In the story of Beauty and the Beast, as it is written for the musical, the villain of the show, Gaston, decides that he is going to try and force Belle to marry him through her father. He enlists the aid of Monsieur D’Arque, a creepy character with a sinister level all his own, to have Belle’s father put into a hospital. Gaston tells Belle that, unless she marries him, Gaston will have Maurice locked up for being crazy. This was a different threat in the world of Gaston and Belle compared to what it is now, so how wicked exactly was this plot? Is Monsieur D’Arque really that heinous, or did Gaston’s plan lack effectiveness? Today we talk with Dr. Mary Laska, Professor of Sociology, for a look into exactly what it is that this threat towards Maurice and Belle would have entailed.
Around the Curtain 