Beauty's Sisters

Beauty's sisters are the main antagonists of the French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and later adapted and shortened by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (whose version is the best-known version today).

Character
Beauty's sisters are two (or five in Villeneuve's version) daughters of a widowed merchant. In addition to their younger sister Beauty, they have three brothers. Beauty's sisters are both beautiful, but Beauty is more beautiful than they are.

The sisters are selfish, spoiled, and vain, and hate their sister Beauty, whom they are sorely jealous of.

Role in the story
When their father becomes poor due to losing his ships, his family is forced to live in a farmhouse. One day, he finds that one of his ships had survived. he goes to find it and promises gifts for his children. Beauty's sisters ask for clothing and jewelry, while Beauty asks for a rose. The rose leads him to the Beast's palace.

When the merchant agrees to let Beauty stay at the Beast's castle so the Beast will spare him, Beauty goes there, and later comes back dressed in fine clothes. Beauty gives dresses to her sisters, but they turn into rags when they touch the two girls (for the Beast had meant them only for Beauty), enraging them. Beauty has to return to the Beast's palace in seven days. Beauty's sisters devise a wicked plan to keep Beauty from returning (in the hope that the Beast will eat her) - the sisters beg her to stay another day, and put onions in their eyes to feign crying. Beauty agrees to stay.

Beauty then rushes back to the palace, only to find the Beast half-dead. When she cries over him, her tears cause him to return to his princely form. A good fairy appears to Beauty's family, and decrees that Beauty's sisters will be turned into statues until their faults are cured, fearing that they may forever remain statues. (In Villeneuve's version, the sisters are not punished, but remain jealous of Beauty.) Beauty marries the prince afterwards.

Trivia
Beauty's sisters do not appear in the Disney film based on the story. Instead, Gaston Legume, a character created for the film, serves as the villain.