A Beast's Rose

Fetishes come in a variety of forms, but they are not always objects. Instead, a fetish could simply be a representation of what a person desires in the world. In Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont's "Beauty and the Beast," the Beast has a profound love for roses. In the story, Beast is angered by Beauty's father when he insults his hospitality saying, "I have saved your life…and you repay me by stealing my roses which I love more than anything in the world," (De Beaumont 35). In Western culture, the rose is one of many symbols of love, and is used by males to entice women into loving them or simply showing their affection. Although it is pleasing to the eyes and the nose, the rose can also be a hazard to handle because of its thorns. Love itself can be seen like a rose because although it is beautiful, it can also be painful if it is not handled properly. According to Sigmund Freud, the fetish is meant to, "substitute…for a particular and quite special penis that…had…been lost," (Freud 842). Beast is portrayed as this physically ugly person that no one would ever love. As a result, the rose can be seen as a representation of the one thing that is denied to him because of his curse. This is why when Beauty arrives, he treats her just like the roses he cherishes, but like the rose, Beauty herself has thorns of her own.

 

When Beauty arrives to the castle to sacrifice herself for her father's life, Beast is enamored with her for her kind nature, and, of course, her beauty. He tends to her needs and does everything that he can to make her happy. But Beast always, "…before leaving, always asked her if she wanted to be his wife, and he seemed deeply wounded when she refused," (De Beaumont 39). Beauty, despite being well mannered and kind, refuses to marry Beast when he asks, but he always asks the question regardless. Freud explains this seemingly masochistic fetish saying that, "…it should have been given up, but the fetish is precisely designed to preserve it from extinction," (Freud 842). In reference to the fetish, this could be a part of Beast's subconscious love of roses. Like the rose, Beauty is a lovely person, but does not like to feel imposed upon. As a result, she if forced to refuse Beast's offer of marriage, even though it hurts her as well. Throughout this constant exchange of offering and refusing, evidence of psychosis can also be seen in Beast's behavior.

 

According to Freud, fetishes are theoretically connected to both psychosis and neurosis, depending on the nature of the fetish itself. In Freud's words, a neurosis is, "…the ego, in the service of reality, suppresses a piece of the id, whereas in a psychosis it lets itself be induced by the id to detach itself from a piece of reality," (Freud 844). Following this explanation given by Freud, Beast's behavior can be classified as a psychosis. His need for companionship is a result of the id, and he constantly asks Beauty to marry him whenever he can. But after a time refusing, Beauty simply tells him that they can only be friends. However, even though she makes her position clear, he cannot bring himself to let her go saying, "I will have to…I don't flatter myself…but I love you very much," (De Beaumont 39). Despite the pain that he feels from Beauty's statement, the love that he has for her is much too strong for him to just simply dismiss because it is tied into his fetish. The fetish cannot be given up because of the desire to preserve it, which is why when Beauty is gone to visit her family longer than she promised, Beast attempts to kill himself.

 

Freud described the fetish as a "special penis" that is meant to replace the penis of the mother. He also describes in detail the way that such fetishes are protected by those that develop them because of the fear of castration. He mentions that, "…no male human being is spared the fright of castration at the sight of the female genital," (Freud 843). The idea the Freud presents is that upon seeing a female's genitals, which are not visible, the male develops the fear of losing his own. In "Beauty and the Beast," Beauty's desire to visit her family for a short time causes mixed feelings to arise in his heart. Though it grieves him to send her back, he states, "I would rather die myself than cause you pain…I will send you back to your father. Stay there and your poor beast will die of grief," (De Beaumont 39). Beauty's happiness is like the roses that Beast cares for. He does not want to see Beauty sad, or in pain, so he sends her back and she promises to return at the end of a week. She does not return until later, and this causes Beast to starve himself. The fear of castration that Freud brought up is embodied in Beast's actions. He had lost his "penis," and he does not know how to live without, so he chooses to die rather than live on.

 

In the story of "Beauty and the Beast," we see many of Freud's theories on fetishism come into view. The Beast, because of his fetish for roses, falls in love with Beauty who is every bit like his favorite flower. Her kindly but prickly nature reminds Beast of roses, and she quickly becomes the embodiment of his fetish. Like anyone who has a fetish, it is very difficult for him to live without it, and he centers his behavior on it as well. Fortunately for him, his fetish is a healthy one, and at the end, his desire becomes a reality.

 

Works Cited

Freud, Sigmund. "Fetishism." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism 2^nd Edition. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010.  pgs. 841-845. Print.

 

De Beaumont, Jeanne-Marie Le Prince. "Beauty and the Beast." The Classic Fairy Tales: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Maria Tartar. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999.  pgs. 32-42. Print.

A Sublime Smile

A Sublime Smile

She stared out into the sea quietly. Her eyes were as calm as the farthest reaches of the horizon, but her mind and heart were as torrential as the sea. Sitting for hours on end each day was now a pastime for her, but she hated such a routine. It consumed her.

Days went by and she looked at the port. Messengers came everyday, and delivered notices of death to the other wives, and always they missed her house. This brought comfort to her, knowing that he was still alive, but also pity for the wives who now had to mourn. So as she waited for the message declaring the men were coming home, and she tried to think positive thoughts to retain herself. She imagined him coming home, and taking her into his arms, and then the bed, that they could finally settle down and raise a family.

Then the day that everyone had been waiting for. A fisherman coming from the battlefields shouted "The war is over! We have won!" The news was received with jubilant shouts of joy. This brought a smile to her face as her hope was rekindled. Could it be that he was there in the whole campaign, that he survived battle after battle and won high honors. He would be famous then, a hero who fought, and risked dying for her people. It brought pride to her just thinking about it, the father of her child to be, a hero in the war. In a matter of days, she would be reunited with him, and she could put this all behind her.

The ships came in a fleet, and she stood there along the port. When they docked, all the young men got off, and kissed their parents, or their lovers, or their wives and children. She waited patiently, when suddenly she saw his best friend. She smiled and waved to him, and he quickly walked over and embraced her, sobbing.

"It's alright, your home now," she whispered.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he bawled.

"Why? What happened?"

He looked at her intensely. He said nothing. He didn't need to.

Dressed in black with a veil, bags in her eyes, she sat and looked out at the sea once more. Her husband's friend came by, and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Do you still miss him?" he asked.

She simply nodded as she took one last glance at the sea. She turned around, but didn't look at him.

"Yes," she smiled sadly, her hands folded over one another, "but it's time to move on."

xXxXx

The story, based off of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the expression that the woman in the painting gives those who look at her. It is a sublime story that evokes many of the concepts of Edmund Burke's work, "Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful." The story takes a look at death from the perspective of a woman, who waits for the man she loves to return to her. In this story there is pleasure and pain, and joy and grief. The combination of the four emotional levels, and its use in the story make this a sublime story.

In one instance, during the story, the lover waits patiently for the man that she loves, and she sees messengers informing other women that their loved ones have died. Though it is painful for her to think about it, she cannot help but feel pleasure in the fact that she has not received a letter. This ties in to Burke's thoughts, "that pain and pleasure in their most simple and natural manner of affecting, are of a positive nature, and by no means necessarily dependent on each other for their existence," (Burke 454-455). In Burke's perspective, pain and pleasure do not necessarily come into being from the ending of the other, but rather, they are born directly from states of indifference. Indifference is another way of saying "neutral," and in the story, the state of neutrality is born from the unpredictability of the war that is occurring elsewhere. Because of the wars unpredictability, she is careful not to get her hopes up, and yet, she is optimistic of the outcome that the love of her life will return to her. This idea that the emotions are born from neutrality is integrated in the other emotions.

Joy and grief are other emotions that are considered sublime. In the part where the woman is waiting for her husband to leave the ship, she feels overwhelming joy. Not just for the end of the war, but also for her belief that her husband has finally returned. The emotion at hand is pleasure, or joy, but Burke states that, "…if the object be so totally lost that there is no chance of the enjoying it again, a passion arises in the mind, which is called grief," (Burke 457). The husband is not coming home, and this ends all pleasure in the woman's mind. Now according to Burke's ideas, she must endure the pain of grief in order to be free of pain altogether. Only when she has endured all of that does she experience a slight tinge of pleasure at the end. The moment of sublimity is when she smiles at her husband's friend when she affirms her position that she has gotten over her grief.

What makes this story sublime is the use of the different emotions that the woman experiences compressed into a very short story. The emotion of the story, like the Mona Lisa's expression in the painting, is joyful yet melancholy. This wide range of emotions all packed in gives it more power when the ending line is said.

Works Cited

Burke, Edmund. "Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism 2^nd Edition. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010. pgs. 454-460. Print.

Star Trek Tragedy

Aristotlolian Tragedy in Star Trek

The YouTube clip that I selected, was “Star Trek – Journey to Babel – Spock and Mother (full scene)” from the original Star Trek series. The most prominent characters are Spock, and his mother, Amanda. Both of them have opposite viewpoints on what to do in the situation presented to them. Spock’s father needs his son’s blood in order to live, but he refuses to do so because of the situation that the entire ship and everyone on board face. The clip has a dialogue and argument between the two, and the results of it. Looking at this clip through Aristotle’s perspective, this whole scene would be defined as a tragdy. The nature of the tragedy in the clip lies in the character of Spock and Amanda, as well as how they present the argument, and the reversal at the end.

Spock and Amanda are have positions are based solely on who they are, and their differing characters play an important role in their argument. Spock is half human, half vulcan, but chooses to embrace his Vulcan heritage. His mother, Amanda, is human, and she is very emtional and wants Spock to follow that part of himself as well. Aristotle dictates that, “…the characters should be, good…appropriate…life like…consistent,” (Aristotle 100). Spock is “good” in maintaining his personal decision to remain in control of the vessel instead of following his mother’s wishes. His character is appropriate in keeping with his mindset, yet he is life like in showing the internal struggle of his decision. Spock is also consistent in the reactions he gives his mother to her pleas, and at times, irrational reasoning. The character of Amanda also follows the tenets of character as described by Aristotle. She is good in her decision to get Spock to reconsider his decision, she is appropriate in her concerns as both a wife and mother, her human behavior and reactions gives her concerns and pleas a life like quality, and she is consistent in her human inconsistencies. The traits of both characters define them, and they provide the basis of their respective arguments.

The argument between Spock and his mother can be divided into three categories identified by Aristotle. He would have categorized their arguments as, “demonstrative and refutation,…production of emotions, and…[arguments about things’] importance or unimportance,” (Aristotle 104). These three types of arguments are more famously known as ethos, pathos, and logos. Throughout the whole dialogue, Spock is employing ethos and logos in his argument to remain in command of the ship. His ethos stems from his position as the second in command of the Enterprise, and his logos is based on the fact that, “The circumstances are not normal. We are carrying over 100 valuable federation passengers, we are being pursued by an alien ship…there has been murder and attempted murder on board. I cannot dismiss my duties,” (Star Trek – Journey to Babel – Spock and Mother [full scene]). His position on the ship makes gives his argument a lot of weight, and he will follow his duties to the letter. His mother approaches the situation through a different perspective, and employs her arguments differently from her son’s. She also employs logos and ethos, stating that “Any competent officer can command this ship, only you can give your father the blood transfusions he needs to live…Your duty is to your father!” (Star Trek – Journey to Babel – Spock and Mother [full scene]). Her ethos is her position as his mother, and she uses her maternal nature to guide Spock into the right path even going so far as to uses pathos stating that if he lets his, “…father die, then I’ll hate you for the rest of my life,” (Star Trek – Journey to Babel – Spock and Mother [full scene]). In the clip, when Amanda says this line, Spock is visibly affected by it. It indicates that that her use of pathos works, even on one such as Spock. This sets up the climax and the tragic consequences for both Amanda and Spock.

Spock’s ultimate decision from the argument severely damages the bond between Spock and his mother. Aristotle would have seen the whole event as a tragedy, because it was the result of the flaws of the characters themselves. In “Poetics,” he states that the tragedy is, “…a representation on an action, and for the sake of the action above all [a representation] of the people who are acting,” (Aristotle 93). The actions in the clip represent one thing, and that is the differences between humanity and vulcans. The action of Spock defines the vulcan idea that one must follow the logical course of action no matter the cost, and Amanda’s action is the human idea that the right thing must be pursued not matter the cost. Both sides are adamant in their position, and are not willing to yield to the other, which leads to the reversal of the tragedy. When Spock gives his decision, they both lose two important people in their lives as a result. This, and the catharsis that takes place afterward, is what makes Spock and his mother tragic figures.
Logic and emotion are what separate humans and vulcans, and the dialogue between Spock and his mother are an embodiment of that separation. Spock, a person who can do what no human can, ironically confounded by what a human can do. He cannot seem to understand that embrace all parts of himself, and it effectively ruins his relationship with his mother. Amanda, a human, simply cannot give up that part of herself, even though she loves people who have abandoned what makes her human. Aristotle’s idea of tragedy can be seen in this brief conflict between Spock and his mother. It applies all of Aristotle’s principles, and the result is a beautifully performed piece of acting.

Works Cited
Aristotle. “Poetics.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism 2nd Edition. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010. pgs. 88-115. Print.
Star Trek – Journey to Babel – Spock and Mother (full scene). June 21, 2008. YouTube. July 11, 2010.

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