Symbolism of the Rose in Beauty and the Beast

Roses play a significant role in many Beauty and the Beast tales. Have you ever wondered about the symbolism of the rose in Beauty and the Beast?  Me too.

Image by Tama66 on Pixabay

The rose played a key role in the original tale by Madame Barbot de Villeneuve and in Madame LePrince de Beaumont's shortened version.  

While I'm not a literary expert, I can wield a keyboard like a fiend.  Some research and voila, a few interesting tidbits.  We'll explore the setting at the time of the original tale and the importance of the rose in 18th century France when Mesdames Barbot de Villeneuve and LePrince de Beaumont penned their tales.  We'll also look into the symbolism of the rose and what it's hinting at for the leading characters.

Beauty's Setting in the 1700s in France

Decadence was happening in 18th century France.  Louis XV was king for most of the century.  Lush and lovely things were all the rage.  The French Court was headquartered at Versailles, an opulent palace on the outskirts of Paris with extravagant gardens.

Salons were en vouge and the arts flourished.  A few notes I gathered mentioned the interest the King had in botany, bringing a wide variety of new lovely roses to Versailles and Paris gardens.

Rococo was in high fashion with floral swags, bombe curves and golden curlicues everywhere.

Queen's bedchamber @ Versailles (top left), macaroon and tea - image by Diana Light on Pexels (top middle), Marie Antoinette (top right), gilt church by ADD on Pixabay (middle), Madame de Pompadour (bottom left), Versailles (bottom middle), gilt doors @ Versailles (bottom right)

Louis XV's famous mistress, Madame de Pompadour (bottom left picture), an influencer and trendsetter of the time, was rendered in paintings dressed in lovely, lavish gowns with rose embellishments and often set in a rose garden.

Towards the end of the 18th century, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (top right picture), also highlighted roses in her court fashions and paintings. 

I said: "He cannot be so bad if he loves roses so much."

"But he is a Beast," said Father helplessly.

I saw that he was weakening, and wishing only to comfort him I said, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?"

- Beauty:  A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, Robin McKinley

The Rose as a Symbolism of Femininity & Purity

In the 13th century, Guillaume de Lorris wrote an allegorical poem comparing a woman to a rose, The Romance of the Rose.  In this tale, the rose is a personification of the woman as the object of the lover's attentions.  Plucking the rose represents his conquest of her.

Yet the rose has held significant symbolism long before the 1200s.  In ancient Greece, the rose represented Aphrodite, who personified love and romance.  In the Iliad, Aphrodite protects Hector with the oil of the rose and a Greek poet describes a beautiful youth as being nursed by Aphrodite "among rose blossoms."

Leading up to the 18th century, roses played a significant role in religious symbolism and the portrayal of the virgin Madonna.  In the 15th century, Christian artists set Madonna and the infant Jesus in a rose garden and in another, the Virgin Mother give rose garlands to worshippers.

The Rose in the Original Beauty and the Beast Tale

The first Beauty (in the original tale by Madame Barbot de Villeneuve) requests a rose when her father presses her for an item he can bring back to her with the expectation of wealth renewed.  In humility, she responds,

since you desire me to make some request, I beg you will bring me a rose; I love that flower passionately, and since I have lived in this desert I have not had the pleasure of seeing one.

Beauty and her family moved away from the wealth of high French society and into a humble rustic setting after their father loses his business.  We know that the desirable setting at this time in 18th century France was posh.  Beauty's rose might symbolize a return to wealth or a reflection on the couture of the time.  Further, it's a request for something fashionable, but humble.  Beauty's sisters asked for gowns and wealth; Beauty asked for what might be an embellishment on one of those gowns, further reinforcing her humility or role in the family.

The rose might also symbolize Beauty's femininity and purity.  Madame Barbot de Villeneuve would definitely encourage purity in young ladies as a moral of her story.  Her abbreviated version of the story was published in a magazine for parents and teachers, and I imagine directed at young ladies.

c/o AlteredSnaps @ Pexels

The rose in the original story was the currency used to barter Beauty's time with Beast.  What might be surprising is that while there are lots of magical (and very interesting) bits in the original tale, there is not a magical rose that edged the Beast closer to permanent beastliness with each dropped petal.  And come to think of it, while you see a lot gifts, jewelry, crafts and other representations of the enchanted red rose representing Beauty and her Beast, it's only used as a center feature in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Let's count Disney's use as a creative application of the lovely rose.  Roses make innovative appearances in quite a few Beauty and the Beast inspired tales.

Creative Uses of the Rose in Beauty and the Beast Retellings

In the Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley, roses are symbolic of love.  To quote a woman who visits Beauty to shop her rose wreaths:

Roses are for love. Not forget-me-not, honeysuckle, silly sweethearts' love but the love that makes you and keeps you whole, love that gets you through the worst your life'll give you and that pours out of you when you're given the best instead.

In a creative dystopian novel inspired by Beauty and the Beast, Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay,  roses are like the hive mind, connected to Beauty's lifeforce and require a blood sacrifice.

...in the place where the sacrificial blood was spilled, enchanted roses grew, a symbol of the covenant between the Smooth Skins and their new god.

In the sci-fi take on Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Jodie Siebert, Beauty's fathers steals a golden rose from a genetically engineered rose bush that had been kept secret.

But when he plucked the rose I felt as if my heart had been plucked instead.  

The Rose Arbor that Began it All

The good man drank his chocolate, and then went to look for his horse, but passing through an arbor of roses he remembered Beauty's request to him, and gathered a branch on which were several; immediately he heard a great noise, and saw such a frightful Beast coming towards him, that he was ready to faint away. 

- Beauty and the Beast, Madame Barbot de Villeneuve

Thanks for joining me on this exploration of the rose in Beauty and the Beast literature.  I'd love your insights, too.  Please leave a comment and let's discuss.

Interested in adding a Beauty and the Beast tale to your TBR list?  Check out the Beauty and the Beast Fan Fiction list. 📖💖🌹

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