10 Dark Storylines That Disney Movies Left Out
3. Belle’s sisters are so jealous of her they try to make the Beast kill her
La Belle et la Bête was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740. In this story Belle lives with her widower merchant father and 11 brothers and sisters.
After the merchant’s ship is destroyed, he takes refuge in a castle where he is well cared for, but then decides to take a rose from the garden for Belle. The Beast catches him, and furious that his hospitality was repaid by theft threatens to kill him. He eventually gives him the rose but demands Belle comes to live with him as his fiancé or he will kill the merchant’s family.
A prince cursed by an old fairy who tried and failed to seduce him, the Beast is hideous, but Belle is expected to learn to love him. Every night he tries to sleep with her, but she refuses.
He allows her to visit her family for a week and she tries to share her extravagant clothes with her sisters, but they turn to rags when they touch them. Jealous of her new life, they attempt to get her to stay longer hoping that this will anger the Beast enough to kill her. While she is away the Beast is murdered by an angry mob, but is revived and turned back to a prince when Belle returns and cries out that she loves him.