Lying with the Beast: Confronting (One’s Own) Animality in the Fairy Tale Tradition

Abstract

In this essay, Finlay employs Jacques Derrida’s theory of the ‘animal gaze’ to explore to what extent the fairy tale tradition is concerned with the notion of animality. In his influential essay ‘The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow),’ Derrida describes the moment in which he is caught exiting the shower naked by his cat and subsequently feels ashamed. At this moment, the boundary between man and animal dissolves, and Derrida is forced to acknowledge his own animality. This essay applies this understanding to the beastly husband archetype in three tales: ‘Bisclavret’ (c. 1155-1170) by Marie de France, ‘The Pig Prince’ (c. 1550-1555) by Giovanni Francesco Straparola, and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1756) by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. In doing so, this essay explores how the wives of beastly husbands attempt to avoid the animal gaze, are compelled to confront it, and can ultimately reconcile themselves with it. Ultimately, the essay reveals how the act of lying with the beast—that is allowing the animal to gaze upon one’s naked body—represents the moment in which women are forced to confront their own animality and the boundary between man and animal collapses.