All he ever wanted was the woman he loved to love him back. He could have had any other woman in that town, but he chose to remain single for Belle. He defended her father against LeFou's insensitivity. If Gaston had lived, I'd imagine him like an old Mr. Miyagi getting drunk and crying over his dead wife.
shareHow nice of you to turn the tables in his favor. Too bad it didn't work in convincing me.
Gaston was a selfish prick that was on a power trip. He has never loved anyone besides himself. Belle was nothing more than a trophy to him, just like all the powerful animals he had killed and put up on the walls of his home and the tavern in the village; just like all the women he'd slept with in the village, and just like all the gullible people in the village who bought
The only reason he stood up for Belle's dad was all a facade to find out where Belle was. He didn't actually believe Maurice's story about a beast trapping her in a castle; not until Belle showed everyone the Beast in the magic mirror. The reason he went after Belle was that it galled him that anyone besides him could receive her affections, much less a hideous monster like the Beast. So in some ways, he saw the Beast as not only another trophy to mount on his wall, he was also a rival for Belle, and Gaston made it personal. He had never actually lost a battle with any animal he had fought in the woods, and that led to arrogance that he was always gonna win any battle he got into. He never counted on the Beast being better at him in fighting, nor did he account for his ego getting in the way in the end.
You also have to remember that Gaston was best friends with the town loser. Nobody gave Lefou the time of day or respect that Gaston gave him. Additionally, the story is told from Belle and The Beast perspective, so on the surface it would appear that Gaston is bad, but he is really good!
shareFriends? Respect? Lefou was his BUTT BOY!!! Gaston only liked Lefou because Lefou would do anything for him without question, and it didn't matter how abusive he was, he'd do anything for Gaston. Gaston liked the guy's loyalty, but he had very little respect or affection for Lefou.
The only reason Lefou hung out with him at all was because
a.) he's the only dwarf in town, so he would have been ostracized by the villagers, and
b.) like the villagers, he was drawn to power (and desperate for friendship of any kind) and was willing to put up with Gaston's abuses if it meant he could sponge off of his buddy's popularity. Nobody in the town cared about the abuse because it was common in time periods like that for people in power to have underlings working for them.
I can list a number of Gaston's abuses towards Lefou:
- makes him follow him around and carry his hunting gear, probably for no pay
- throws his gun painfully into Lefou's arms
- often likes to grab him by the collar and get in his face
- let the Bimbettes squirt him with water and ignore him
- never stands up for the guy
- constantly hits him and knocks him to the ground (I swear, Lefou is a glutton for punishment!)
- never thanks him for helping him out in his schemes, such as the impromptu wedding
- smashed a musical horn of some kind on his head
- shoved him into a pig's mud wallow when he dared ask how the proposal went (not well)
- threw him around the tavern like a rag doll
- dropped a huge chair on top of him and even sat in it, essentially squishing Lefou underneath for a time, before painfully pulling him out
- smashed a beer stein in his face, hard enough for it to get stuck
- forcing him to spy on Belle's home, out in the cold, with no food or water, putting him in danger of frostbite
- leaving him to the attacks of the castle objects during the battle
Does that all that sound like something a guy who is friends with and respects a close buddy of his would do? If that's so, I wouldn't want to be friends with that guy, and you'd have to be very foolish and desperate to put up with all of that.