The True Face of Beauty and the Beast
A Curse Called Science
In the 1500s, a man named Petrus Gonsalvus was presented to the French court of King Henry II. He had a rare genetic condition called hypertrichosis, which caused thick hair to grow all over his face and body. The courtiers mocked him, calling him “the Beast.”
Despite that, he was educated, refined, and eventually married a woman named Catherine. Their arranged marriage inspired gossip, and the couple’s story soon spread across Europe. The legend turned into a “fairy tale” — a monster transformed by love — but the real Petrus never transformed. He lived his life as a symbol of both beauty and cruelty in a society obsessed with appearances.
His tragic story shows that the Beast’s curse was human prejudice, not magic.
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