The Courtship of Mr. Lyon

Likewise in the twenty-first century the tale of The Courtship of Mr. Lyon surrounds the traditional themes of the Beauty and the Beast tale although it has a contemporary twist:

The young heroine ‘Beauty’ is awaiting her father who has been to the lawyers on an “attempt to restore his fortunes” (pg.43) but on his return his car breaks down and he is now feeling a failure at not being able to bring back his “girl-child, his pet, the one white rose she said she wanted; the only gift she wanted” (pg.43).The fathers car was broken down “the old car was stuck in a rut,  and wouldn’t budge an inch” (pg.43) and so he went to find himself some shelter and hopefully some security. He discovers more than be bargains stumbling across an enchanted house “with its sweet, retiring melancholy grace, would have seemed deserted but for a light that flickered in an upstairs window” (pg.44). As he entered the home he saw he was catered for by some invisible entity, with drink and food “drink and eat me” (pg.45) and finally “not only a telephone but the card of a garage that advertised a twenty-four-hour rescue service” (pg.45). The magical hospitality was over and on the fathers leave he discovered to his pure amazement that as he “brushed against a stem on his way to the gate, a chill armful softly thudded [snow] to the ground to reveal, as if miraculously preserved beneath it, one last, single, perfect rose” (pg.46). He steals the rose and at that the father is confronted by noise described as “a pride of lions, introduced his host” (pg.46). The Beast going crazy at the man’s lack of respect after the Beasts great hospitality then listens to the father explain “It was for my daughter ... all she wanted, in the whole world, was one white, perfect rose” (pg.47) and he shows the Beast a picture of his daughter, Beauty. The Beast likes the look of the man’s daughter and he agrees he may take the rose back to his daughter “but bring her to dinner”(pg.47).

The man agrees and brings his daughter to the Beast at dinner the Beast agrees to help the man win back his finances but it means he must travel to London urgently; and the Beast “suggested, with a hint of shyness, of fear of refusal, that she should stay here, with him, in comfort, while her father returned to London” (pg.48). Beauty and the Beast grow relatively close and become very fond of one another, engaging in conversation, dining together and the Beast treats her to all the finery he believes the young lady deserves. Then one night as the clock struck twelve the two “were suddenly overcome with embarrassment to find themselves together, alone ... as she was about to rise, he flung himself at her feet and buried his head in her lap” (pg.50). He then continues to kiss her “she felt his hot breath on her fingers, the stiff bristles of his muzzle grazing her skin, the rough lapping of his tongue and then, with a flood of compassion, understood” (pg.50). Embarrassed the Beast runs on all four legs and leaves Beauty.

Beauty enjoys her time with the Beast “she no longer felt the slightest apprehension at her nightly interviews” (pg.50), she had an army of invisibles there to cater for her every need. Soon news came from London that her father had been restored of all of his finances and he calls on her to visit him. The Beast becomes upset at Beauty’s impending departure “the Beast sank his great head on to his paws. You will come back to me? It will be lonely here, without you” (pg.51). Beauty then makes a promise to return before the winter was over. Time passes and Beauty’s fathers new found wealth and prosperity is treating them both good, dining in fancy restaurants, visiting the theatre, wearing luxurious clothes and with all these materialistic and cultural changes “nothing in the window could tell her [Beauty] that winter had almost gone” (pg.52).

At that the Beast’s spaniel “where was the well-brushed, jewelled dog who had sat beside her... this one’s fringed ears were matted with mud, her coat was dusty and snarled, she was thin as a  dog that has walked a long way” (pg.52-53) and then she finally realised her promise she had had with the Beast  had been broken. She then immediately returns to the Beast’s abode with the spaniel and when she enters the house “the tapers in the chandelier had drowned in their own wax and the prisms were wreathed with drifting arabesques of cobwebs. The flowers in the glass jars were dead, as if nobody had had the heart to replace them after she was gone. Dust everywhere; and it was cold” (pg.53). She finds the Beast hidden away in the attic and exposes herself as returning to him, she sees he is changed and weak for which he admits “Since you left me, I have been sick. I could not go hunting, I found I had not the stomach to kill the gentle beasts, I could not eat. I am sick and I must die; but I shall die happy because you have come to say good-bye to me” (pg.54). Beauty is overcome with grief, “Don’t die, Beast! If you’ll have me, I’ll never leave you” (pg.54) as she kisses his paws and at that the Beast turns human “Her tears fell on his face like snow and, under their soft transformation, the bones showed through the pelt, the flesh through the wide, tawny brow. And then it was no longer a lion in her arms but a man, a man with an unkempt mane of hair” (pg.54). The story then concludes with Mr. and Mrs. Lyon heading for breakfast.

ANALYSIS

As we can see The Courtship of Mr. Lyon is very much based on the tale of Beauty and the Beast, in its third person narrative we can see why the two tales can be considered related. Carter uses the postmodernist backdrop of the modern gothic and uses elements and imagery of the grotesque to enhance these fairy tale qualities. Carter’s tale here has an unconventional twist, plot reversal and underpinned with feminist themes this twentieth century story rejects female objectification and centres more on the female and their self-discovery. The huge concept that differentiates the tale of the Beauty and the Beast and The Courtship of Mr. Lyon is the manipulation and diametrically position of the characters and how they were portrayed. Originally Beauty depicts: femininity, submission, loyalty, innocent, and pure while the Beast depicts: masculinity, prowess and power, control, experienced, ugly and animalistic. The characters have been traditionally seen as binary oppositions, although Carter has had a more ambiguous approach where da Silva is quoted “one side is always empowered in relation to the other” (da Silva, 2004). The beginning of The Courtship of Mr. Lyon starts this was but Carter is very keen to reverse such conventions. At the beginning of the narrative Beauty is a helpless victim, financially unstable reliant on her father whose finances have dwindled comes into contact with the exceedingly wealthy and powerful Beast who pressurises Beauty into living with him. Throughout the narrative Beauty gains experience to become a more active character, open to new adventures she is the epitome of the modern woman. While the Beast slowly loses his confidence and hides from the world and resorts to living (or hiding) in considerable low profile and before Beauty mainly in solitude; compared to Beauty who generates enough confidence to have a high-profiled life in the city of London . Here traditional gender roles are redefined, Beauty was initially scared  of the Beast but this was totally based on his physical appearance it is as the tale unfolds that you begin to realise the Beast is afraid of her and her complex attitude and characteristics. It has been mentioned that Carter reverses the Beauty and the Beast dichotomy, where to contemporaries the Beast would be identified as the fairy tale ‘princess’ alienated, needing Beauty to come and rescue him from his ‘beastliness’ which is what Beauty does.

Symbolism is a technique highly popular Carter uses to advertise her feminist motive; she distinguishes the city as having masculine connotations of experience and corruption in comparison the country which resembles more feminine connotations, of purity and inexperience. This also affects the gender conventions that both characters need to access their masculine and female locations in order for both of them to experience happiness, as they are both unhappy once limited to one area. The innocent country and its lack of activity weakens the Beast to almost utter devastation; while the city of London is so vibrant and full of experience that Beauty becomes lost in all of the city’s materialistic attributes and loses focus so that her renown beauty begins to fade and be replaced with a spoiled air.

Like many of Carter’s heroines they have to break the soci-cultural, political restrictions created in a system of patriarchy. Apparently “The daughter is conscious of her annihilation in the patriarchal society but she doesn’t have autonomy to overcome it” according to da Silva. As with most females Beauty wants to believe in the conventional ‘happily ever after’ narrative but she is a female living in a modern technological world of telephones and cars where something as simplistic as receiving a white rose would generate happiness and conventionality. The rose symbolises the delicate nature of the female and this delicateness is enhanced by imagery of the snow in what seems a prolonged winter, as the beginning emphasises Beauty’s feminine nature, she’s innocent and void of sin as “this lovely girl, whose skin possesses that same, inner light so you would have thought she, too, was made all of snow” (pg.43) Beauty’s chasteness is further enhanced by Carter’s description of Beauty as “white an unmarked as a spilled bolt of bridal satin” (pg.43) there seems to be an insinuation that her uniqueness lies in her femininity and the gendered role which she is destined to fulfill. It is apparent that Beauty could possibly be trapped in a society which objectifies women but it is also her innocence and purity that has an ability to empower her, another example of Beauty’s empowerment is her choice in consenting herself to live with the Beast, she makes the decision alone which could reflect her journey from adolescent to protector of her father securing his freedom.

The Beast is another character that conforms to his binary role that embodies masculine power, control, confidence and violence; the Beasts initial description seems to be a true depiction. The Beasts anger at the man stealing his rose ignites a repetitious “furious roaring ... furious light” (pg.46) with a presence compared to a “pride of lions” (pg.46). But it is not until the situation of the kiss that Beauty realises there is no need to be terrified of his persona as he is not a figure that intends to cause her any harm. Before Beauty the Beasts only companion is his spaniel dog (a mans best friend) and that is presumably due to him being ashamed of his physical appearance and it is due to his loneliness that makes the Beast a weak character and after Beauty disappearance he is that inactive to the point that he almost dies out of despair. Beauty on the other hand continues to be a beautiful woman but compared to the Beast she is active; when the Beast is transformed he retains the name Mr. Lyon a reminder of his previous identity and Beauty willingly adopts this name when she marries him she too is as strong as a lion and deserves that title Lyon, lion.