Beauty And The Beast / Tropes K to P

Beauty and the Beast Trope Examples
A - D | E - J | K - P | R - Z

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K

• Karma Houdini:
  • The servants didn't do anything to the Enchantress yet they all got turned into an Animate Inanimate Object, although the stage play and the live-action movie state that they were cursed because they were raised the Prince and are responsible for how he turned out. Regardless, the multiple children and the animals still had no part in raising the Prince, yet they are cursed as well. She is never called out on it nor does anyone bear her any ill will. It's also important to note that the Beast was only eleven years old when he was cursed.
  • Monsieur D'Arque, the asylum owner, loves Gaston's Evil Plan but drops out of the story after The Plan backfires and is never shown to be brought to justice for his part in it.
  • The villagers as a whole. They gleefully take part in a violent mob against the Beast and the residents of his castle, and aside from some comical beatings from the enchanted objects, seem to escape any sort of comeuppance.
• Karmic Death: Gaston stabs the Beast in the back, but he immediately loses his grip and falls off the balcony and into the same deep frightening moat that the Beast spared him from moments before.
• Karmic Transformation: The Prince was repulsed by the Enchantress because she looked ugly. So, she turns him into a hideous beast.
• Kick the Dog: When Gaston is fighting the Beast, the latter doesn't fight back, and Gaston, who is at the castle to kill him, mocks him for it.
  Gaston: What's the matter, beast? Too kind and gentle to fight back?
• Kill It with Fire: LeFou attempts to do this to Lumiere with a torch before he's jabbed in the butt by scissors held by Cogsworth. Lumiere then blows fire on the butt of one of the other goons who's attacking his girlfriend Babette.
• Kindly Housekeeper: Mrs. Potts is one of the castle's maids and full of maternal love for everyone. She's the one who roused the kitchen when Belle came down for a snack.
• Kubrick Stare: The Beast pulls a low brow look of intimidation a few times, largely when he is most beast-like.

L

• A Lady on Each Arm: Lumiere mentions this in the cut song "Human Again." The two mademoiselles are Mrs. Potts and Babette.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Gaston has a strong and square jaw... but he's a villain.
• Large Ham: One need look no further than Gaston's performance in the pub during the song "Gaston" to be convinced of his desire to ham it up.
• Last Day of Normalcy: The film starts with Belle going to the village to return a book to the bookshop and pick a new one. We follow her routine, as she daydreams to distract herself from boredom and the villages make fun of her. She stops to buy some food, then she is harassed by Gaston, making it obvious that has happened before, and a lot. When Belle goes back home and Maurice complains that he'll never make his invention work, she replies that "he always says that," hinting that he has been working on the wood chopping device for a while with Belle's encouragement.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Occurs as Cogwsorth actually believes his is successfully keeping their enchantment hidden from Belle.
  Mrs. Potts: But if the master doesn't learn to control that temper, he'll never break the sp-
  Cogwsorth: (as Belle enters) Splendid to see you out and about, Mademoiselle!
• Leitmotif: The "Prologue" theme, the Beast's theme (which has a Dark Reprise during his death scene), "Belle", Maurice's theme, "Gaston", and "Prince Charming" (the love theme). Some of these became the musical foundation for new numbers in the Screen-to-Stage Adaptation.
• Leitmotif upon Death: Near the end when The Beast dies, a sadder reprise of the title song and The Beast's Leitmotif known as "Death of the Beast" plays.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Cogsworth is the first to declare they need to fight on seeing the invading villagers, and arms himself to the teeth. When the cute, whimsical, talking household items get fed up of cowering from the marauding peasants and duke it out instead it leads to several silly, yet awesome, moments. The Beast also does this upon Belle's return to the castle and dominates the latter half of the fight with Gaston.
• Letting Her Hair Down:
  • During the wolf chase, Belle's ponytail came loose, revealing her beautiful long brown hair, but we get a more prominent look at it in the next scene when she treats Beast's wounds. This is the first moment of tenderness between them.
  • During the famous ballroom scene, Belle's hair is mostly down with only a small portion tied back.
  • She also has this look towards the climax for the raw emotion.
• Light Is Not Good: The Enchantress, if you're feeling less charitable than the Good Is Not Nice camp, fits this instead. She has all the characteristics of a good fairy, except ostensible Knight Templar leanings.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite his size, Beast is agile, fast and able to beat wolves.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Cogsworth and Lumiere’s relationship is like this.
  Cogsworth: (to Lumiere) Couldn’t keep quiet, could we? Just had to invite him to stay, didn’t we? ''Serve him tea, sit in the master’s chair, pet the pooch.''
  Lumiere: I was trying to be hospitable.
  (An entire scene later)
  Cogsworth: Irresponsible, devil-may-care, waxy eared, slack jawed...
  Lumiere: (starts doing the “blah-blah-blah” hand gesture with his candlesticks.)
• Lima Syndrome: Beast falling for his captive, Belle. It is a deconstruction; by the time this happens, she was less a captive and more like an honored guest that wasn't allowed to leave. It's strongly alluded to in the stage adaptation when Beast lets Belle go and says "You're not my prisoner anymore. You haven't been for a long time."
• Literal Transformative Experience: The Beast was a selfish, unsympathetic prince, so an Enchantress turned him into a hideous monster as a punishment. When he transforms himself into someone who can love and be loved, he turns back into a human to reflect this.
• Loss of Identity:
  • The creators say that the Beast's humanity was slowly fading away and was becoming more feral as the years went by. When Belle trespasses into the West Wing, the floor is rarely seen because it's littered with carcasses as he'd long given in to the urge to hunt for his food. His bed, along with being broken, is arranged in a way that suggests an animal's lair/nest that he is sleeping on. They also said that if Belle had never arrived he would have eventually grown so removed from humanity that he would stop wearing clothes, walk only on all fours and forget how to speak.
  • This seems to be similar for the staff in that once the curse is complete they would become completely inanimate objects and their sapience would just fade away.
• Lost in Translation: The phrase "screw your courage to the sticking place" (originally from Shakespeare's Macbeth) as uttered by Gaston would fall on confused ears to anyone who's never used a medieval crossbow. Gaston, being an avid hunter, is likely very familiar with the weapon.
• Loud Gulp: The Beast is so nervous at the prospect of dancing with Belle, he audibly swallows a lump in his throat big enough to be seen through his shaggy fur.
• Love at First Punch: Belle is the first person after the enchantress who confronted Beast on his treatment of others.
• Love Epiphany:
  • The song "Something There" has Belle and Beast first realize their blooming feelings for each other, the most prominent moment being when Belle goes behind a tree and is visibly conflicted about her emotions.
  • The Beast when he lets Belle leave before the curse is broken, which would leave him trapped as a beast forever. For the first time, Beast realizes that he truly loves Belle, and that he needed to love her enough to let her go.
  • After Beast dies, Belle tearfully clutches his chest and whispers that she loves him. It's this moment that finally breaks the curse.
• Love Hurts: The Beast's heartbreak when he lets Belle go is palpable. As she gallops away, he breaks into a roaring primal scream of despair.
• Love Interest vs. Lust Interest: The Beast and Gaston are like this towards Belle; the Beast doesn't really care for Belle's beauty, tries to get to know her as a person, and respects her love of books. Meanwhile, Gaston's explicit reason for going after Belle is that she's the most beautiful woman in the village and nothing else; he sees her like a prize to be won and shown off rather than a person and disapproves of her love for books.
• Love Redeems: Thanks to Belle, Beast becomes a kinder person.
• Love Theme: As mentioned above, the "Prince Charming" motif, as well as the title song.
• Love Triangle: Belle, Beast and Gaston, although the latter is just him forcing this trope.
• Lured into a Trap: The cushion dog steals LeFou's shoe during the final battle, leading him and several mobsters into the kitchen. At first, it seems to be cornered. Then it stands up straight, the knives come out, and the cook Stove gives an Evil Laugh. Cue the mobsters being chased out of the castle.

M

• Made of Iron: LeFou can get punched 10 feet and just get up and keep singing. Also, he can stay exactly outside Belle and Maurice's house for likely multiple days, blue from frostbite and presumably not having eaten, and go immediately to fetch Gaston and Monsieur D'arque.
• Magic Mirror: Beast has one that serves as his only connection to the outside world; it functions like a typical Crystal Ball would. The user says "Show me X" and X appears. It later becomes important when Beast gives it to Belle just before she leaves. When the villagers later scoff at her story, she simply tells it "Show me the Beast!" and it does, which sets up the climax of the movie as Gaston plays upon the villagers' fears of the apparent hideous monster that they have just seen in the mirror.
• Manchild: Due to years of isolation, the Beast is still stuck with the maturity of a spoiled eleven-year-old. He gets extremely irrationally angry if something doesn't go his way.
• Manipulative Bastard: Gaston is well aware of his popularity in the village, and in the end, he uses it to turn most of the male population of his town into an angry mob.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: In “Belle (Little Town)”, one of the villagers is a mother who has three babies falling out of her arms and two more children clinging to her skirts, crying, “I need six eggs!”
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • LeFou and his companions have an epic one when they enter the kitchen and suddenly find themselves faced with an army of knives and a living stove who lets out an utterly terrifying Evil Laugh at them. Cue panicked screams and a final retreat.
  • The ornaments have this reaction when they see the Beast bleeding out in Belle's arms. They're in Stunned Silence as Belle begs him to hold on, promising that they are together, and saying she loves him.
• Mass Transformation: The enchantress who turned the Prince into the Beast transformed not only him, but his dozens if not hundreds of servants, who became assorted Animate Inanimate Objects.
• A Match Made in Stockholm: Discussed. Belle falls in love with the Beast while she is his prisoner, but by that point she was more like an honored guest who wasn't allowed to leave, and she doesn't tell him that she loves him until he frees her.
• Mean Boss: Gaston is completely abusive to LeFou, who seems to be the closest thing to his "best friend", and even forces LeFou to wait outside Belle's home in the snow for what seemed to be weeks, if not months. Oddly, LeFou never complains.
• Meaningful Echo: "Please let (insert person here) go! I'll do anything!" First with Belle when she takes her father's place, second when the Beast is holding Gaston over the edge of the roof, which was probably why he was spared. Interestingly, both times had people at the Beast's mercy, and both times resulted in an unusual act of kindness from him (taking up Belle's offer and letting Gaston go).
• Meaningful Name:
  • Belle is French for "beautiful", since the original tale is French and its title in French is "La Belle et la Bête" ("The Beautiful and the Beast"). This even gets a Lampshade Hanging by one of the female villagers, who sings, "Now it's no wonder that her name means 'beauty' / Her looks have got no parallel..."
  • In the original de Beaumont fairytale (or at least the earliest version we have), she has a different name, but we never learn it. Everyone just calls her La Belle. Her name being Belle is an improvement. (The Beast doesn't have a name there either.)
  • "LeFou" is a phonetic pun on "the fool" (the actual translation from French to English is closer to The Madman, the Insane, The Mad, or Insanity). Likewise, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip all have names relating to the objects they became (with Chip being a reference to his state of being).
  • Monsieur D'Arque, the asylum proprietor, certainly is dark and sinister.
  • Philippe the horse's name is the French version of the name Philip, which means "friend of horses".
• Might Makes Right:
  • Gaston certainly believes this. Why else would he storm Beast's castle but to prove that he's the best match for Belle?
  • The villagers also get their own moment in the mob song:
  Mob song: We're fifty strong, and fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong!
• Mighty Roar: Beast lets out a few good ones such as when he fights the wolves, when Belle leaves and when he starts fighting back against Gaston. When he yells (which he does a lot) animal roars are mixed into the dialog for extra oomph.
• Miles Gloriosus: Gaston fits this. He is thought of very highly by the village for his various accomplishment, but when Beast threatened him his life in the climax he started begging for mercy.
• Milking the Giant Cow: Gaston has some magnificent arm gestures during the climax to emphasize his vocal inflections.
• Missed Him by That Much: Just after Maurice heads off to save his daughter from the castle, Gaston and Lefou arrive at the house to threaten to throw him into the asylum.
• Missing Mom: There is no mention of what happened to Maurice's wife, aka Belle's mom. Not so in the stage musical, which reveals her to be dead and still honoured in the family.
• Mistaken for Insane: While Belle is generally simply seen as "odd" by the villagers, Maurice is often thought of as insane. This increases when he tells the villagers that his daughter was locked up by a monstrous beast, which is actually true. Gaston exploits it by threatening to throw Maurice into an asylum unless Belle agrees to marry him.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: Not in the movie proper, but a bonus song has the grammatically-incorrect lyric "A little give, a little take, a little it's OK to make a small mistake".
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The Beast has the mane of a lion, the head structure of a bison, the brow of a gorilla, the tusks of a wild boar, the torso of a bear, the hind legs and tail of a wolf, and the eyes of a human.
• Monster Modesty: This trope is tied into The Beast's character development. He starts off only in a pair of pants and a cape and as he becomes more humanized he starts wearing more clothes until we finally see him in full formal wear. It's justified in that he's still desperately trying to maintain his humanity and is also ashamed of his appearance (hence the cape, which hides his body). The creators say that eventually, his humanity would have degenerated to the point where he'd wear no clothes at all.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The Beast drags Maurice off. Gaston's ridiculous (first) marriage proposal follows.
  • In a meta example, Paige O'Hara sobbed real tears while recording Belle's mourning of the Beast. Her performance was so intense that the director asked her if she was OK, upon which O'Hara immediately dropped out of character and said "Acting!"
  • The famous dinner request scene, and the scene where the servants deal with the aftermath, is mostly Played for Laughs...then it cuts to Beast storming into the West Wing, ranting furiously before he looks in on Belle with the magic mirror...just in time to catch her declaring she doesn't want anything to do with him. The Beast, who already insisted the curse would never be broken, loses even more hope he’ll ever be seen as anything other than a monster. The Rose then loses another petal.
  • "Be Our Guest", a mostly happy song, has a segment in the middle where its tune changes somber and Lumiere sings about how the curse has affected the servants.
  • The Beast's utterly heartbreaking releasing of Belle after the amazingly romantic and uplifting ballroom scene.
  • The alternating scenes of the funny and happy fight of the servants with the villagers, along with Gaston's hunting pursuit.
  • The wardrobe crushing a villager, and then shoving another into herself, causing him to emerge dressed in drag and freaking out. The crushed villager is still lying there and not moving...
  • More of an In-Universe example, but after the heartbreaking interaction of the Beast letting Belle go, Cogsworth comes in cheerfully proclaiming how great everything is going and how he always knew the curse could be broken.
• Mook Horror Show: Really, the scene with the invasion of the Beast's castle. When they first arrive, it's quiet...deathly so. Then there is a shout of 'Now' from a talking candelabra and suddenly EVERYTHING in the main hall comes to life and starts attacking everyone; sentient clocks attacking with scissors, demonic stoves with sentient cutlery sets, a talking teapot with the ability to make scathing hot liquid at will, a pile-driving sentient dresser, AND lord knows what else.
• Morphic Resonance: As household objects, the servants look quite similar to their human forms; for example, Cogsworth's clock hands are his mustache◊.
• Morton's Fork: This is the problem with Belle being the Beast's prisoner — "guest" in Lumiere's words — in breaking the curse. Mrs. Potts knows that it won't be easy to convince Belle to love the Beast when he's essentially keeping her locked up for the rest of her life. The only way for her to truly develop feelings is if he releases her from the promise; which means the servants and Beast are cursed anyway, something the Beast knows when he tells her to rescue her father. Of course, Belle even implies that she wasn't leaving permanently, just to rescue her father and that she would come back to visit the Beast and servants at the castle once Maurice was safe.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Gaston attempts this in the film's climax by storming Beast's castle. He succeeds, except he was the hypotenuse.
• Music for Courage: Done to a villainous end with "Gaston" where he riles up the villagers into a mob with a song.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • After throwing her father out without letting them say goodbye, Beast has a small moment of this when showing Belle to her room, leading to him trying to say something nice to her (He blows it anyway).
  • After the Beast scares Belle out of the west wing and the castle, he silently FacePalms.
  • The Beast has a similar reaction in the musical, when he grabs Belle's arm after catching her in the West Wing and accidentally rips her sleeve. This is what prompts her to leave the castle, while he desperately tries to apologize.

N

• Neck Lift: The Beast to Gaston, during the final fight, demonstrating his greater strength and stature, as well as how easy it would be to toss him over the edge. Also done rather realistically, as the Beast doesn't just do this, but has to hold on to a gargoyle for balance. Currently the trope's page image.
• Never Learned to Read: The Beast in the stage play. Belle teaches him to read and he finds that books are as much of an escape for him as they are for her. Special editions of the film, during the "Human Again" number, have him claim that he did learn once but has forgotten how.
• Never My Fault: Early in the film, Maurice wants to go down a dark, misty, scary path while Phillippe wants to go down the sunnier path. When Maurice makes him go down the misty path and gets lost, he asks Phillippe where he thinks he's going.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Belle shows the Beast in the mirror to prove her father's sanity. This succeeds, but to her horror, it sets off a mob to go after the Beast.
• No Badass to His Valet: Belle and the Beast's relationship develops into this at first. Out of a whole castle full of servants who alternately cringe in terror of his rages or try to bring him up like he's a child, Belle is the only one who talks to him like an equal.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: For the voice of Lumiere, Jerry Orbach did an absolute dead ringer impersonation of Maurice Chevalier.
• No Indoor Voice: The Beast persistently shouts, especially his howling "GET OOOUUUUUUUTTTT!" which sounds even more "bestial" since they mixed animal growls, snarls and roars in with his dialogue to make him sound more wild and show just how inhuman he's become.
• No Name Given: The Beast. His servants refer to him only as "The Master". Belle doesn't even know his name. At the climax, she simply calls him 'Beast'. When "Belle" at meet & greets in Disney Parks is asked about the Beast's real name, she responds by saying that he had been a Beast for so long, he cannot remember.
  Gary Trousdale: [in the commentary] We got to the end of the movie and realized "He doesn't have a name!""
  • His name was finally revealed to be "Adam" in a CD-ROM game, and Belle's voice actress, Paige O'Hara, would later go on to state that yes, the Beast's name is Adam.
• "No Peeking!" Request: After Lumiere has the idea that the Beast should give Belle the castle library as a gift, he takes her to see it for the first time, but makes her close her eyes before he leads her inside. The fact that she agrees to wait until he says she can open them is a sign of the growing trust between them.
• No Time to Explain: When Belle comes across Maurice imprisoned in the castle, he says this while he’s begging her to leave.
• Non-Standard Character Design: LeFou, Maurice and the appliances-turned-human (excluding Babette) are far toonier-looking than the rest of the cast. A guy in the opening number also has an elongated head that makes him look like a Beavis And Butthead character.
• Not So Above It All: Cogsworth, would you believe? He may act prim and proper... but when the castle is attacked, he dresses like Napoleon with a sword and a pistol and takes LeFou out with aplomb, absolutely magnificent aplomb.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Most of the cast; as MAD Magazine pointed out in their parody, this is especially noticeable because of Lumiere's extremely pronounced accent. Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts have British accents, because all butlers must be British. They shouldn't even be speaking English anyway, so... artistic license.
• Not Good with Rejection: Gaston's response is to drink and sulk. When he finds out he has a rival, he goes out to kill the guy.
• Not Helping Your Case: People viewing the Beast as a monster because of his appearance is what upsets him the most. However, before his Character Development, the Beast would do horrible things when he was angry, which of course just reinforced their belief he was a monster, ergo creating a never-ending cycle. The most notable example is the Beast getting upset at Maurice because he believes he came to gawk at a beast...and then proceeded to lock him in a dungeon.
• Not Worth Killing: Beast seems to consider Gaston as such when he wins their climactic fight. While he's not persuaded by Gaston's begging, especially right after Gaston tried to kill him, he had already promised Belle he would become a better person and simply tells Gaston to Get Out!. Unfortunately, this gives Gaston the opportunity to go for the dirty move when Beast's back is turned and Gaston falls to his death immediately afterwards.

O

• Objectshifting: While the Enchantress's curse transformed the prince into a monstrous beast, it transformed his servants into Animate Inanimate Objects, including clocks, candelabras, tea sets, mops, wardrobes, musical instruments, and many others.
• Obviously Evil:
  • Gaston is an Egomaniac Hunter dressed in red with long black hair and as he reaches his peak his hair becomes wild and messy.
  • Corrupt asylum director Monsieur D'Arque has skin that is a sickly green color and a gaunt face.
• Obviously Not Fine: Chip claims not to be sleepy to try to get a later bedtime, despite having trouble keeping his eyes open.
• Odd Reaction Out: When Gaston wins the "spitting match" during his Villain Song, three men hold up "10"s, but one holds up a "9.5".
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Gaston gets three during his battle with the Beast:
    • When the Beast is on the edge of the roof refusing to fight. Gaston grabs part of the castle and brandishes it like a club about to go for the kill. Then Belle announces her arrival and unsuccessfully pleads Gaston not to kill him. Beast is suddenly filled with the will to live, grabs the club and towers over Gaston, surprising him and making him realize the Beast won't be an easy kill for him.
    • When Gaston yells "It's over, Beast, Belle is mine!", the Beast completely overpowers him, grabs him by the throat and holds him over the edge of the roof from the top of the castle, reducing the hunter into a scared coward begging not to be killed.
    • Right after stabbing the Beast, the Slasher Smile on Gaston's face immediately fades once he starts losing his balance, making him realize he's about to fall off the roof (having been previously spared that fate). Sure enough, he can only scream in terror as he plummets to this death.
  • The Beast when he drives Belle out of the West Wing; after a moment he realizes what he's done — quite possibly scared away his only chance of breaking the spell — and he buries his face in his hand in despair.
  • Belle is apprehensive when she meets the Beast for the first time, but when she asks him to come into the light and sees him properly, she has Oh, Crap! written all over her face.
  • Belle has one in the West Wing when the Beast finds her about to touch the rose. Understandable, given that earlier he had specifically told her not to go there.
  • As she's facing the wolves with a stick which quickly breaks, giving us a close-up of her panicked face right before a wolf lunges at her.
  • A more lighthearted example occurs during the "Beauty and the Beast" number when the Beast realizes that Belle wants to dance with him and he doesn't know how.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: When LeFou realizes he's accidentally thrown beer into Gaston's face, he shoots a nervous grin at Gaston before being Punched Across the Room.
• Old Beggar Test: According to the prologue, the unnamed prince (the future Beast) refuses to let the woman enter in his castle and mocks her offering of a single rose. Unsurprisingly, she reveals herself to the Spoiled Brat, scolds him, and as punishment, she bewitches the whole castle.
• Once Upon a Time: The film opens with a 'once upon a time' explanation of how the Prince was selfish and then was turned into the Beast by the beggar woman who asked him for shelter in exchange for a single rose, then turned into the enchantress when he kept refusing her.
  • The second half of the phrase includes "In a far away land", even though the movie makes it pretty clear early on that it's set in France. Of course, opening with "In 18th century France" wouldn't have fit nearly as well.
• One-Man Army: The Beast single-handedly takes on a wolf pack and drives them away.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Cogsworth has many good reasons to not defy the master; the Beast is huge, bad-tempered, and bossy. He's also a tiny clock that can get wrecked easily. Yet there are times when he will bend or break the rules, or act contrary to his stick-in-the-mud approach.
    • Despite arguing with Lumiere about breaking the rules for hosting Maurice, he assists the candelabra in opening up a passageway to the dungeons, for Belle to find her father. That shows how much seeing Belle has invigorated him with hope.
    • He agrees to give Belle a tour of the castle, despite the fact that she's not to be helped at all. She does flatter him, but he does seem to want to make her stay comfortable and was thrown off by her figuring out the castle was enchanted.
    • In the climax, he sheds his dislike of Lumiere to rescue him from LeFou's torch. He also gives an Evil Laugh while armed to the teeth, showing a wild side. Never underestimate a clock that can hold a pair of scissors to defend his castle, and his friends. Lumiere is so happily shocked by this that he gives Cogsworth a Smooch of Victory when they send the invaders crawling out the door. 
  • The Beast is this way for most of the climax. He's too depressed to even notice that there are trespassers and invaders, rather than breaking out into his trademark rage. Then when he sees Belle calling out for him, the Beast gets angry and starts fighting, but with cool logic and Combat Pragmatist rather than waving his claws at the nearest object in sight. Even when he wins the fight, and Gaston begs for his life, the Beast's expression changes into shock that he doesn't want to kill this man that claims to own Belle, and puts him down. When he says Get Out!, it's a tone of utmost fury rather than a roar. 
• Our Nudity Is Different: Beast's bath scene; it's clear he's at his most naked here but since he's furry it also doubles as convenient censoring.

P

• Pain-Powered Leap: Cogsworth slides down the stair banister and jabs LeFou in the butt with a pair of scissors, causing this to happen. Less than 20 seconds later, Lumiere spews a blast of fire from the top of his head at one of the nameless villagers (who also gets launched into the air), saving Babette, who was getting her "skirt" ripped out.
• Pet the Dog: The Beast learning to feed the birds in the "Something There" sequence is a crystal clear indication that he's no longer an anti-villain and is trying to be more kind and noble.
• Pimped-Out Cape: Belle gets one in the "Something There" scene. It's fur-trimmed.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Belle's gold dress is the most clearly pimped out; layered skirts, frills, etc. The green dress and pink dress were also likely made of very fine fabrics.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: In “Human Again,” Belle wears a pink dress and Beast wears a blue shirt and cape.
• Playing Hard to Get: Gaston tends to think Belle wants him and is just making him catch her, which suits both his ego and his hunting trait. Naturally, she's honestly not interested in him.
• Playing with Fire: Lumiere frequently lights and expands his flames, typically for emphasis. He also burns Cogsworth’s hand and sets a pie “en flambé” with them.
• Please, I Will Do Anything!: Twice, someone beseeches the Beast to show mercy, and both times he does.
• Please Wake Up: After Beast dies, Belle sobs into his body and begs for him to wake up.
• Plucky Girl: Belle repeatedly refuses to submit to the Beast and only treats him better when he starts reforming.
• The Pollyanna: The servants are as desperate as the Beast for breaking the spell but they are also more optimistic and at least try to keep their lives as normal as they can.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Gaston is shamelessly misogynistic towards Belle to go in hand with his overinflated ego, frowning upon the idea of a woman reading or thinking independently (partially because he also disdains doing such things himself) and seeing marriage to Belle as nothing more than a prize to be won.
• Poor Communication Kills: When Belle goes to rescue her father, the Beast assumes she's leaving forever, and the ornaments are worried. Chip asks Belle, when he stows away in her bag, if they did something wrong. Before Belle can reassure him, the asylum people come. It's all but said that Belle would return, once she cleared the air with her father and got him medical care, as she tells the Beast of course she came back to save him. After all, the Beast is her friend and she would have visited.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Immediately after fighting off the wolves, the Beast turns to Belle while panting, stands for a beat longer, then falls over onto his side in the snow.
• The Power of Love: To break the curse, Beast needs to learn to love another, and he has to earn their love in return.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: When the villagers finally break into the castle, it's quiet and dark and LeFou picks up Lumiere in order to see. Lumiere suddenly yells, "NOW!" Cue the lights coming on and all hell breaking loose.
• Prejudice Aesop: The moral is not to judge somebody by their appearance because the "beast" is actually a man under a curse.
• Pretty in Mink: The animators seem to like putting Belle in furs. Her wine-colored winter cape comes with white fur trim.
• Primal Stance: The Beast is stuck in this pose for the first half of the movie; in fact it's kind of hard to tell just how tall he is because he spends so much time bent over. The first shot of Belle and the Beast standing face-to-face shows that while he's taller than her she can still look him directly in the eye. The ballroom scene is one of the few times he's actually standing up straight and it becomes obvious that he completely dwarfs her. Gaston, who stands and walks upright, until near the end of the film, he reveals his evil self and starts to stand and walk like this.
• Prince Charming Wannabe: Gaston, towards Belle; he thinks he's a dashing and heroic suitor that will sweep her off her feet. She is less than impressed. No one provides the trope image like Gaston!
• Prince Charmless: Beast was this before the curse and before Belle came into his life; lack of princely manners was the reason he was cursed in the first place. Gaston is more definitely this, but only Belle shows much awareness of it.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Belle, who later becomes a princess, briefly wears a pink dress.
• Princesses Rule: Beast is called a prince, despite there seemingly being no king or queen to outrank him.
• Product Displacement: Zig-zagged when Disney started altering the opening credits for the Remasters and Recuts. Originally, two cards preceded the prologue, respectively reading "Walt Disney Pictures presents" and "In Association With Silver Screen Partners IV". For the 2002 Platinum Edition VHS and DVD, the latter card disappeared. On the 2010 Diamond Edition Blu-ray and DVD, the Silver Screen Partners IV credit returned to the Theatrical cut and the Work-in-Progress Edition, while the Extended Edition replaces it with the words, "The Special Edition of..." The 3D conversion replaced it with the words, "The 3D Edition of..." The 2016 Signature Edition Digital HD copy, Blu-ray, and DVD^*which only contains the Theatrical cut, and the 2019 4K remaster of the Theatrical cut, treat the Silver Screen Partners IV card the same way the Diamond Edition discs did.
• Proper Lady: For all the villagers thinking she is odd, Belle is well-mannered, sophisticated and has high morals.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Gaston. He basically throws an extreme tantrum over not getting what he wanted and is willing to imprison Maurice in order to force Belle to comply with his wishes.
• Pun: "If it's not Baroque, don't fix it!" It's supposed to be a lame pun to add to the notion of Cogsworth having no sense of humour.
• Punched Across the Room: Gaston does this to LeFou for trying to make him smile. He's strong enough to do that.
• Punished with Ugly: The Beast's curse in simplification is to be an ugly monster.
• Purple Is Powerful: The Beast's cloak is a dark reddish purple. He also has a straight purple one (which is what he wears in nearly all other appearances). In this case, the association is with royal power.
• Putto: One scene from the "Tale as old as time" musical number shows the ceiling of the ballroom decorated with winged putti, one of them holding a Cupid's Arrow.

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