The Beasts and the Transformations Compared

Angela Carter created two retellings of The Beauty and the Beast - The Courtship Of Mr Lyon and The Tiger's Bride. Both borrow much from the original tale, but Carter uses the stories to look at the traditional tale from two different sides and imposing two different interpretations. Although, streaming from one story two Beast characters are created. 

What's most noticeably in common between the two Beasts created by Angela Carter is their wilderness, masculinely connoted beast-like traits. 
The Beast from The Courtship Of Mr Lyon, as well as La Bestia from The Tiger's Bride is vast in size, strong and with a body of an animal, the predator. They both avoid the human civilization, live in solitude (except their servants - the valet and the spaniel) in their vast, rich but empty mansions. They both have things to hide from the people and so the Beasts is clothed in a smoking jacket and La Bestia wears gloves and "a mask with a man's face painted most beautifully on it." 


What differentiated the Beasts are their symbolic eye colors. Mr Lyon eyes are green, symbolizing his secrets, mysterious nature and the calming of his turbulent nature he undergoes under Beauty's influence. Beauty discovers his agate eyes have lids - just as human eyes and after the transformation he undergoes, he indeed is Mr Lyon - a man. 

The only thing visible under La Bestia's mask is his yellow eyes. Yellow often symbolizes cowardice or intellect, but most importantly yellow eyes are not natural to humans - as the beastly true nature of La Bestia is foreshadowed. He struggles more to fit in the human costume he clothes and the outcome seems fake to Beauty - he resembles a "carnival figure" to her. La Bestia is very aware of his "beastly" desires and seems quite embarrassed by them. He is in power, yet does not overuse it and provides Beauty with a space for her pride and dignity. 
As he turns out to be the wild tiger - the predator, able to "swallow up" Beauty - he respects and fears her.
 
As in The Courtship Of Mr Lyon, Beast was the one to be calmed in his wild nature by Beauty, in The Tiger's Bride, it is Beauty who is influenced by the wildness of the Beast. La Bestia licks off her human white skin and she herself becomes the beast - redefines herself as equal with him and allows her wilder side to take over.



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