Les enjeux de la parole dans La Belle et la Bête

La Belle et la Bête is interesting as far as what is at stake with words is concerned. Tales are generically linked to conversation. Here speech becomes a means for the narration to evolve but it also shows the characters’ progression – in particular with Belle’s passage from child to adulthood. Speech is also, for the author, a means to criticise false gentlemen by opposing to them the Beast’s sincerity and frankness.