Marriage is so beastly
QUESTION Was Beauty And The Beast written to encourage arranged marriages?
THE original 1740 version of Beauty And The Beast was a critique of arranged marriages, which were a fact of life for the upper classes during that era. However, other versions are more moralistic, assuring girls that if they are virtuous and obedient, they can find happiness in marriage.
The original story was written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, who came from the minor nobility and was unhappily married to a lieutenant colonel. After his death, she moved to Paris, eventually living in the house of poet and playwright Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon.
De Villeneuve was influenced by the story of Cupid and Psyche in Lucius Apuleius’s Golden Ass, and also by folklore tales about animal bridegrooms.
Her story, about an aristocratic family who lose everything in a fire, forcing their youngest daughter to marry the Beast, was a critique of a system in which women could not choose their husband, refuse the marriage bed, own property or divorce. Brides often aged 14 or 15 were married off to men who were decades older.
De Villeneuve’s beast was a real monster. On meeting Beauty’s father for the first time, it greets him by laying ‘upon his neck a kind of trunk’, and when it moves, Beauty is aware of ‘the enormous weight of his body, the terrible clank of the scales’.
In this convoluted tale, the Beast is reclaimed by a combination of magic, civility and love. His transformation into a prince does not come until after the marriage.
The story only became popular when it was rewritten by JeanneMarie Leprince de Beaumont, a French governess in England.
A writer of stories with strong moral l essons, she abridged Villeneuve’s story for Le Magasin Des Enfants in 1756.
Her version, which has become the archetype, shifts from the Beast’s need for transformation to the requirement for the heroine to change – she must learn to see beyond his appearance and recognise the good within him.
The story was fundamentally changed f r om a critique of marriage to a lesson in moral edification aimed at young readers. Over the years, the Beast has become ever more sanitised. His monstrous shape hides a tortured soul and he does not pose a real danger or sexual threat to Beauty.
Catherine Martin, London.
QUESTION Where do distillers get juniper berries for flavouring gin?
JUNIPER berries, which are actually seeds, give gin its distinctive, aromatic pine flavour. They are an unusual crop in that they have to be foraged in the wild.
This coniferous plant was once common in Europe and the northern hemisphere, but disease and over-grazing has taken a toll.
A particular problem i s the f ungal disease phytophthora austrocedrae, which attacks the roots of juniper trees. In 2015, a survey by Plantlife Scotland found 63% of j uniper bushes have degraded to brown/orange shrubbery as a result of this pathogen.
Another problem is that the majority of juniper bushes are too old to produce seeds. Some 80% of juniper bushes in the UK are too old to do so, according to the Woodland Trust.
Most juniper berries used for distilling come from Italy or Eastern Europe. Gin brands Beefeater and Bombay Sapphire source their berries from Tuscany.
The best come from near Florence and grow in a microclimate between the sea and the Apennines. They are foraged in the traditional way by generations of the same family. It is not a simple business. The bushes first produce green berries and one year later these ripen to dark blue and purple. In the autumn, the foragers must hit the tree to shake off the ripe berries. They can’t cut it as that would ruin growth for the following year and stop the green berries maturing.
A f ew s mall Scottish gi n producers, including Loch Ness Spirits, Badvo in Perthshire and Inshriach in Aviemore, forage for local juniper berries.
Henry Murphy, Perth.
QUESTION Has a homeless person ever become a millionaire?
DURING the early 1980s, Chris Gardner was homeless while raising his toddler son. At the time, he was enrolled in a finance training scheme and didn’t have enough money for the deposit of an apartment.
Despite this, he went on to become a stock broker and found his own company, Gardner Rich & Co, in 1987.
He now has a net worth of $70million (€58million). His life story was the basis of the 2006 film The Pursuit Of Happyness, starring Will Smith.
Another was Andres Pira, a
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Irish Daily Mail, Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles.legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.
Swedish dropout living on a beach in Thailand in the early 2000s. He sent begging letters to friends asking for money. One responded by sending him the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
Inspired by this, Pira became a local estate agent. He is now thought to be worth around $65million (€53million). In 2019 he published his own motivational book, Homeless To Billionaire: The 18 Principles Of Wealth Attraction And Creating Unlimited Opportunity.
Several well-known celebrities have also lived on the streets. When she moved to New York to become an actress, Halle Berry stayed in a homeless shelter.
‘It taught me how to take care of myself and that I could live through any situation, even if it meant going to a shelter for a small stint or living within my means, which were meagre,’ she said.
As a child, country singer Shania Twain also spent time in a Toronto homeless shelter after leaving an abusive household. Meanwhile, director James Cameron was living in his car when he was writing The Terminator. He went on to sell the rights for $1 on the condition he could direct.
Mike Canford, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire.
QUESTION What was Ireland’s first postal system?
FURTHER to the previous answer, someone who had a key role in the development of nationwide postal deliveries and collections was Anthony Trollope, the great English novelist.
He worked for the post office in Ireland for 18 years, all the while writing his famous novels in his spare time. He was responsible for many postal innovations, including the introduction of the red pillar box. D Connors, Glasnevin, Dublin.