f ‘This Burning Desire is Turning Me to Sin’: The intrapersonal sexual struggles of two Disney singing villains

Using a typological approach to villain characteristics and functions, this article examines two Disney singing villains: Gaston (Beauty and the Beast [Trousdale and Wise, 1991]) and Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Trousdale and Wise, 1996]). Both characters face incongruence between private and public identities, hold high social standings in their respective communities and are narcissistic, stopping at nothing to get what they feel is owed to them. Each is framed in a monster/man dichotomy, socially superior, but morally and ethically inferior to the male protagonist of the film. Their songs are used to position them, characterize their inner struggles and provide a gateway into their inner complexities, especially as contrasted to their male protagonist counterparts who sing less than they do.