Stranger Danger, Disney-style

I finally pieced two vital elements of Disney's Beauty and the Beast together. 

I used to think it was a story of a young man who was turned into a beast because he was rude and inconsiderate. He had to be saved by learning to love and earn someone's love in return. The end.

While listening to the song Be Our Guest, I realized I had missed an important part of the story. 

"Ten years we've been rusting/ Needing so much more than dusting."

So they had been enchanted objects for 10 years. Ok. That's fine. The Beast should be mid-twenties to about 30. 

But no! The Beast had to learn to love and earn someone's love before the last rose petal fell in his 21st year. 

The Beast was only 21! If they had been enchanted for 10 years, he was 11 when the enchantress came and tricked him.

How unfair! What 11-year-old would know love and let some strange woman into his home!

STRANGER DANGER!! I wouldn't want Aubrey opening the door to some strange old person wanting to come inside and giving her a flower as payment! Even if the person was a beautiful enchantress, I wouldn't want Aubrey letting her inside!

The motives of the enchantress are questionable, at best. She went to the castle, knowing full well it was inhabited by a spoiled prince without supervision from his parents. Her scheme to deceive him was premeditated.

Now I see the story as a boy who was punished for doing the right thing. Sure, he could have gone about rejecting the enchantress a better way, but what boy do you know is polite and professional in the art of rejection?

And furthermore, the poor kid had to go through puberty as a beast! No wonder his room was such a mess!