How To Retell A Fairy Tale Without Magic 

So the other day I read a book called Beauty and the Scarred Duke by Bridgett Barton. It’s based on the story of Beauty and the Beast, but it’s no fairy tale. 

The use of magic is completely missing and it’s set in the regency era. It’s a great example of a fairy tale retelling that is only slightly true to the original. 

✅Beauty and the beast is about a beautiful young girl who is promised to a monster by her father. 

✅The monster is in emotional pain due to the way he looks.

✅He’s still of noble birth though, has servants and lives in a big castle where no one ever goes.

✅And even though he kind of wants her there, he also kind of doesn’t.

✅So bit by bit, they get to know each other and he sacrifices for her. 

✅They get even closer after that. 

✅Then something happens that results in the beast’s almost death. 

✅She tells him she loves him, saving his life and restoring his beauty. 

So exactly does this play out in the Regency Era? 

Like this (spoilers.) 

✅The Earl of Upperton has promised his only daughter, Isabella, to a man in exchange for a great deal of money.  She has no choice in the matter. 

✅The man in question is a Duke, part of the upper aristocracy, and lives in a big house surrounded by a wall. 

✅He’s rumored to be a monster because he hasn’t’ left his house for nearly 20 years. He was in a fire, and though he lived and recovered, half of his face was completely ruined. This also helped contribute to the monster rumor. 

✅He marries her, but he only sees her for 2 hours every evening. They only talk, they don’t do what husband and wife do. 

✅Gradually, they learn more about each other and become friends. 

✅When Isabella’s mother dies unexpectedly, he sacrifices for her by accompanying her to the funeral even though he’s agoraphobic. 

✅Upon their return, they have long talks, express feelings and fall in love. 

✅But he feels guilty for having trapped her in this life with him, so he seeks an annulment. This is the death scene without a literal death. This is actually a spiritual death; the death of love and what might have been.  He believes Isabella could not possibly love a monster, someone with a ruined face who never leaves the house, so he wants to set her free. 

✅Isabella is horrified over the thought of losing him, so late one night, she sneaks into his room, wakes him up, stares at both halves of his face and tells him she loves him. They kiss and all is well in their marriage. 

Naturally, his face doesn’t change, but it changes for her, because now she sees every bit of him as handsome.

By the end of the story, she’s managed to reintegrate him into society so his scars no longer matter. 

Personally, I liked this ending better than the real Beauty and the Beast, because if she truly loved him for who he was, why did he need to change?

This is how you do a retelling of a fairy talk sans magic. Strip it down to its basest components, then build on top of it. 

And if you want to see a great example, read Beauty and the Scarred Duke by Bridgett Barton. You’ll be glad you did. 

So are you thinking about retelling a fairytale?

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