Is Gaston Full Of Vanity?

The character of Gaston is full of vanity. According to the Oxford Dictionary, vanity refers to "excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements (Oxford Dictionaries.)" Gaston constantly brags throughout the movie about his excellence and achievements, such as in his introductory scene. In this scene, Gaston's close friend and admirer retrieves a kill, exclaiming "Wow! You didn't miss a shot, Gaston! You're the greatest hunter in the whole world!" Gaston replies boastfully, "I know! (Woolverton et al.)" Gaston portrays his lack of humbleness and brags about his achievements. The opening scene of a character tends to give the viewer an idea of the character's personality and Gaston is no exception. He continues this conceited personality throughout the movie.
The song consists of singing the praises of Gaston, his appearance and his accomplishments, such as his extraordinary strength and size (Woolverton et al.). By dedicating a whole musical number to this, he showed the audience how self-absorbed his character is and that he has reached an excessive level of pride. In the movie, Gaston and Belle have a little interaction, which Belle couldn't be more eager to leave from. She proceeds to run home and later, while conversing with her father, Gaston comes up to the conversation's topic. Belle states, "He's handsome all right, and rude and conceited and...Oh Papa, he's not for me! (Woolverton et al.)" Even with the limited interaction Belle had with Gaston, she was able to catch his true personality. This demonstrates that Gaston's vanity is very prominent and undeniable. Gaston proves times and again his true self-absorbed, vain, conceited personality, but even though he has an inflated self-importance, he may not be truly