begins to take root. They are equals.
There are two “problematic” issues with almost every adaptation I’ve ever read that I was keen to avoid. Firstly, that it is the Beast that imprisons her. This issue is done away with in the first chapter, when Rose becomes trapped not my him, but the magic that surrounds his castle. Again, this was done to foster an innate inequality between the two of them, and to highlight the Beast’s goodness. He is as much a prisoner as she is. It also alleviates any possible argument of Stockholm syndrome with has often been critics first comment regarding this tale.
The second issue I’ve
always found problematic is the Beast’s courting of Beauty. In the
old version, he asks her to marry him every night, which by modern
hands is harassment. I also found it hard to accept how quickly –or
perhaps suddenly- her feelings towards him shifted. This romance is
very much a slow burner, and the audience is aware she has fallen for
him before she comes to that realisation herself. Reviewers have
mentioned how believable they find the love story, how it perfectly
encapsulates two people falling in love.
I was also heavily
inspired by Gothic fiction, and the works of Angela Carter. There is
a direct allusion to The Bloody Chamber in an early joke told
by the Beast. These inspirations worked their way into the
descriptions of the castle and grounds, but also created a villain; a
dark fairy trapped within the walls of the castle, a true antagonist
for our heroine to fight against. De Villeneuve’s version alludes
to her –the person that cursed the prince in the first place- but
she never materialises on page. This addition to the tale allows for
plenty of action and mystery in a story that is otherwise very
slow-paced.
My aim when writing
this adaptation was to provide the retelling I’d always wanted to
read. A captivating, mesmerising rewrite than encapsulated a
beautiful fairy-tale setting but left behind outdated concepts. A
story that felt classical at its roots, but modern in its approach. I
wanted a timeless tale that made people believe in true love, and I
really hope I’ve accomplished this.
Rather than rebel during her teenage years, she spent most of them locked up in her room, furiously writing down the hundreds of stories filling her head. Her little sister Kirsty served as her primary audience, and first fan. Without her, she would never have continued to write.
After completing a BA in English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, she moved to Exeter to train as an English teacher, and then to Kent to start her career. There she met her future husband, adopted two cats, and had a baby boy. It was only after surviving a year of parenthood and a full-time job on less than six hours a night that she finally gained the courage to publish her debut novel, "The Rose and the Thorn." It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast inspired by a dream of a girl surrounded by snow in a field of flowers.
At her heart, Macdonald is storyteller, and it is her dream to inspire others in the way that she has been inspired.
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