A Bela e a Fera: a representação feminina nas versões de Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve e de Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont

Abstract

This research aims to study the female representation in the short story Beauty and the Beast, translated from the French La Belle et la Bête, by comparing female figures in two versions of the short story produced in the 18th century. The works chosen for the collation are the original, written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot, Madame de Villeneuve, published in 1740, and the version of Jeanne-Marie Leprince, Madame de Beaumont, published in 1756 this version became popular, inspiring various adaptations and re-readings, some of which are mentioned throughout this dissertation. In this task, we used as theoretical foundation for the analysis of the literary text, children's literature, historical context, the social roles played by women at the time and gender representations: Philippe Ariès (1986), Regina Zilberman (1985), Bruno Bettelheim (2002), Diana e Mário Corso (2006), Simone de Beauvoir (1983), among others. The research is justified by the need to understand how the literature produced by women in the eighteenth century dialogues with their context, including reflecting social transformations on the female role played in the society of the time. With this, we intend to address some social transformations noted in the tales and signs already of a resignification in the role of the woman who, little by little, goes out of the shadow of a male profile in search of more space and more representation in its social context.