La Belle et la Bete: Beauty and the Beast as a Retelling of the Myth of Cupid and Psyche

One of the more significant qualities of the myth is that its stories and legends have definitely transcended time. According to Classical Mythology, "Perhaps the most remarkable attribute of classical mythology is its persistence." (997) The universality of the Greek and Roman myths is perhaps best shown in how present they are in today's fairy-tales. A prime example of this is the connection between the myth of Cupid and Psyche and the old French fairy-tale of La Belle et La Bete, or Beauty and the Beast. In both myths, appearance versus reality is a central theme, and in both myths neither are as good as they may initially seem to be.…