In "Beauty and the Beast" Gaston is painted unfairly as more villainous than he deserves. Sure, he's selfish, brainless, and impetuous. He's not the only one. In fact, it's a very grim fairy tale wherein perhaps nobody is the hero. Have you ever stopped to question the prince? To think about his back story? To wonder how he transformed? Gaston didn't transform, because he was in that small provincial town with small minds and small pleasures and small reason to change. The beast had much more incentive to change, and even then, he almost didn't. Consider some other facts in evidence that show that, even if Gaston isn't the hero, he's certainly not deserving of the title: villain.
People mock Gaston's character but rarely question the prince. The prince is turned into a beast because "there was no love in his heart". He refused to let a beggar woman stay in the castle for a single night. Even after Belle arrives, he continues to berate and belittle his servants (whose loyalty is herculean in my opinion). His servants have to persuade him to invite Belle to a room. He knows that he has to find a woman to break the spell, and when a beautiful woman comes, he's too self absorbed with his own pity to even consider this as fate's hand outstretched to save him. His manners are terrible. His patience is thin. He's still in every way beastly except for how Belle transforms him. Who are we to presume that she could not and would not do the same for Gaston?
People quickly question Gaston's motives but rarely question the prince's. What does Gaston want? Yes, he wants the most beautiful girl in town, but to what end? Gaston wants a FAMILY. "We'll have six or seven." "Dogs?" "No, Belle, strapping boys like me". Gaston is looking for a wife. Yes, he probably won't suborn her interests and aspirations, but how is that a worse motivation than the beast? What does the Beast want? He wants to be restored to his human form. For Gaston, it's about family. For the beast, it's all about the beast becoming "human again".
People judge Gaston's decisions but rarely question the prince's. Yes, Gaston tries to force Belle's hand to marry her by carting away her father to an asylum, but when the father returns with tales of a beast, the asylum subplot disappears from the story entirely. All interest in manipulating Belle goes away as Gaston decides to go FREE HER FROM THE BEAST and win her hand. It's the same plot as Shrek without the jokes. Even when Belle shows him via the mirror, the beast appears angry and threatening. So, to preclude any MORE young ladies being imprisoned, Gaston goes off to slay the dragon and rescue the fair maiden. As far as he knows, she was trapped in a dungeon in a tower because that's what her father tells Gaston. As far as he can tell, she got away. Why would a beast let her go? It only makes sense to us because we know the other side of the story. Based on the information he knows, Gaston views himself as a rescuer, a dashing and debonair knight off on a quest. Of course it feeds his ego. What about the Prince? He decides "it doesn't matter, let them come". He doesn't care until Belle comes back. Only at that point does he care one wit for the future of his servants who are selflessly protecting his home. What an ingrate.
Maybe there is no hero in this story, but it's unfair to caste Gaston entirely as the villain. The Beast is beastly too. He's also selfish, brainless, and brutish. When Belle comes into the west wing, he overreacts, and he has to rescue her because she was afraid of him. Gaston was willing to fight for Belle and put his life on the line too; he just plummets to his death from the parapets. Without his servants, there's no way the beast would have wooed the fair maiden. Without them, he would have been just as bad of a choice for husband as Gaston, whose only advisor was Lefou. For me, Gaston is more heroic than we give him credit, and his death is just as senseless a tragedy as the beast's would have been. And Gaston is the only one who didn't survive to live happily after happily. There is no redemption story arc for him. He falls to his death and our scorn and never gets a chance to be a better man. That's a tragedy.
