Significance of Appearances in Beauty and the Beast, Charlottes Web and Little Women - Essay Example

of Significance of Appearances in ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Charlotte’s Web’ and ‘Little Women’ In the world of fiction, characters are recognized and analyzed on the basis of certain characteristics by the readers. “Writers may portray characters through their actions, through their reactions to situations or to other characters, through their physical appearance, through their speech and gestures and expressions, and even through their names.” (Kirszner and Mandell, 89) The development of characters is central to any work of fiction and the description of their appearances helps in visualizing the lives and actions of characters as penned down by the writers. It is amazing how writers use words to create illusions of the characters in our minds and we remember the characters by the way they look like, or behave. Appearances in the works of fiction also help the readers distinguish between different characters. Appearances create impression upon the minds of the readers in such a way that they associate appearances of characters to their roles in a work of fiction. ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Charlotte’s Web’, and ‘Little Women’ are widely read works of fiction. The characters in each of these novels are described vividly and artistically, so as to evoke such images in the minds of the readers that the respective novelists wished to create. The appearances of characters in each of these novels are not only important for their characterization but also for understanding them in a clear way. Though appearances serve to outline the physical form of characters, yet it is capable of highlighting the real virtues of characters and their actions. “Beauty and the Beast’ by Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont was written in the 18th century. The title itself suggests the significance of appearances of characters. Beauty and the beast are described by their names and apparently both characters are antithesis of each other with regard to their appearances. Though the entire play is about the power of goodness and love, which are embodied in Beauty; yet the main element of characterization is achieved through describing their appearances. “His daughters were extremely handsome, especially the youngest; when she was little, everybody admired her, and called her the little beauty...” (1) The first thing that strikes Beauty upon seeing the beast is his appearance. “Beauty was sadly terrified at his horrid form...” (7) This manifests how strong the impact of appearances is on the minds and feeling of Beauty, who is ‘sadly terrified’ upon seeing him. It is a matter of fact that impressions made by appearances have emotional and psychological reactions- such as those depicted by Beauty upon seeing the Beast. Her plight and circumstances force her to bear the beast; though with the passage of time she accepts his appearance. The story culminates with the restoration of the original physical form of the prince who was magically transformed by a wicked fairy into a beast. “But how great was her surprise! Beast had disappeared and she saw at her feet, one of the loveliest princes that eye ever beheld...” (14) The rapid change in the appearance of the Beast is of significant importance in the story as it points to the power of love and goodness. The main theme of the story is conveyed to the readers through artistic representation of the physical appearances of the characters in the novel. In ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ several contrasting appearances have been dealt with throughout the plot to represent other traits in human nature and human life; for example, youth, old age, pride, vanity, humbleness, goodness, contentment, sorrow, happiness, love, loneliness, richness, poverty etc. Writers and artists can describe the underlying themes of their works of art through appearances. It is a subtle and indirect manner of appealing to the minds of the readers to understand the main theme of a work of fiction by visualization. As in ‘Little Women’, Louisa Mary Alcott describes her characters with special attention to the description of their appearances and physical forms. The title of this novel, just like ‘Beauty and the Beast’ suggests something about the appearance of her main characters. The word little says something about the size, age or stature of the women in the novel. Written in the nineteenth century, this novel is about four sisters that live in impoverished conditions. However, times change and they learn that life is a lot more than worrying about their appearances. Alcott describes their world by paying attention to minute details of their dresses, hair pins, gloves etc. While this helps in narrating the story it also reveals the attitude of society regarding appearances. Being socially acceptable was only possible with reasonable appearance. `Mrs. Gardiner would be happy to see Miss March and Miss Josephine at a little dance on New Years Eve. Marmee is willing we should go, now what shall we wear?" "Whats the use of asking that, when you know we shall wear our poplins, because we havent got anything else?" answered Jo with her mouth full."If I only had a silk!" ...Yours is as good as new, but I forgot the burn and the tear in mine. Whatever shall I do? The burn shows badly, and I cant take any out." "You must sit still all you can and keep your back out of sight. The front is all right. I shall have a new ribbon for my hair, and Marmee will lend me her little pearl pin, and my new slippers are lovely, and my gloves will do, though they arent as nice as Id like." (24) The first question that arises in the minds of the girls is: What to wear? Attending a New Year Eve without formal clothing did not seem to be a good idea. This also shows the social attitude and customs that pay immense importance on the appearances of people. Society views people from various angles and assesses them on the basis of certain qualities- having decent or acceptable appearance is one of such qualities. Thus the human psyche related to appearances is also evident in this novel. The girls in Little Women did not have appropriate clothing; therefore they wanted to accessorize themselves with ribbons, hair pins, slippers and gloves. Having a burn and a tear in the dress is appalling for one of the girl so the other suggests hiding it. This is yet another important aspect of human psyche that forces people to hide things from others, if they deem it inappropriate. Social customs sometimes force people to display only those traits of their characters of appearances that are considered socially acceptable. In this passage, it is obvious how one of the girl wishes to confirm to the prevailing social norms by hiding something that might be criticized or scorned by others. This means that our appearances might not mean so much to ourselves or our family or friends- but they are of immense significance for society or those people who judge us on the basis of our appearances. It can be inferred from this conversation between the sisters in Little Women that social pressures mould our appearances. Individual circumstances are also responsible for attributing certain appearances to people, but social customs or the urge to be accepted by society forces people to change or transform their appearances. Beauty was depicted as a strong girl who did not care about confirming to the norms of society for not having good dresses. Her sisters however, were disturbed by their poverty and lamented the loss of their lovers. They wanted to be rich again so as to be a part of high society once again. “On the contrary, her two sisters ... saunter about the whole day, lamenting the loss of their fine clothes and acquaintance.” (Beaumont, 2) Even human relationships depend upon appearances to some extent. Love and romance are also associated with appearances, as depicted in this dialogue: “That boy is a perfect Cyclops, isnt he? said Amy one day, as Laurie clattered by on horseback, with a flourish of his whip as he passed. How dare you say so, when hes got both his eyes? And very handsome ones they are, too ...” (Alcott, 57) A casual remark on the appearance of the boy evokes an angry response from the other girl, who thinks that Laurie is really handsome. This reveals her fondness for the boy for his good looks and she responds defensively at a remark made on his appearance. Alcott’s representation of appearance and its relation with human feelings is contrasted to some extent with that depicted by Beauty in Beauty and the Beast. Beauty discovered the real physical beauty after falling in love with the ugly beast. She was terrified to look at the beast the first time- yet she fell in love with him. The appearances of the beast and that of Beauty were of no significance value in terms of their relationship or falling in love with each other. However, Beaumont does justice to the character of the beast by transforming him to his original physical form. She does so to balance the appearances of the main characters and to bring symmetry to her characterization and the plot. ‘Charlotte’s Web’ By E. B. White deals beautifully with the appearances of the characters. This novel is about a little pig that went through different phases of his life and found true friendship. The characters in this novel are both- human beings and animals. It was therefore incumbent upon White to pay acute attention to appearances as the process of characterization would not have been justified without doing so. Fern, the little girl that saved Wilbur, the pig, had a brother named Avery. “Avery was ten. He was heavily armed- an air rifle in one hand, a wooden dagger in the other.” (4) The appearance of the boy is rather threatening in contrast with the soft nature of his sister. The contrast in appearances helps in augmenting the focal point of the plot or the virtues of the characters. The plot of this novel is developed with the description of appearances of characters and places. This has been done so to create a visual effect in the minds of the readers. The setting of this novel changes to different places, and new characters are introduced in each different setting. Therefore, the author had to describe each person and place accordingly. The appearance of Wilbur, the pig is of immense significance. The fact that it was born really small actually got him killed. Fern saved his life, fed him and named it Wilbur. The same pig meant different things to different people. His size evoked different responses from different people. Fern saw in him a beauty and decided to nurse him and look after him. However, her brother didn’t share the same views with her. When Wilbur met Carlotte the first time, he couldn’t see her because it was dark. He waitied anxiously to see her and was extremely delighted to meet her. “I think you are beautiful,” said Wilbur. “Well, I am pretty,” replied Charlotte. “... Almost all spiders are nice looking. I’m not as flashy as some, but I’ll do...” (37) Charlotte weaves words as craftily, as she weaves her web. In this novel, the appearance of the spider-web is of great importance. The web stands for power, brutality, craft, imagination and confidence. While it may appear to be a cunning trap for hapless flies and insects, Wilbur found a good friend in the form of a spider. She saves him from dying- just like Fern saved him at birth. The actions of Charlotte and Fern resemble each other in spite of the difference in their appearances. Both embody pity, empathy, love and friendship- and both are females. Charlotte was a minute creature in the farm but her appearance beguiled her potential as a great friend. She is actually comparable to a human being- Fern, who saved the life of Wilbur with her logic. The feelings of Charlotte are similar to that of Beauty because she befriends a friendless outcast, Wilbur, just like Beauty befriends the beast. The grey spider seems beautiful to Wilbur. To an ordinary person, a grey spider might not be a heavenly sight but she was a thing of beauty for Wilbur. He found in her a friend he was yearning for such a long time. Beauty expresses the same feelings for the beast that was outwardly horrible to look at but proved to be a great friend, unlike the lamb that expresses disgust over Wilbur’s suggestion of being friends. The appearance of the pig might be disgusting for the lamb to from friendship with him, but the spider willingly and happily offers friendship to Wilbur. This shows the different meanings of beauty by different people or creatures. There are subtle meanings of beauty or appearance in this novel. Beauty is defined by empathy, logic, love and friendship. The other animals in the farm might be more beautiful in appearance but none was as good in character as Charlotte, the spider; and none accepted Wilbur in the farm the way Charlotte did. This shows that appearances can be deceiving. Thus, in ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Charlotte’s Web’ and ‘Little Women’, the respective authors describe characters with particular attention to their appearances. Appearances may stand for an individual’s moral virtue, inner beauty, social status, or just circumstances- and they help readers visualize them in relation to the plot. Appearances also distinguish the characters from each other and define them according to their roles and personalities in works of fiction. Work cited Alcott, M, Louisa. Little Women. Maryland: Serenity Publishers LLC, 2009. Print. Kirszner, L and Stephen Mandell. Fiction: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Florida: Harcourt Brace & company, 1994. Print. Le Prince de Beaumont, Jeanne Marie. Beauty and the Beast. Forgotten Books, 1756. Print. White, B. E. Charlotte’s Web. New York: HarperCollins children’s books, 1952. Print. Read More