Thread:Love Robin/@comment-24859393-20180216232501/@comment-1705775-20180217040620

so is the Beast, to a lesser extent - before he met Belle he is ruled by hate and fear, only with Belle's help does he learn what true love is.. that is why he lets Belle go.. the lesson he learns is sometimes true love requires sacrificing yourself.. that's when he redeemed himself : it is also at that point that Gaston goes full-blown bad guy so the audience can further sympathize with Beast.

for the first half of the film Beast is cruel, insecure and desperate to break the curse no matter what - Belle was a means to an end.. he slowly betters himself with her help and so forth.

the whole point of the story is that Beast was on his way to becoming Gaston but was redeemed, while Gaston outright refused to be redeemed.