”This is a story. It’s about a girl who left her home. It’s about a man who couldn’t face himself. It’s about how two people began to change. And it’s the story about how I became his companion.”
— Beauty, Beauty and the Beast’s animated trailer
Megan Kearney's Beauty and the Beast is a very long black and white Webcomic published from 2012 to 2018. The autor took inspiration on many adaptations, including Disney’s movie, Robin McKinley'snote books and other fairy tales. Still, Megan Kearney was able to make a version with its own identity, thanks to the depth and complexity given to the leading characters. The story is divided in three acts and an epilogue, each of them is divided in chapters.
The story opens with Beauty as a child, dying from a fever. A strange sneaks into her bedroom and puts a rosebud in her hand. After this mysterious prologue, the story starts as a regular version of the fairy tale, with two differences. First, Beauty’s sisters, Virtue and Temperance, are both good people who care about their father and younger sister. Second, the gifts the trio asked their father – the jewels, fancy clothes and a rose - to bring them from his business trip are mere jokes, because they were skeptical about his success after their years of poverty and struggle. Little did they know how much a joke would cost!
Claude, the husband of Virtue, finds his father-in-law lost in a blizzard, raving about a castle and a beast. More astonishing yet,he's brought everything his daughters asked, including the rose for Beauty. The next day, he confirms that the Beast exists and he has a debt to him for having picked up the flower without permission. He either will have to go back and become Beast's prisoner or one of his daughters will have to go instead, which is out of the question. Beauty tricks him into telling her how to find the castle, taking advantage of a moment of distraction to run away. However, her reasons to take her father’s place are not as selfless as her previous counterparts' from the other adaptations (or from the original story). The same way, Beast does not expect that her love will save him because he is not a prince cursed by an evil fairy. Like Beauty and her father, he is stuck to a contract with a mysterious, ancient force.
Megan Kearney's Beauty and the Beast was also published as a three-volume book at Amazon.
Beautiful and Bestial Tropes:
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A-C
- Abusive Parents: Beast’s mother, and how. She forced him to hit the books and controlled every aspect of his life expecting to convince her former lover, the current king, that their illegitimate son was a suitable heir to the throne, thus admit that she once had meant something for him. Of course her hopes bit the dust, and she took all her frustrations out telling the poor kid how shameful it was having a bastard child. The one time he rebelled against her, she broke his nose (see Wham Shot).
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Zigzagged. Most versions of the classic fairy tale describe Beauty’s sisters as plain or ugly. In the webcomic, Virtue is the most attractive of the trio, with her chubby, motherlike figure. Temperance is plain and Beauty is moderately attractive, but not as beautiful as her counterparts from the classic fairy tale, movies, etc.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: As stated previously, Beauty’s sisters are good people. When they were children, Temperance bullied Beauty, blaming her for their mother’s disappearance, and even in the present she still resents a bit because her sister is “their father’s favorite”. However, both she and Virtue truly love their younger sister. And it’s Temperance who supports Beauty when the girl confesses she is in love with the Beast, after she comes back home.
- Adapted Out: Beauty has no brothers in this version, but Virtue is married, like Beauty's sisters in Villeneuve's book. The magic mirror was replaced by the fountain, which also is the counterpart of the evil fairy from the original story.
- After Action Patch Up: Beast patches Beauty’s hand after the maze incident. Though there was no violence involved, it was creepy.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Except for Aornis, nobody liked Beast when he was human, because of his condition of ilegitimate child and his sensitivity, which was dismissed as a weakness. Even the gamekeeper, who gave him Aornis and warned him about the fountain, took care of the boy only because it was part of his duties.
- And I Must Scream: After Beast was turned into an animal, it took him YEARS and a lot of willpower to recover his conscience. Besides, he has lived for centuries with no company but the voices in his head murmured by the magic force that built the castle.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Beauty is that for her family, much for her embarrassment. Virtue even calls her “the baby”.
- Bait-and-Switch: When the Beast tells Beauty that he was once a man, he explains that he became a Beast because he committed a mortal sin. As the flashbacks to his human life show how cruelly he was treated by his mother and his first love, the reader is led to suspect that he murdered one or both of them and was transformed as punishment. But eventually, the truth is revealed: he was Driven to Suicide, and the castle's magic saved his life, but transformed him and enslaved him in exchange.
- Batman Gambit: In order to find the castle, Beauty asks her father how is he going to do that. The old man explains that all anyone has to do is to search for the place, without suspecting his daughter’s true intentions.
- Beast and Beauty: Well, duh.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Averted. The webcomic makes it very clear that your appearance doesn’t mean you are good or evil. Both Beast’s mother and lover were beautiful women but rotten to the core.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Beast once released the nightingales he found imprisoned in one of the castle’s rooms. Their voices remained in the cages, but the birds never forgot the favor, so they guide Beauty back to the castle. They get their voices back after Beast defeats the magic.
- Bright Castle: Oh, it is bright. And big, and fancy… but appearances can be deceiving.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Beast.
- Byronic Hero: Beast fits in every way possible. He is an intellectual with an extensive knowledge in plants, but he is also a Tragic Monster transformed after trying to commit suicide because he was no longer able to withstand the rejection of everyone around him. As a result, he was "rescued" by the magic fountain but forced to work for it in return.
- Canine Companion: Aornis. Truly the only loyal being to Argus in his life as a human, even after death, when she leads Beauty to him after he finally overcomes the temptations of the castle's power during his test and chooses his humanity again.
- Cannot Tell a Lie: Beast warns Beauty in their second encounter that he can’t lie; but, as she observes, he is good in evading the truth.
- Captive Date: A platonic example. Beast tells Beauty in their first night that she will have to dine with him every night ant that he won’t demand anything else from her; however, she quickly realizes that she is the only one to eat in these encounters. She discovers the reason much later, when she sees Beast naked and devouring a deer. The next night, he shamefully decides giving up on their compromise, but Beauty tells him firmly that she is going to fulfill her part on the deal and so should he. After this, they gradually warm up to each other. Much later, it becomes clear that, when Elise made her contract to save Beauty’s life, he turned the girl into his companion to protect her from the same magic that enslaves him
- Character Development: The backbone of the entire story. Both Beauty and Beast get out of their respective shells and become more mature as they support and comfort each other.
- Children as Pawns: When Beast's mother was young, the king took her as his mistress, but he cast her away when she got pregnant. She obsessed into raising their son to be the next in line for the throne, controlling every aspect his life and going as far as poisoning the queen to keep her from having children. All that to make the king recognize that she had once meant something for him.
- Contrived Coincidence: Averted. Even Beauty’s father didn't find the castle by mere chance. He was guided by the spirit(?) of his wife.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Beauty takes advantage while everyone is distracted with Virtue's fake labor to run away. She feels terrible for leaving in such a situation, but otherwise she never would be allowed to take her father's place in the castle.
D-I
- Deadpan Snarker: Beauty, Beast and even Virtue make their occasional quips, but it’s Temperance who takes the cake.
- Defrosting Ice King: Initially, Beast is polite but cold towards Beauty, treating her as an unwelcome guest. However, after she accepts his animalistic side, he gradually warms up to her.
- Desperately Craves Affection: The source of Beast’s problems. As Argus, he spent his childhood and youth trying in vain to earn the love and approval of the people closest to him. The only reason his mother had him was her dream that Argus would someday inherit the throne although that was unthinkable for a child conceived out of wedlock. Argus had a lover who turned out to be a Gold Digger and dumped him to become his father’s mistress. And his mother’s gamekeeper, the closest thing Argus had as a father, treated him with condescendence and contempt. The only one who loved Argus was his dog, Aornis, but she was mortally wounded by his mother, forcing Argus to put her down. After Argus' mother said she should have aborted him, the poor young man couldn’t stand it anymore and tried to commit suicide in the same “sacred” place he had been warned to not desecrate with blood. The magic fountain read in his mind that he no longer wanted to have a heart and transformed him into a beast that literally didn’t have the physical organ, but still could feel emotions, similar to the effects of the real life phenomenon of Phantom Limbs and Phantom Pain.
- Didn't Think This Through: Beauty admits she didn’t think of the real consequences when she offered to take her father’s place.
- Distracted by the Luxury: Averted. Having back everything she lost when her father became poor – beautiful dresses, books to read and a piano to play - doesn’t make Beauty forget that she is a prisoner. For the same reason, her family prefers not using the jewels and fine clothes Beast sent them.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Beast’s reaction when Beauty comments that the monsters from Greek mythology were victims of the gods and heroes, and not truly evil. He quickly sees through that.Beast: I see. A monster who should be a man. Did you find yourself in there, too? Persephone, maybe? Or are you Psyche? I may not be the king of Hell, but I’m far from being the god of love. Will you marry me, Beauty? Do you want to share my bed? Will you shine a light on me and make a handsome prince out of this wretched monster?
Beauty(shocked): B-Beast, I…
Beast: I thought not.
Beauty: I… I’ve offended you.
Beast: If you presume all monsters have some justification for what they are, you’ll quickly find that your sympathy is wasted. - Dramatic Drop: Beast does this when Beauty finds something of his past.
- The Faceless: All people from Beast’s past are portraited as silhouettes with visible hair and mouths, because he no longer remembers their faces.
- False Soulmate: Argus's lover. He gets to propose to her, even risking his mother's wrath, but she becomes sick of being his Living Emotional Crutch and leaves him for a better position as the king's new mistress.
- Flower Motifs: Every act has a cover illustrated with flowers and their respective scientific names.
- There are rose motifs everywhere in the palace, in Beauty’s dresses and even in one of Beast’s outfits. Not to mention the rose garden at the center of the maze. Strangely enough, Beast says he never was lucky with roses.
- Gentle Giant: Beast, even before he got out of his shell.
- Gilded Cage: Beauty has every luxury she can imagine in the castle, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is trapped there with nobody to talk besides Beast, who is a prisoner, too.
- Good Parents: There's no doubt that Beauty's parents are the good counterpart to Beast's. Even when Papa was too busy to spend time with his daughters, he gave them the best of everything, including an education ahead of their time. After he was forced to make the contract, he refused to have any of his daughters taking his place; and, even after Beauty returned home, he was so pissed with Beast that he refused to touch any of the riches the latter sent to his family. And as for Elise, she gave up on her life and freedom to save Beauty's life. Also, she pulled a few strings to give Beauty a chance of experiencing true love, as she had with her husband.
- Gratuitous Latin: At the castle entrance there is an arc with the phrase “Pacta Sund Servanda”. It means “Agreements must be kept”.
- Aornis' name, in Latin, means "without birds" (see Wham Shot). Justified, since Latin was part of the education among the riches, and Aornis' owner, the future Beast, was receiving the equivalent to a royal education, or at least his mother believed so.
- Green Thumb: Beast is an exceptional herbalist and tends the flower in the garden as tenderly as they were his children.
- Happily Married: Virtue and Claude.
- Hates Being Alone: The reason why Beauty started to hang out with Beast. During her entire life she was surrounded by her family, and then she is suddenly all alone in an enormous place which is empty except for her jailer. So, in spite of her grudge towards him, she starts to wait eagerly for dinnertime, when they would talk. Afterwards, she starts to look for him during the day, too.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Beauty’s family assume that happened to her. A few days after her return, Virtue finds the courage to ask her if Beast did... something. Beauty quickly reassures her that nothing happened, but Virtue doesn’t seem convinced.
- I Just Want to Be Special: One of the reasons why Beauty goes to the castle. She had always seen herself as ordinary comparing to her sisters and a burden for her family, so when their father’s life was threatened she saw an opportunity to be useful for them.
- Instant Oracle: Just Add Water!: The water source of the castle can show what you want to see, like Beauty's family, and what you don’t want, too. Specifically, to punish Beast when he tries to tell Beauty the true nature of her contract with him.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: It’s a retelling of the fairy tale, so Beast actually does this , but not in the usual way.
- Her family does the same weeks after Beauty’s return. She opens her heart to them and tells how miserable she feels for having abandoned the Beast. In spite of the initial shock – and Virtue’s insistence that Beauty must have been bewitched by Beast -, they surprisingly relent it after Temperance's arguments . Even Beauty’s dad, who resented the Beast most, tells Beauty that she’ll always have a roof to go back no matter what will happen.
K-Y
- Kids Are Cruel: The girls of the village bullied Beauty when they were children because she was “a girl from the city”. They eventually grow out of this, but their relationship with Beauty never expanded beyond polite waves.
- Magically-Binding Contract:
- The castle's reason to exist. According to Beast, many people made magic contracts before her father, and none of them ended up well(see Shout-Out).
- When Beauty's father picked up the rose, he had to give something in exchange, whether it was his life or hers. Later, it's explained that Beast amended the old man's contract to the one he had made with Elise years ago, to save Beauty's life. That way, the latter would have to stay in the castle as his companion, (hopefully) protected from the magic's traps.
- Beast himself is the victim of a contract he accidentally made centuries ago, as mentioned in Byronic Hero.
- The Maze: The scariest place of the castle. It almost lures Beauty to get lost in there, but Beast finds her in the nick of time.
- Missing Mom: Beauty’s mother disappeared when she was still a child. She was told her mother was taken by the same disease that almost killed her… which is not entirely a lie.
- Never My Fault: Argus’ mother claimed that everything she did was for him, including to drug the queen secretly, so the latter would never have children. When the queen finally became pregnant, Argus’ mother was so out of herself that she tried to stab her own son, screaming she never should have had him. When he stopped her, she called him a “beast” for “attacking his mother” before calming down and deciding to poison the queen and her unborn child. When Argus protested, she retorted that “he had as much blood in his hands as she had”. No wonder he had a nervous breakdown.
- Onion Tears: In a very touching moment. Temperance lies that she’s not crying, it’s “just these damn onions”.
- No Name Given: Averted almost completely. Except for Beauty’s dad, all the main characters have names. Yes, even Beast. He’s called Argus.
- Parental Abandonment: Beast/Argus' father, the current king, cast his former mistress away, when he learned she was pregnant with his child. Apparently, he set her up for life, since she is always dressed-up in the flashbacks and could pay Argus' education, but the king never wanted to do anything with his son, which was the usual treatment given to illegitimate children, back in the day.
- Resist the Beast: While Beast is a gentleman, he is also an animal and thus occasionally forced to give in to his feral instincts. When that happens, he runs naked in the woods on all fours and hunts to eat. Beauty is naturally horrified at the first time she sees him devouring a prey, but takes the situation surprisingly well after he explains his condition to her. According to Beast, when he was transformed his mind was completely taken by animal instinct. It took months, probably years, for him to think rationally again, so the library, the gardening and even talking with her help him to be anchored… most of the time.
- Riches to Rags: Beauty’s family was forced to move to the country after her fathers’ business went bankrupt. The trope repeats in the end, when Beauty brings Argus to live with her in the farm. None of the two lament to have left their luxurious life behind.
- Shameful Strip: After Beast is separated from Beauty by the magic, his clothes melt into a pool of black goop, apparently as part of his punishment, before confronting a shadow of the man he was. Subverted: after his initial shock, he is not ashamed at all, just furious to see his former self taunting him; Fake Argus doesn't make any comments about Beast's undressed state, wither. Justified, since Beast is used to strip naked to hunt.
- Shout-Out:
- Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Beast asks a walking teapot to serve him tea.
- Beauty likes reading, although she's not as passionate about books as Belle.
- Like Disney's Beast, Megan Kearney's furry guy struggles to retain his last vestiges of humanity. According to the
Word of God, D Beast was supposed to take carcasses of his preys to the West Wing (the main reason why he didn't want Belle there), but that was left out in the movie; MK Beast, by his turn, actually kills a deer and devours it onscreen. D Beast barely wore clothes in the first part of the movie; while MK Beast doesn't wear any in his predation moments. Of course, he dresses up to interact with Beauty. - Last but not least, Beast lampshades the famous dancing scene:
Beauty: Are you taking me to dance, Milord?
Beast: Ha! Would that I could! Walking upright is enough of a challenge for me, thank you. - Beast's conflicts with his predatory side and the voices muttering in his head may also be a nod to Panna a netvor, which Megan Kearney is very fond of.
- At the Act One, Beast lends Beauty The Metamorphoses of Ovid. The book is mentioned several times, especially the part referring to the Minotaur and the labyrinth.
- The silhouetted people with visible hair and clothes from Beast's past are evocative of the art of Japanese artist Junichi Nakahara, who made fairy-tale illustrations in this style and whose art also influenced animes like Revolutionary Girl Utena and Arakawa Under the Bridge.
- A monstrous-looking being that lived through centuries making magic deals? Sounds like Rumpelstiltskin, who was also the “Beast” in the fairy-tale world of the series.
- Elise, Beauty’s mother, is inspired in the legend of The Swan Maiden.
- There are many references to other fairy tales and mythology along the story. In the Chapter 4 of Act 2, Virtue tells her baby an adaptation of The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body, with the princess as the protagonist.
- At the entrance of the maze there is a statue representing Artemis and Acteon. Since Acteon was turned into a deer as a punishment for entering a cave and seeing Artemis bathing, it may be an advertence to Beauty’s curiosity. It also may be a nod to the statue of the classic movie of Jean Cocteau.
- During Chapter Six of Act 2, Beast takes Beauty through a salon full of pictures displaying legends and fairy tales about relationships between humans and animals (some platonic):
- In the Chapter Three of Act 3, Beast remembers the pleas of some people that made deals with him through the years. Among them, “a child as homely as a hedgehog”, “a gown like sunrise and another like starlight“ and "a bride more clever than any other" (The Peasants Wise Daughter).
- Disney's Beauty and the Beast: Beast asks a walking teapot to serve him tea.
- The Social Darwinist: The world where Beast lived back when he was a human apparently worked like this. People around him had no respect for animal life, to the extent that his lover called him "pathetic" for having mourned the loss of Aornis. The court thrived on power, while kindness was met with scorn; when Beast offered his mother some tea because she was upset, she accused him of being condescending. His lover decided to become the king's concubine out of concern with her future, and didn't understand why he begged her to not sleep with his own father. In the present, when Beauty comments how gentle Beast is, he answers bitterly he rarely had a chance to be that.
- The Three Faces of Eve: Virtue is, or was the Seductress: before becoming poor, she was very wooed by noblemen and good in flirting. Soon after her family moved to the country, she was wooed by Claude and married him. Temperance is the Wife: mature, intelligent, practical and frequently the most rational in the family. Beauty is the Child, sensitive and (initially)innocent; Virtue calls her "the baby" and their father says she is "the heart of the house".
- Transforming Conforming: To be transformed into a Beast caused Argus to lose temporarily his sentience. He took many years to get his mind back but needs routine and activities to keep anchored, like reading, gardening and dining with Beauty. Still, he is occasionally forced into giving in to his feral instincts; when this happens, he runs naked on all fours and hunts in the woods.
- Wham Shot:
- In the Chapter five of Act One, Beauty goes after the Beast to explain herself after he stormed off at dinner (see Don't You Dare Pity Me!), when she feels something stick on the floor. She looks down and see it's blood, which is getting absorbed by the floor. Then she looks up, with widened eyes. At the next page, an animal is ripping the meat off the carcass of a deer. Beauty gasps, making the animal look up, their eyes meets...it's Beast!
- At the Chapter four of Act Two, Beast can't stand seeing Beauty crying after she saw her family on the water. He tries to tell her the truth about her contract, but his face tightens in pain as he is clearly fighting to find the words, before Beauty sees something really frightening at the water. Beast slaps at it to destroy the vision and storms off. Beauty saw him as a child, mourning the birds his mother killed because they "distracted him from her". In the next chapter, a flashback shows the fountain had lied: Beast/Argus actually saved his birds by freeing them from their cages, but fell from the window, and his mother saved him in time. Then when he (and the readers) started to think she actually loved him, she slapped him so hard that Argus fell flat on his face, breaking his nose.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The fates of pretty much everyone in Argus's past. Obviously they died, as by the time Argus regains his human form, centuries have passed and the kingdom his biological father had ruled seems to be long gone to the point that there is no name to put to it, not that Argus elaborates on it anyhow and in the long term, it doesn't matter in the story. The primary fates of the two people who impacted Argus most, his mother and his lover, are ultimately left uncertain.
- The fate of his mother could had gone a variety of ways. Knowing that she had ordered Argus to poison the queen and kill her unborn child, which Argus clearly didn't do as the despair he felt over such a choice led him to kill himself near the fountain, it is unknown how she reacted to learning her son died or even what next she did afterwards. Likely she didn't take his demise well, though not as much as a grieving mother as she did losing her henchman, meaning it is possible that she tried to kill her husband's new child herself and could had gotten caught, which if true would mean her fate would had ironically gotten her killed her very cruelly by the man she had once loved.
- The fate of Argus's lover is even less uncertain. The last time the readers see her, she is telling Argus off for his naivety in loving someone like her just after she breaks things off with him to be his father's mistress. It is ultimately unknown what her fate after that could be. Since around the time that she becomes his father's new mistress is also when the queen's pregnancy is revealed, it could be that his lover's fate is doomed to be the same as Argus's mother: thrown away as soon as her purpose to the king is used up. The only difference is that the king will have a legitimate child this time.
- Wild Magic: The water fountain in the center of the maze is the source of a mysterious, half-sentient magic that created the castle and the gardens. It also transformed Argus into the Beast, supposedly attending his “wish” of no longer having a heart, but the price was to be its immortal slave and attend other people’s wishes. Beast does everything that is in his power to avoid that the magic captures Beauty, too, even with great cost to himself.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
- Beauty always compared herself unfavorably with her older sisters, lamenting not being as attractive as Virtue or as smart as Temperance. Beast is sincerely shocked by her speech, saying he finds her “vibrant” and “astoundingly gracious”.
- When Beast tells Beauty he became what he is because he threw his heart away, she comforts him.
Beauty:A man without a heart may be a beast, but a beast with a heart is something else.- After the fountain incident, Beast chastises himself because he turned Beauty's pain of being separated from her family into an excuse for him to wallow in his own trauma(see Wham Shot). Beauty pulls his head to her lap, telling him that everybody needs to grieve and that there is nothing wrong about wishing to be comforted.
- When Beast warns Elise that he will not be able to protect Beauty from the magic of the castle, she is pretty skeptical about his lack of confidence.
Elise: Young man, I think you’ll find you’re wrong about that.
