Megan Wray

Intro to “Then Somebody Bends” Content warning: abusive relationships, sexual harassment Belle’s tale is not a new one. As they say, it’s “as old as time.” Her story has roots in Apuleius’s Ancient Roman story of Cupid and Psyche from the 2nd century CE. In this, a king and queen’s gorgeous daughter is adored and desired by everyone in the land. Her name is Psyche; she is a mortal. Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, becomes so envious that she sends her son, Cupid, to curse Psyche to fall in love with the most hideous being around, but ends up falling in love with her himself. And he’s not the monster Venus was hoping for. Because Cupid was sent to doom Psyche — and because she’s a mortal while he’s a god — when the two marry, he tells his new wife that she may never see what he looks like. One night, Psyche’s sisters convince her to sneak around by candlelight to see her lover’s true appearance. She’s happy to learn that her husband is the handsome Cupid, but accidentally awakens him, infuriating him so much so that he leaves. In order to prove herself worthy to be with Cupid, Venus sends Psyche on a series of impossible and dangerous tasks. Seeing Psyche nearly die while attempting to meet his mother’s demands, Cupid rescues his wife and they finally get to be together.  In a more modern and familiar version of the story, Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve’s 17th century tale La Belle et La Bête, Beauty’s father finds himself seeking shelter in a palace during a storm while returning home from a journey. As he leaves, an enraged Beast sees the man picking a rose to take home to Beauty; this is the Beast’s prized possession. They eventually come to an agreement: the man can take the rose if he offers one of himself or one of his daughters in return. Beauty accepts and begins to work as the Beast’s servant all the while living a lavish lifestyle in the palace. The two become close, and he proposes marriage to her every night, to which she declines, rather hoping she will fall in love with the prince of the castle.  As Beauty becomes homesick, the Beast allows her to leave if she promises to return in exactly a week. She brings with her an enchanted mirror that allows her to view life at the castle when gazing into it.  Her evil, envious sisters convince Beauty to stay with them longer in hopes that the Beast will punish his lover.  Beauty starts to feel remorseful for breaking her promise to the Beast and looks into her mirror only to see the Beast overcome with heartbreak and nearly dead. Seeing this, Beauty immediately returns, proclaiming her love for him. The Beast begins to transform back into  his true form — a handsome prince — and informs Beauty that a fairy put a spell on him that turned him into a hideous beast until he found true love despite his ugly exterior. Beauty’s love reversed this and the two live happily ever after. Villeneuve’s version reveals more backstory for her characters than most other renditions. In this story, we learn that the Beast was a young prince raised by an evil fairy who repeatedly tried to seduce him. When he refused, the fairy turned him into the beast we know him as. The Beast’s past allows us to understand him from a different point of view — that of a victim. Maybe the Beast’s actions should be considered through the framework of the cycle of abuse: he was sexually harassed by his caretaker as a child with a potential consequence being his abusive actions towards Beauty.  We also learn more about Beauty: she is not really a merchant’s daughter, but actually the daughter of a king and good fairy. When a wicked fairy tried to murder Beauty to marry her father, the king, Beauty was sent away to be protected. Yet, her sisters are vain and self-obsessed and treat Beauty like a servant. On the other side, Beauty is well-read, kind, and quite lovely.  Both Beauty and the Beast come from unstable home lives with evil beings trying to harm them. Perhaps her love of reading is a form of escapism and he is an aid in her getaway. Perhaps this is why Beauty falls so hard for the Beast — she sees that she is truly loved and wanted by someone. Perhaps she sees his manipulative, enslaving behaviours as that of real passion, desire, and love. In Disney’s version, Belle is set to marry a man named Gaston, but the couple couldn’t understand each other; she found herself bored of him and he didn’t understand her desire to read. “It’s not right for a woman to read,” he claimed. Again, Belle’s father, Maurice, found himself in a castle and running into a horrendous looking Beast who was transformed from man into an animal by an Enchantress. The Beast figured Maurice was just there to stare at his unfit appearance and became furious, locking the man up in a dungeon for his cruelty. Belle found her father and offered herself as the Beast’s prisoner in exchange for Maurice’s freedom. The Beast accepted.  Later that night, Belle stumbled upon the rose that the Enchantress left when she cursed the Beast. When he saw her reach for it, he became so angered that he kicked Belle out. Outside the castle, Belle came across a pack of wolves set out to attack her. Luckily, the Beast witnessed the scene unfold and came to her rescue, risking his own life. They returned to the castle together, eating and dancing in the ballroom. The Beast realized that Belle was no longer just his prisoner – he was in love with the girl. So he freed her. Gaston grew appalled with jealousy upon learning about Belle’s time with the Beast – so much so that he stabbed the Beast, nearly killing him. Like he did for her, Belle came to his rescue and saved him. The girl told the Beast she loved him and begged him not to leave her. As her words left her mouth and the last rose petal began to fall, the Beast began transforming back into a human again.  Belle’s story is a classic example of the “true love conquers all”  trope which is an integral aspect of many fairy tales — think Aurora, Cinderella, or Snow White. While they may seem hopeful and innocent at first, all of these stories portray a damsel in distress who is rescued by a man completely in love with her. Not only are these heteronormtive representations of romance, but they play into the idea that women need saving — and this always has to be done by their male counterparts. The idea that true love makes everything else seem unsubstantial can really be quite a damaging narrative. What if that love is cruel? What if that love is dangerous? What if that love is abusive? Belle is an intelligent woman. So, is it simply love that urges her to return back to the one who enslaved her? It might not be that simple. It might be a case of Stockholm syndrome. This is a psychological phenomenon in which captives form bonded and loving feelings towards their abusers. Stockholm syndrome can exist in any toxic relationships with a power imbalance such as victims of child abuse, domestic abuse, or formerly imprisoned people. Potential signs of this include little or no desire to escape one’s abuser, feelings of pity for one’s abuser, and appeasing their captors by acting complicitly. All of these could explain why Belle shows love for the Beast and chooses to not only save him, but return to him.  Stockholm syndrome is a branch of trauma bonding which is a cycle of abuse in which victims are fed punishments and rewards intermittently. Often, trauma bonding leaves one “feasting on bread crumbs” so to speak. The “humane” treatment of captives — or simply the fact that they’ve been allowed to live — can distort the victim’s perception leading them to see the good in their captors. Victims of Stockholm syndrome are also often isolated from others. In Belle’s case, she comes to love the Beast once he’s helped her despite being trapped in the castle alone with him.  As heartbreaking as it is, abuse and toxic relationships are universal. Whether it be Ancient Rome or present-day Canada, these stories are not new to us. We are constantly seeing questionable love stories in our culture, our friends and family, and sometimes even in our own lives. Maybe Belle’s tale is as old as time because our happy endings aren’t always as happy as they seem.   Originally published in Willow Press’ Wild: Volume 4