The Courtship of Mr Lyon
Summary
A young woman named Beauty stares out the window at snow gleaming in the dusk. We are told
that her skin resembles the snow because it possesses the same "inner light" that seems to
emanate from within. The snow is unspoiled by footprints, "white and unmarked as a spilled bolt of
bridal satin." The young woman worries for her father's safety because he said he would be home
before dark, and he cannot call her because he phones are down.
The young woman's father has gotten his car stuck in the snow far away from home. He is
returning from a meeting with his lawyers, where he has discovered that his fortune is gone. He
does not have enough money even to buy Beauty the single white rose she requested. His spirits
dampened, he comes upon an enchanting house that seems deserted except for one illuminated
window. As he approaches the gate, he spies a single white rose blooming on a snowy bush amid
the storm. As he enters the gate, he hears "a great roaring, as of a beast of prey." Beauty's father
gathers his wits and knocks on the door. He notices that the knocker is a lion's head made of solid
gold. To his astonishment, the door opens and then closes behind him without anyone touching it.
Inside the house, candlelight illuminates countless crystal jars filled with flowers. He is not afraid,
because he senses that the house's master is so rich that he is not subject to the laws of reality. A
King Charles spaniel wearing a diamond necklace greets Beauty's father and urges him into a fire-
lit study. There, he partakes of food and drink that is laid out for him. He calls a tow-truck service
from the number on a thoughtfully provided card. However, when he tries to call Beauty, the lines
are down again. The spaniel leads him out the door.
As Beauty's father makes his way out of the estate, he bumps into a rosebush and knocks the snow
off another single, peculiarly perfect white rose. He hears another bout of roaring. However,
thinking that the estate's master will not mind, he plucks the rose. Suddenly, the Beast, a great
creature with a lion's head, appears next to Beauty's father and "[shakes] him like an angry child
shakes a doll." Beauty's father appeals to the Beast, explaining that he stole the rose for his
daughter. When Beauty's father shows the Beast a photograph of Beauty, the Beast is pacified. He
tells Beauty's father to take the rose but bring Beauty to his house for dinner.
When Beauty meets the Beast, the sadness in his eyes touches her. The Beast asks Beauty's father
to serve himself and his daughter, himself eating nothing. He explains that he does not keep
servants because being around humans constantly would make him feel mocked. The Beast and
his house frighten Beauty; she feels as though she is his "Miss Lamb, spotless, [and] sacrificial."
The Beast calms her momentarily when he promises to help her father regain his fortune. Yet the
price of his help distresses Beauty; she must stay with the Beast while her father is in London.
Luxury surrounds Beauty at the Beast's estate. But she cannot enjoy it because she senses that the
Beast cannot either. She also notices that he avoids her as though he, the mighty predator, is
scared of her; the Beast has the "shyness ... of a wild creature." Beauty amuses herself by reading
fairy tales until the Spaniel shepherds her into the Beast's den. Beauty feels comfortable with the
beast, as though she has always known him. When the clock strikes midnight, the Beast throws
himself on Beauty's lap and lavishes her hands with passionate licks. Then he suddenly bounds out
of the room, to Beauty's "indescribable shock ... on all fours."
Beauty is happy at the Beast's estate. She spends her days exploring the house and garden and
her nights conversing with the Beast. Then one night, her father calls with the good news that his
fortune is being restored. The Beast is devastated. Before leaving, Beauty promises him to return
to him "before the winter is over." She departs for her new, luxurious life in London. Beauty has
never experienced luxury before; her father lost his fortune before her mother died giving birth to
her. Consequently, wealth changes the unaccustomed Beauty from a pure, unspoiled young
woman into a spoiled girl. Though Beauty sends the Beast white roses, she largely forgets about
him and is relieved to be away from him. Because the weather does not change much in London,
Beauty does not realize that winter is about to end.
As Beauty gazes at herself in the mirror one day, she hears a scratching at the door. The Beast's
Spaniel has come to retrieve her. It does not resemble the well-kept creature that was her
companion at the Beast's estate; it is filthy, starved, and distraught. Beauty realizes that the Beast
is dying and hurries to his house. Even though spring has broken, the Beast's estate is as desolate
as if it were midwinter. It looks deserted except for a very faint light in the attic. The gold door-
, knocker is covered in black fabric. Inside, the house is dusty, dark, and filled with an air of
desperation. The flowers in the jars are dead.
Beauty ascends to the Beast's threadbare room in the attic, where she finds him bedraggled and
close to death. The roses she sent him lie dead at his bedside. The Beast tells Beauty that he is
dying of hunger because he has not had the will to hunt since she left. He tells her, "I shall die
happy because you have come to say good-bye to me." Beauty throws herself upon the Beast, and
kisses his paws as he did so often to her. She begs him not to die and promises she will never
leave him again. As she cries, her tears fall on his face and, restore him so that he is human once
again. Even in human form, Mr. Lyon still resembles a lion because of his "unkempt mane of hair"
and broken, lion-like nose. He invites Beauty to join him for breakfast. The story ends with "Mr. and
Mrs. Lyon" strolling through the grounds of their estate together while "the old spaniel drowses on
the grass, in a drift of fallen petals."
Analysis
"The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" is based on a classic story, "Beauty and the Best," and told in the "once
upon a time" third person common to traditional fairy tales. Carter's classic backdrop of basic story
and narration emphasizes her tale's unconventionality, with its feminist themes and plot reversal.
Like many of Carter's stories, far from "classic," "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" is a tale of self-
discovery and rejection of female objectification. According to Meyre Ivone Santana da Silva, the
story's primary thematic difference from "Beauty and the Beast" is its manipulation of that story's
"act of mirroring." In "Beauty and the Beast," we are forced to see Beauty and Beast as
diametrically opposed forces; Beauty is feminine, beautiful, innocent, and gentle, while Beast is
masculine, ugly, experienced, and wild. The original story suggests that the sides of this dichotomy
are irreconcilable, or in da Silva's words, "completely dissociated."
Yet Carter's characters are more "ambiguous." In the story of "Beauty and the Beast," according to
da Silva, "One side is always empowered in relation to the other." Although "The Courtship of Mr.
Lyon" begins this way, Carter quickly reverses the convention. Beauty begins as a penniless,
helpless girl, whom the rich, powerful and world-weary Beast forces to live in his house. However,
she rapidly becomes the more active, experienced, and adventurous character. While the Beast
hides from the world, she is confident enough to live a high-profile life in the city. While at first she
is afraid of him, she comes to realize that he is actually afraid of her. In the end, Carter totally
reverses the Beauty/Beast dichotomy; the Beast takes on the role of fairy-tale princess, wasting
away in his attic "tower," guarded by a beast (in this case himself), and needing Beauty to rescue
him from that beast or beastliness.
Carter uses symbolism in "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" to emphasize her main feminist agenda. She
employs a paradigm commonly found in literature, distinguishing the city as a masculine place of
experience and corruption and the country as a feminine one of inexperience and purity. However
she uses this literary convention to undermine a gender convention; the Beast is trapped in
isolation in the country while Beauty has free range of the city. Because the characters need to
access both their "masculine" and "feminine" attributes in order to be happy, they are both are
unhappy when they are limited to being in one place. The country is so "innocent" or devoid of
activity that it weakens the Beast almost to the point of death. The city is so "worldly" and full of
superficial interactions that it hardens Beauty and begins to replace her inner beauty with a
spoiled, false air. Carter uses the city and country as symbols to strengthen her contention that a
person needs to be both "masculine" and "feminine" to have an authentic and fulfilled existence.
Carter uses food or sustenance as an equalizer because it is symbol of both animal and human
nature; both animals and humans must eat in order to survive. At first, food signifies civilization
and humanity. When the Beast leaves out food for Beauty's father, he shows his humanity by being
courteous to his guest. It is the same when he feeds Beauty; he may be a lion who eats raw flesh,
but he provides her with the finest human food. At the story's end, food signifies animal nature.
The Beast is dying because he is not eating, just as humans can die from starvation because we
too are animals.
Beauty proves herself to be more than a traditional fairy tale heroine, but in the beginning, she
conforms to the paradigm. Like many of Carter's heroines, she must start within and then break
free from the restrictions and assumptions of patriarchal society. As da Silva phrases it, "The
daughter is conscious of her annihilation in the patriarchal society but she doesn't have autonomy
to overcome it." While Beauty is living with the Beast, she finds amusement in reading fairy tales. It
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