The tale of “Beauty and the Beast” is one of the most beloved and enduring fairy tales in modern culture. Its universal appeal is due to its endearing message of “true love” and the idea that “beauty lies within.” However, the concept of the animal husband has been used in children's literature for centuries and, much like the modern interpretation of the tale itself, the phrase "appearances can be deceiving" rings true when it comes to tales like “The Pig King” and “The Pig King”. Frog King.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay “The Frog King” written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1812) is the story of a naive young princess who encounters a frog while it plays in the garden (Ashliman, 2005). The princess makes a deal with the frog, promising him that she will let him live with her, but then leaves the frog admitting that she never intended to keep her promise. Later, the frog returns and the girl's father scolds her and says: "When you make a promise, you have to keep it" (Tatar, 1999, 49). The girl does as she is told until the frog tries to get into her bed, disgusted, she throws him against the wall and he turns into a prince with "beautiful beaming eyes" and they fall in love (Tatar, 1999, 50). Alternatively, Giovanni Francesco Straparola's "The Pig King" features a more obliging wife who is willing to accept her deformed husband. The story begins with a queen who is desperate for a son and who, through enchantment, gives birth to a boy with the body of a pig. The king and queen raise the pig who one day demands that his parents find him a wife because he has fallen in love with a beautiful but poor young girl from the town. The girl does not want to marry the pig and is forced by her mother to accept the offer, but she is so disgusted by her husband that she decides to kill him. However, the pig discovers her plot and kills her first. The pig then asks to marry the girl's younger sister, and the second marriage ends in the same way as the first. Eventually, the pig is married to the youngest sister who humbly accepts the pig as her husband. Later, the pig sheds his skin and becomes a handsome young man and the two live happily ever after (Tatar, 1999, 42-47). Finally, Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont's story of "Beauty and the Beast" (1757) requires the slightest introduction as it is one of the best-known fairy tales in the world. The story follows a beautiful young girl who sacrifices herself to save her father from being devoured by an aristocratic beast. Slowly, the girl begins to love the beast and eventually is able to see past his ugliness and agrees to marry him. The Beast then transforms into a handsome prince and Beauty is rewarded for her virtue while her cruel sisters are punished. (Tatar, 1999, 32-42) Although these stories seem very different and contain varied messages, they are all classified under the subset of the animal groom fairy tale and all address similar themes (Heiner, 2007). However, it is how each tale approaches these themes that changes the overall meaning of the story. For example, each tale contains a different variation of an arranged marriage, the consequences and motivations of which are examined in varying depth and lead to varying results. Additionally, the recurring motif of the animal groom and the beautiful maiden highlights the roles and expectations of gender and class at the time each tale was written. Some tales are stimulating while others are notare only a reflection of the repressive society of the time. Finally, the theme of sex and attraction is present and, in fact and in each case, fuels the plot and gives the meaning of the tales. SEXUAL MATURATION, GENDER, AND ATTRACTION Attraction is a central theme in each retelling of this tale and is exaggerated by the men in each story being literally depicted as animals. Notably while the women in these tales are infallibly beautiful, the men are judged in other areas and are only attractive when their true virtue is discovered, indicating that a man's true value lies in his character. The beauty of “Beauty and the Beast” and the young girl of “The Pig King” share many idealized feminine traits such as obedience and kindness. However, the protagonist of "The Frog Prince" is indicative of a different feminine ideal, she is beautiful and innocent like her counterparts but less submissive and more interested and proves capable of finding her own happiness through action rather than through passivity. The women in each tale are initially repelled by the “bestial” men who symbolize the primitive and sexual aspects of human nature. Women must see beyond the exterior of men to experience and accept the joy of a sexual relationship and achieve sexual maturity themselves. In each tale, the form the man takes affects the meaning of the tale. The most profound of these is present in "The Frog King", the phallic nature of the frog and the princess's refusal to let it into her bed have led literary critics to believe that its meaning is sexually symbolic. The frog turning into a prince symbolizes the transformation of a virgin's perception of sex from something disgusting to something she accepts (Heuscher, 1974). The symbolism of the golden ball that the princess plays with further supports this interpretation, as the golden ball is symbolic of the princess's virginity and naivety, and foreshadows her violent rejection of him later in the history (Talairach-Vielmas, 2012, 288). . The meaning of his rejection symbolizes the fear and disgust women feel when they first have sex and warns that men should not force women to share a bed until they are ready to accept it. It is only after the frog transforms into a prince that the couple finds marital happiness. This meaning is markedly different from that of "King Pig", because the heroine of the story is the woman who accepts the bestial nature of her partner and his reluctant sisters. are victims of the beast. The sisters' violent reaction to their disgusting husband and refusal to consummate their marriage is punished while the youngest sister's obliging nature and acceptance of the pig results in a happy marriage. It is only after the young girl gives herself to the pig that he transforms into a prince. The meaning suggested by the text is therefore that women must be prepared to endure the sexual advances of their partner in order to find happiness. Finally, “Beauty and the Beast” is the most tender tale when it comes to sexuality. While the Beast is symbolically the most physically aggressive suitor in these tales, in reality he is the most patient of the animal bridegrooms and the least willing to impose himself on his partner. The physical form of the beast is symbolic of the “violence of male sexuality” that women must learn to accept in order to live harmoniously with their partners (Talairach-Vielmas, 2012: 275). Additionally, the appearance of the beast is the strongest sexual metaphor and its transformation represents Beauty's own sexual maturation, instead of seeing a monster in her partner, she sees something beautiful(Talairach-Vielmas, 2012: 272). The meaning of the text suggests that marital happiness is achieved through patience on the part of the man and the willingness to wait for his partner to accept his sexual nature, the beast understands how he appears to Beauty and rather than to impose himself on her, he is chivalrous. and waits for her to accept it instead. This suggests that women are happiest in loving marriages and that the strongest unions are those in which the woman chooses to take the man. LOVE, MARRIAGE, AND CLASS Each tale involves an arranged marriage that results in the happiness of the participants. In each tale, the arranged marriage only succeeds when the characters accept each other, reinforcing the idea that marriage depends on love and that without love, a marriage will not last (Tatar, 1999, 28). In this regard, class is also an important driving force in these stories, the class of the participants affects the dynamics of their relationships and the overall meaning that the tale presents. The reasons for marriage in “The Pig King” each affect the outcome of the marriage. At this time, older sisters married the Pig for money and status rather than love, which, although common at the time, caused marriages to fail. The girl who sincerely married the pig was ultimately the successful bride, suggesting that money and social status are poor reasons to marry. The girl's class was also important in determining her marital success, all three girls married into a social class and were expected to act accordingly, the youngest girl who acted humbly and graciously accepted her blessing of being chosen survived to her arranged marriage. The opposite is the case in “The Frog King” which presents a princess born to the aristocracy who acts immorally without retaliation. Where the sisters of "The Pig King" acted violently towards a member of a higher class and were punished, the princess of "The Frog King" is rewarded for her violent actions towards a "lower" creature. The meaning here seems to suggest that it is essential to act according to one's social class and that marriage alone cannot change the class into which someone is born. Only after the frog becomes a "prince" and compliments the princess's social position does the marriage begin to work effectively and they become equals. Class is omnipresent in “Beauty and the Beast” and it is Beauty’s acceptance of her class. position that ensures his happiness. While her sisters act with snobbery despite their precarious class position and refuse to marry anyone beneath them, Beauty acts with virtue and is the epitome of a fine gentlewoman of her time. In fact, in each story, the sisters are presented as the antithesis of the main character, while their misbehaving sisters are punished, the girls are cherished and rewarded for their sincerity (Carter, 1991: 128). Beauty is rewarded because of her class consciousness and her adaptability to accept an arranged marriage when she is poor for the sake of her family. The willingness of the women in these stories to adhere to their parents' wishes and agree to an arranged marriage reflects the social practices of the time, but the meaning of each text seems to suggest that cross-class marriages will not work without the mutual love and conformity of relationships. the lower-class participant (Tatar, 1999, 27). HONESTY, PATIENCE AND COMPROMISE Apart from these factors, each tale has its own overall meaning which is transformed by each retelling, despite many similarities between the texts, the nuances of each tale set it apart from the others. The Bride and Groom Animal Tales Pack. The message or meaning of each text.