Essay #1
English 165 AA
Spring 2004
Option #1
Describe what you think are the most significant contemporary debates about gender roles—definitions of masculinity and femininity.
What views are dominant?
What views are emergent?
Use your knowledge of the various versions of Beauty and the Beast to analyze the historical antecedents and implications of how these debates developed. Make a claim about how one or more of the many versions of Beauty and the Beast that you have read (or seen on screen) informed the way we view gender roles. Consider both the function of fairy tales and their prevalence in both adult and children’s literature. Use examples from both the Beauty and the Beast readings and from popular culture.
Option #2
How do the representations of the social classes in Beauty and the Beast relate to the way social classes are represented in contemporary society? Are the depictions of values and attributes of the social classes in Beauty and the Beast the realistic or are they a “fairy tale”? Explain. Consider the lifestyles, values, characteristics of the characters from each social class in the various versions of Beauty and the Beast and compare that to contemporary representations of “characters” (real or fictional) from each social class. How are each depicted? What are the morals or messages about social class in the versions of Beauty and the Beast?
Both essay questions are asking you to do a cultural comparison between the fictional fairy tale worlds of Beauty and the Beast and contemporary popular culture. Myths and stories can reflect our values or impose them on us. How do the language and details that change from version to version reflect a difference in beliefs and values from the different periods in which they were written? How do the values and beliefs reflect and/or impose values on the culture of which they are a part? Think about why such a comparison is valuable and what can be learned from it. Reread pages 225-227 and consider the questions following on page 227.