Beauty And The Beast: Bellinda E-Mostro By Italo Calvino

Beauty and the Beast is truly “a tale as old as time”, it has been passed on from generation to generation in many different languages; because it has been passed down so many times, the way it’s told changes from country to country. Comparing the Italian version, Bellinda e il Mostro by Italo Calvino, and the American version done by Disney, readers will see the many differences and similarities between the two. Some of the differences are subtle and some were very noticeable, such as Belle's father's occupation, the setting, and what the Beast turns into at the end. There are also many similarities between the two, like Belle’s father being captured, Belle wanting a flower, and how Belle and Beast inevitably fall in love. While these tales …show more content…
In Bellinda e il Mostro the story immediately is different than the American version; it starts with Bellinda and her sisters Carolina and Assunta. In the American version Belle is an only child, which is a contributing factor to Belle and Beast fall in love. There are many other family related differences, like in the American version it says that Belle's mother had passed away, in the Italian they never even mention her mother. The difference about the mentioning of her mother is a subtle but important difference to the story. Another major and important difference is that Belle's father was an inventor in the American version, however in Bellinda e il Mostro her father was a merchant. This difference has a major role in the story; it’s because he is a merchant he ends up at il Mostros castle. While the father ends up at Beast's castle, their journeys were very different. In the American version Belle’s father gets …show more content…
In both stories Belle was very kind, and was not materialistic; however her father insisted that he get her something while on his trip, so Belle asked for a rose. This sets up the next similarity in the story, because Belle wanted nothing more than a rose, and her father was in the castle, he was captured by Beast for getting caught stealing a rose. Once the father was caught, he tells Beast about his daughter in the Italian version, and in the American version Belle goes to find him. This leads to Belle taking her father's place in the Beast’s castle, in both stories Belle holds resentment towards Beast in the beginning. Ultimately Belle does fall in love with Beast and he is restored to the Prince/ horseman he once