Since we've started the Beauty and the Beast series, I have begun to notice alot of things that are similar between this fairy tale and the others which we have read. Mainly the Beaumond version is something that I see play out in fairy tales of other kinds.
The first thing is the heroine quest. Like we compared earlier today, Beauty goes on a quest much similar to the the quest that Little Read Riding Hood goes upon. Although the final motive is different between the two, the basic goal is still the same, to help out a family member in need. They both even encounter beasts of some sort.
Secondly, I've noticed the presence of evil (step-)sisters. Much like in Cinderella, in Beauty and the Beast the main character is forced to deal with two sisters who are completely jealous of the heroine and try to make her life hell on earth. They do, however, end up with very unfortunate circumstances: The two sisters in Cinderella, for example, get their eyes plucked out, where as in Beauty and the Beast they are turned to statues, but still keep their emotions. I think that this plays into the karma aspect that 'what goes around comes around.'
One other thing is the importance of family to the plot of these stories. It can be seen in Little Red Riding Hood, in Bluebeard, in Cinderella and in Beauty and the Beast. These stories are trying to stress the importance of family to everyone's life, and that your family is the cause and solution to all your problems
Why these stories are so similar I do not know. I would guess that as people learned and told these stories, they probably borrowed parts from stories they really liked and added it into their stories. This edited version gets passed around as the old deal and it just goes on from there. Also the 'authors' also probably did something similar to this as they compiled these stories.
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