Gaston... A Hero?

Arrogant. Vain. Hypermasculine. The hated villain of beauty and the beast. While Gaston certainly is not what we today would define as a hero, he would make an exemplary Homeric hero.

From Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991)

A Homeric hero is a great warrior who seeks honor and would rather go down in a blaze of glory than live out a long life. He needs public approval and feels obligated to protect his reputation. Greek myth is overflowing with tales of such Homeric heroes- figures that we still consider heroes today simply because they were called so in the past. However, if you look at their actions, they fit the same archetype as Gaston, who we consider a villian.

Achilles from the movie Troy (2004)

Achilles, the famed demigod hero of the Iliad, has a temper tantrum in the middle of the battle of Troy and exits the battlefield (leaving his men to die) to protest the king taking away a woman he captured. To him, protecting his own honor is more important than the lives of his companions.

Similarly, Gaston holds his reputation in great esteem and feels compelled to act when the woman he loves- Belle- is taken away from him by the Beast. He protects his honor, as a Homeric hero should, by bravely deciding to face the Beast in battle in an attempt to rescue Belle.

Achilles is also told that if he is to enter the battle of Troy, he will die. He decides to fight anyways and- as foretold- is killed. To a Homeric hero like Achilles, dying in battle is far more glorious and heroic than living to fight another day.

Likewise, Gaston chooses to fight to the bitter end, ignoring his opportunities to leave the fight. He eventually pays with his life when he is pushed from a balcony during his battle with the Beast.

Gaston, who tries to slay the Beast, is also similar to the Homeric hero Perseus, who slew Medusa. Medusa was a beautiful priestess of Athena sworn to celibacy. Poseidon assaulted her in Athena’s temple. As punishment, Athena turned Medusa into a hideous monster. Perseus then beheaded Medusa and presented her head as a gift to Athena. Medusa is as pitiful a monster as the Beast, and yet Perseus is lauded as a mighty Homeric hero for killing her.

Above all, a Homeric hero like Achilles or Perseus has to be a great warrior. Gaston is an amazing fighter who makes his living through hunting. The entire village respects Gaston for his skills and praises him for his heroic might.

From the movie Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Gaston, who by today's standards is a villain, would be considered a hero in Homer's time. This conflicting opinion shows that the concept of "good" and "evil" change with time. They are not fixed properties but rather ideas that change with the values of the empire in power and the people of the time. Who is to say that in a few hundred years, heroes we admire and look up to today will not be shunned as monstrous villains?

Condon, Bill, director. Beauty and the Beast. Walt Disney Studios, 2017.

Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin, 1990.

Trousdale, Gary and Kirk Wise, directors. Beauty and the Beast. Walt Disney Pictures, 1991.