Gaston

"He's handsome, all right, and rude and conceited! Oh, Papa, he's not for me."

- Belle expressing her dislike for Gaston to her father Gaston (Meaning, "from Gascony" in French, a real life area in France) is the main antagonist of Disney's 1991 film, Beauty and the Beast. He is voiced by Richard White.

Original concept
In the original 1989 screenplay, Gaston was depicted very differently. Instead of a hunter who was the town hero, he was a marquess, or French nobleman. He would have shared the role of antagonist with Belle's aunt, Marguerite who would have chosen him as Belle's suitor, specifically as revenge towards Maurice (who in this version was a failed merchant who lost his wealth at sea, just like in the original tale). In the climax, he was to have traveled with his soldiers to the Beast's castle, and fight off several of the Enchanted Objects with a rapier before personally dueling the Beast in battle. He also met his fate differently (see Death section below).

As such, his design was also completely different. In some concept art he was depicted with long shoulder-length black hair and a mustache, giving him a similar depiction to famed mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes. In the final draft, he was depicted with a mole on the left side of his face, a crooked nose, and a powdered wig tied with a red ribbon giving him a similar appearance to Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Napoleon.

In one of the concept arts, while waiting for the Beast to arrive, Gaston's sedan chair was shown flying over a pond with no one holding it, suggesting that he either practiced magic or had an ally who did so.

While the final version was more-or-less the same, production notes in the test reel for the movie (included in the Special Edition alongside the theatrical version and the special edition itself) indicated that his surname was intended to be LeGume, which acted as a pun on his small-minded views. This was presumably dropped in the final release, as in both "Belle" and its reprise, the Bimbettes and Belle referred to him and herself as "Monsieur Gaston" and (albeit sarcastically) "Madame Gaston," respectively, implying that "Gaston" was his surname.

Death
Story Threads show that in the original screenplay, Gaston would have tried to use his rapier to stab the Beast, only to be punched over the garden wall. His fate after that was ambiguous.

In one of the earliest scripts, Gaston's death would have been different, as the battle against Beast would have taken place in the forest. In this early version of the script Gaston would wound the Beast and nearly kill him with his blunderbuss, when Belle strikes him from behind with a rock. This would have prompted him to fall off a cliff and breaking one of his legs. Upon trying to stand up, he notices that the wolves who attacked Maurice and Belle earlier are looking at him, and maul him. This idea was scraped because the writers thought that it was too gruesome and horrible (even for someone like Gaston), although this idea was later used in The Lion King, more specifically in the sequence of Scar's death at the hands (or rather, jaws) of the hyenas.

Ironically, the above mentioned scene of Scar's death (as the final version of the ending) was chosen for the exact same reason why Gaston's original death was cut: The original ending was deemed to be too graphic and scary for a Disney film.

In addition, the final version of Gaston's death also had some alterations: Moments prior to his plunge from the castle to his unseen death, Gaston was supposed to stab the Beast in the back, and later in the leg, but the second injury was cut from the final script to edit violence; it was also originally intended for Gaston to commit suicide after stabbing the Beast in the back and laugh madly as he fell from the tower, believing that if he could not win Belle, nobody else would (which might explain why Gaston chose such a dangerous position to stab the Beast from behind, despite knowing that he would never win Belle's heart). However, this was edited out due to the dark nature of the scene.

Physical Description
As noted throughout the film, he possessed an extremely athletic build, a cleft chin, and possessed a handsome appearance. His hair was long and tied into a ponytail. He possessed icy blue eyes. He generally wore yellow hunting gloves, although he discarded them by the midpoint. He also wore a red tunic and black tights, alongside boots. He also wore a cape during his final battle with the Beast. He also had a lot of hair on his chest.

During the failed wedding attempt, Gaston wore a red tailcoat trimmed with gold fabric, a waistcoat, breeches and even black boots, and also had white tights.

As a child, his hair was slightly disheveled with its ends standing on top, although he retained the ponytail. In addition, he possessed freckles, and his outfit consisted of a shirt, pants, and elf-shoes.

Personality
Gaston is strong and handsome, and he is all too aware of this. He is very popular in his village, who seem unaware of his true nature (Gaston reprise in the original film notwithstanding), and this serves to fuel his already massive ego. A narcissist who sees himself as superior to everyone around him, Gaston is boorish, uncultured and sexist. He also was arrogant, as evidenced by his (in the original film) setting up a wedding before he even proposed to Belle under the expectation that she'd approve of becoming his wife, and later his fight against the Beast. However, his arrogance may have been justified due to his abilities. Despite his belief that thinking is "a dangerous pastime" (suggesting that he is anti-intellectual) however, Gaston is not unintelligent; in fact he is quite cunning which is emphasized twice in the story showing that he is not all brawn and no brain. He comes up with a clever plan to get Belle to marry him by threatening to have her father, Maurice, thrown into an asylum, and when that plan is foiled by Belle showing the Beast with a magic mirror, Gaston takes it in stride and quickly turns the tables by manipulating the villagers into forming a mob to kill the Beast. However, in at least the film, he is also depicted as being very reckless in regards to planning, as especially evident with the Gaston reprise where he managed to blurt out key details about his plan to blackmail Belle with the threat of locking her father up in a crowded tavern, and without indicating anything that would indicate it was either morally imperative or otherwise beneficial for anyone to follow the plan.

Gaston's view of women is rather sexist considering the time period in which the movie takes place (1700s, pre-revolutionary France), and while he appears charming to most of the women of the village, such as The Bimbettes, Belle is the only woman in the entire town to be able to see him for what he really is from the start of the film. Because of this, Gaston's attempts to charm Belle always fall flat because of his chauvinistic and boorish behavior. He believes that women should not be able to think for themselves or even get ideas, and even stamps Belle's book into the mud in an attempt to get her to focus on "more important things" such as him. Had he actually succeeded in persuading her to marry him, he would have only treated her as if she were his property and as inferior to him (as was the case for marriages in those days) rather than as an equal (like most marriages today). His sexism is also shown by the fact that he does not seem to even consider the possibility of having daughters with her as he states he wants "six or seven strapping boys" like himself. Gaston suffers from obsessive love which is shown by his intense infatuation with Belle. Indeed he is so obsessed with her that he ignores all the other pretty women in the village who would be happy to be his "little wife," even, ironically, those who technically matched Gaston's standards of how women should behave. When Gaston is singing about wanting to marry her in the opening song, he says "When I met her saw her I said she's gorgeous and I fell", implying that he fell in love for Belle at first sight. The Marvel Comics serial likewise strongly implied that he had feelings for Belle since they were children. Gaston is also adulterous (at least in the musical), as he states to Claudia and her sisters that his "rendezvouses" with the girls will continue after he marries Belle, which makes it clear that he does not know or care that marriage is a one-woman commitment or that is it supposed to be based on love and affection rather than ownership of property.

Gaston is incredibly arrogant and is convinced that he is powerful enough to defeat the Beast by himself. He even taunts the Beast, wanting him to fight back as he wants to prove that he can kill him in a fair fight. However his arrogance makes him underestimate his opponent and once he realizes his life is on the line, his façade disappears and will beg for his life when overwhelmed. Despite this, he was not arrogant enough to believe there was no risk to being killed by the Beast, as he freely admits that fighting the Beast does have the likelihood that he or the other villagers might very likely die during the Mob Song. Gaston is not above using underhanded tactics, which had earlier been implied with LeFou's claim about Gaston being "slick" as well as Gaston's admission about being good at "taking cheap shots," and confirmed when he shows himself to literally be a backstabber in his final moments. Showing that he also cheats at things and breaks his promises.

Gaston is extremely shallow, only loving Belle because of her physical beauty and assuming that the Beast is a monster based only on his physical appearance. Gaston not only sees the Beast as a monster, but also a rival for Belle's attention. Even when Belle points out that Gaston himself is the real monster, he dismisses her claim, thinking that she is "as crazy as the old man".

He is also extremely petty and unfair because he does not want any other man to be with Belle, or for her to like him in any way at all. Apparently, he wants women all for himself, viewing them as property rather than as people.

At the start of the film and musical play, Gaston did not seem truly evil, rather he was simply conceited, male-chauvinistic, boorish and rude than a true villain, but as time goes on his pride and obsession with Belle becomes so intense that it turns him into a twisted, sadistic and murderous monster. His speech to get the mob to kill the Beast in order to protect the village is nothing more than a ploy to get them to help him infiltrate the castle. Gaston does not care about the village very much, even if he genuinely does believe that the Beast is a threat. All he wants is to kill his rival so he can have Belle as his property. By the time of his death, Gaston feels that if he can't have Belle, nobody can. In an earlier version of the story, he was even going to commit suicide after killing the Beast as he knew that no matter what he did, Belle would never love him.

In the Marvel Comics serial, his personality was largely the same as in the movie, albeit somewhat toned down. However, he ended up not acknowledging that the Bimbettes were in love with him other than in general terms, not taking the hint that they wanted him to return the love, which resulted in many of his plans being foiled. Despite it taking place after making plans with the Asylum Warden to falsely incarcerate Belle as well as forcing LeFou to remain on lookout for either Belle or Maurice's return, he seemed to come up, either by himself or with LeFou's input, with various plans to impress and get Belle to marry him, such as a wife auction, killing a bear, and going to the bookstore, implying that he may have put aside that plan temporarily. In addition, one of the plans had Gaston deciding against killing the bear immediately due to it hibernating, implying he was capable of honor, although mostly because he wanted to impress Belle. In addition, in the same issue, he also attempted to fight the bear head on when it was prematurely awoken by the Bimbettes (in a plan to stop Gaston from marrying Belle), although he got shoved out effortlessly.

Although Gaston was fully aware of his popularity with the women in the village, his actual interactions with the village females besides Belle varied between sources. In the film and comics, he largely ignored all of the females in favor of Belle, even specifically refusing all of the girls who sought to marry him as soon as he was informed by LeFou that Belle was among the people at a wife auction and then reacting with anger that "Belle" was actually one of the triplets, Laura, in disguise in the case of the third issue of the Marvel Comics. It seems he only wants Belle, despite the fact every other girl loves him. In the musical, he was implied to have had "rendezvouses" with several of the women (specifically the Silly Girls), and has insinuated his intention of continuing them after he married Belle, again showing that he views marriage as a minor matter and he does not care about loyalty and commitment to one wife only.

Disney.com Description

 * An egotistical hunter who vies for Belle's hand in marriage and is determined not to let anyone else win her heart, even if it means killing her true love.

My Disney Experience

 * The handsome hunter Gaston is often admiring himself, flexing his "biceps to spare" and trying to woo Belle.

Abilities
Gaston is shown to possess a tremendous amount of physical strength, evidenced by his effortlessly lifting up a bench with three females (the Bimbettes) on it, as well as holding it up with only one hand. He later effortlessly rips off an ornament from the castle to use as a makeshift club during his battle with the Beast. He is also able to fire his blunderbuss with pinpoint accuracy, noted by LeFou proclaiming, "Wow! You didn't miss a shot, Gaston!" In addition, he has proved that he is a skilled archer during the climax at the caste. He is also shown to be skilled at stealth attacks, as implied in the song "Gaston" with the lyrics: "No one's slick as Gaston," and confirmed when he manages to stab the Beast in the back while the latter was distracted with joy that Belle returned even though he had to climb up several areas to reach him.

Beauty and the Beast
Gaston is the local hero of a small French village at an unknown point in French history (presumably the mid-to-late 18th century). He owns a large tavern where he and the villagers drink and talk. Inside, there is a large portrait of him along with "trophies" from his hunt consisting mostly of animal antlers. He also says he eats five dozen eggs every morning to help make him "roughly the size of a barge" (even though he earlier mentions to Belle that he would have his latest kills roast over the fire).

He starts off in the film shooting down a waterfowl headed south with perfect accuracy (implying that he had just returned from a hunting trip) and declaring his intent to marry Belle after acknowledging from LeFou his popularity with the females in the village. He then started pursuing Belle throughout the village as she returns home after buying a book from the local bookstore. Their meeting starts off well, but Gaston's remarks about women reading and thinking drive Belle away from him, and she goes home, leaving him disappointed. In addition, Gaston, after LeFou, learning Belle was going to aid her father, mocked her father, scolded LeFou for mocking Maurice (although it was implied that he mostly did that in an attempt to impress Belle rather than out of any genuine concern for Maurice). The next day, however, Gaston organizes a wedding outside Belle's cottage in an attempt to "surprise" her, complete with various decorations, a priest, and a wedding cake. He forces his way into the cottage and attempts to strong-arm her into marrying him, again making sexist remarks about women and housewifery (he even envisions the home they would live in as a "rustic" hunting lodge, with his latest kill roasting over the fire and Belle massaging his feet while their children—six or seven boys—play on the floor with their dogs). While he attempts to corner Belle, her using her wiles to keep him at bay, she manages to open the door that he has pinned her against. This causes him to lose his balance and fly headfirst into a large mud puddle (complete with cat-tail plants) in front of Belle's cottage, where we find out that a pig (Pierre) is there too. Furious and humiliated, Gaston storms off but not before vowing to make Belle his wife regardless of her refusals and throwing LeFou into the mud to boot.

Later, during a snowstorm, the villagers in the tavern, along with LeFou, sing a song about Gaston's greatness to cheer him up after being rejected by Belle. Maurice suddenly interrupts and warns the villagers about a monstrous beast who has locked up Belle as a prisoner in the tower of his castle. Thinking he is talking nonsense, the villagers throw him out of the tavern, but Gaston realizes that he can use Maurice's outrageous claim to his advantage. In a surprising display of animalistic cunning, he bribes the owner of the local asylum, Monsieur D'Arque, to threaten to throw Maurice into the asylum in order to pressure Belle into marrying him. While D'Arque realizes that even Maurice's nonsense about a beast and his odd inventions do not make him dangerous, he is willing to accept the bribe, mostly because he liked the despicability of the plot. Considering the management of asylums of the 18th century (the time that the film takes place), this is an extremely harsh threat. However, just before Gaston and LeFou barge into Belle and Maurice's cottage, Maurice left for the castle on his own. LeFou is ordered to stay there and wait for their return.

When Belle and Maurice eventually return to the cottage, LeFou immediately informs Gaston, and he sets his plan into motion. With the villagers gathered outside the house, D'Arque has his men drag Maurice towards their carriage, while Gaston makes Belle his offer - he will clear up the "misunderstanding" if she marries him. Horrified and disgusted, Belle refuses, and Gaston allows Maurice to be dragged away. Belle, however, manages to prove her father's apparently insane claims about a beast inhabiting a huge castle in the woods to be true by using a magic mirror that the Beast had given her. Gaston grows even more frustrated after his plan fails and shocked that Maurice was indeed telling the truth but becomes increasingly jealous when Belle begins referring to the Beast as "kind and gentle," realizing that she prefers a "monster" over himself. When he refers to the Beast with this insult, Belle angrily retorts back that he is the real monster, which makes him snap.

In his jealousy and pride, Gaston snatches the mirror from Belle and successfully convinces the villagers that the Beast is a threat to the village and therefore must be brought down immediately. Locking Belle and Maurice in the basement to keep them from warning the Beast, Gaston leads a lynch mob to attack the Beast's castle and leave no one alive. Gaston bypasses the ensuing battle between the rioters and castle servants and confronts the Beast alone. He fires an arrow into him, tosses him out of a window onto a lower section of the roof and taunts him. When the Beast doesn't respond, having lost his will to live since Belle's departure (to rescue her lost father, who was searching for her), Gaston uses a makeshift club to try kill the Beast. The Beast, however, regains his strength when he sees Belle return (she had escaped from the basement) and viciously fights back.

Though roughly even with his adversary, Gaston soon learns that he cannot rely on brute strength alone to kill the Beast, and instead begins taunting him in order to infuriate him enough to let his guard down, pushing the final button by claiming that Belle can never love a monster. The plan works but immediately backfires: the Beast lunges forth, overcome by animalistic urges and emotion, snapping viciously at him, and then holds the terrified hunter at his mercy by holding him above a chasm by the throat. With his life at stake, Gaston abandons his pride and pathetically begs for his life, and the Beast accepts, ordering Gaston to leave immediately and never return. In spite of this, when Gaston sees the Beast embracing Belle, his great hatred and jealousy arises again, which leads to his ultimate downfall. Determined to kill his rival once and for all, Gaston stabs the Beast in the back with a knife while dangling precariously from the balcony. The Beast swings his arm backwards at him in pain, causing Gaston to lose his balance and plunge into the deep chasm, to his death.

Despite laying a fatal stab on the Beast, Gaston would die alone that night; just as the Beast nearly succumbed to his own wounds, Belle confessed her love for him just before the last petal of the enchanted rose that kept him bound to his beast form fell, breaking the spell and healing the Beast's injuries.

House of Mouse
Despite his death in the movie, Gaston gained a recurring role on House of Mouse as a guest character, once again voiced by Richard White. His most notable appearance, in the episode "Daisy's Debut," had a running gag in which he frequently injected himself into other people's conversations to say that "no one [verbs] like Gaston!" This gag would later go through the entire series and would become a memorable catchphrase for Gaston. Notable examples of this is when Daisy compliments Ariel's singing voice. He walks by and says, "No one sings like Gaston!" Another one is when Timon and Pumbaa are making a face in a spoon. Gaston leans over and says, "No one makes faces in spoons like Gaston!" with an annoyed Timon answering back, "Actually, no one asked for the opinion of Gaston!"

Gaston was one of the many villains to join the takeover in Mickey's House of Villains.

Sing Me a Story with Belle
Gaston made sporadic appearances in Sing Me a Story with Belle, mostly acting as a comedic foil to Belle. Once again, he is trying to convince Belle to marry him.

Once Upon a Time
Gaston is featured in the ABC series in a very minor role played by Sage Brocklebank. Here, he was engaged to Belle through an arranged marriage, and as in the film, she did not love him because she found him "shallow." Unlike his Disney counterpart he appears to be more noble and focused, as shown when he expressed concern for Belle's agreement to go with Rumpelstiltskin and when she refused his marriage proposal. He attempted to reclaim her from Rumpelstiltskin regardless, but was transformed into a rose and given as a gift to Belle. Gaston hasn't made an appearance in the series since.

Comics
Gaston appeared in various side panels of the comics produced by Marvel Comics in 1994 to 1995, three to four years after the release of the film. In the first issue, Gaston apparently noticed Belle's disappearance, and was looking for her. The Bimbettes were nearby and decided to sway him away from Belle by spraying a "love potion" (strongly implied to actually a strong perfume) in their direction. However, Gaston alongside LeFou were forced to flee after a skunk ended up emitting an odor in anger of potential competition. Later, during a hunting trip with LeFou, Gaston attempted to shoot a rabbit, although he accidentally caused it to flee, shoving LeFou in irritation, also unknowingly placing LeFou into a net trap set by the Bimbettes that was meant for Gaston. In Issue 2, Gaston decided to announce a wife auction in the hopes that Belle would be lured over. During this time, he also shows himself off, causing the Bimbettes to faint. Later on, the maidens proceeded to rush to Gaston. In Issue 3 "Has Gaston Finally Won Belle's Hand at Last?", he is holding an auction for his perfect wife. Naturally, he is looking for Belle, and she seemingly comes to him having forgone reading and intelligence for being Gaston's "little wife". It is actually Laurette, one of the Bimbettes in a clever disguise. He eventually ranted about being publicly humiliated, although he eventually decided that Belle may not have gotten the message and forgave the insult, although not without determining how to get Belle to marry him.

In issue 4, Gaston, after doing 783 liftups (ironically with a stack of books) as the Bimbettes watched, ended up deciding to take a mountain hike in the hopes this would actually impress Belle (which might have impressed her had she been there as the Bimbettes were extra determined to stop him because they feared that actually would impress Belle), and even managed to restrain a hibernating bear so he could demonstrate to Belle that he killed it (he initially planned to kill it then and there until LeFou reminded Gaston that bears hibernate during the winter). However, this plan ended up foiled by the Bimbettes, who tricked the Bear into thinking it was springtime. Gaston tried to fight the bear (mostly to show off), although he ended up thrown out of the cave by the Bear, and decided with LeFou that it was probably easier to just give Belle a smaller bear.

Although he does not appear in Issue 5 of the main serial, he does appear in Belle's flashback to her time in the village, although his reason for Belle not wanting to read books was tweaked a bit to imply that he was attempting to flirt with her in a poorly-done manner. In Issue 7, Gaston became irritated that Belle hasn't even appeared at all, and eventually decided to simply stake her out at the bookstore via the bookshop owner, even having LeFou keep watch at the bookstore in case Belle shows up. However, the Bimbettes thwarted this plan by interacting with LeFou, hoping to make Gaston jealous. Gaston eventually attacked LeFou after a heaping of eggs at the tavern, although only because LeFou was distracted from his duty, to the Bimbettes' chagrin.

Gaston only appears at the end of Belle's flashback in Issue 8, where Gaston welcomes Belle and Maurice back (Mainly Belle), who had gotten lost and barely avoided missing the fair and won first prize due to the Bimbettes sending them on the wrong direction in an attempt to ensure they don't return to the village. He also appears as a child in Issue 5 of Disney Comic Hits!, also made by Marvel Comics, alongside Belle and the Bimbettes, where he is standing on his sled during a snowy day in an obvious attempt at impressing her (with the Bimbettes trying to get his attention) before he and the Bimbettes ended up crashing into a tree. The narration also had Maurice telling Belle, when giving her a sled, that she can use it to "go sledding with your friends" when it cuts to this scene, which implies that Gaston and Belle may have been friends during childhood.

Kingdom Keepers
Gaston makes a small cameo in the fourth book of the saga. He is seen along with Prince John and the Horned King when Finn and Amanda see all the Overtakers together at Tom Sawyer Island.

Villain Files
Gaston also appears in the tongue-and-cheek book about Disney Villains called The Villain Files. According to the book, he had been vicious since he was a baby (and implied that the bearskin rug was actually created by someone other than Gaston, perhaps his father or grandfather) and met Belle while practicing archery. In addition, in the page depicting him as a baby, he was lying buck-naked on the bearskin rug, which acted as a pun on the phrase "bare on a bearskin rug," which is slang for a nude centerfold.

The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince
Gaston appeared in this book by Serena Valentino and given a slightly more sympathetic and tragic portrayal, where it was revealed that he was a former friend of the Prince who would become the Beast. He often hunted with him and hung around the tavern earning the gazes of young women. He was also indirectly responsible for the curse, as he informed the Prince that a woman he was betrothed to, Circe, was a farmer, resulting in the Prince coldly refusing her, as well as her and her sisters deciding to exact revenge by cursing the Prince and his staff. Eventually, Gaston ended up evicted from the castle by the Prince after strange episodes occurred that ruined an attempted betrothal with a princess of a nearby kingdom. Although Gaston did not turn into an object, he was nonetheless affected by the curse in the sense of forgetting his friendship with Adam. He later ended up attacking the castle, largely due to the manipulations of Circe's sisters who wanted the spell to remain unbroken, and was eventually manipulated into stabbing his former friend in the back after Beast spared him, resulting in his death.

Video Game Appearances
Like many other characters from the film, Gaston appears in several game titles, most revolving around the film such as Beauty and the Beast and Beauty and the Beast: A Board Game Adventure.

Beauty and the Beast: Roar of the Beast
In Roar of the Beast, Gaston has led an invasion on the Beast's castle, endangering the entire castle as well as Belle with the help of his angry mob and LeFou.

Belle's Quest
In Belle's Quest, Gaston plays out his role in the film to some degree, though at the start, he appears to be much more tame, even using his strength to assist Belle in a task. Nevertheless, he continues to pursue her in hopes of marrying her, as well as invade the Beast's castle at the conclusion of the game.

Disney Princess
Gaston appears as the villain of Belle's stage. Here, he plots to manipulate the villagers into believing the Beast's castle is evil and should be destroyed. To do so, he breaks into the dark castle and tries to capture Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts, hoping to use them as proof of the castle's dark magic. However, Belle is able to defeat him using her quick wits.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Gaston also does not appear in Kinect Disneyland Adventures, although he is mentioned by Belle explaining that he hasn't been to Disneyland yet, probably due to the fact that there were no antlers.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
Gaston was one of the Disney villains the evil witch Mizrabel had the ability to morph into. However, her Gaston disguise only appeared briefly and never again throughout the rest of the game.

Musical
Gaston's role and personality in the musical based on the film is pretty much the same—a pompous, sexist, egotistical, boorish, brutish, brainless and chauvinistic caveman who loves only himself. His ultimate goal is the same too—marry the prettiest girl in town and make her his "little wife" and his "property". Instead of ignoring the Bimbettes like in the film, he pays more attention to them (saying that their 'rendezvouses' will continue after his marriage to Belle, implying adultery) but still wants Belle as his wife, making them very upset (to the point of wailing and crying like infants). During the proposal scene (where there's no wedding party outside unlike the movie), Gaston gives Belle a miniature portrait of himself as a present. In addition to the song Gaston, the song Me is performed by him (in which he conceitedly proposes to Belle). The song is of interest because one verse implies that his feelings for Belle are more than for her looks (he even calls her 'pumpkin' as an endearing appellative), but he never says it outright to her. In addition, presumably to avoid any implications that the villagers were in the know regarding Gaston's plan to blackmail Maurice, he has all the patrons and staff, except LeFou, leave the tavern before conducting his reprise. The reprise itself was expanded to have Gaston and LeFou brag about Gaston's resourcefulness as well as Gaston fully admitting he doesn't have any remorse to resorting to something as dirty as blackmail to ensure Belle married him, as well as breaking the fourth wall somewhat by having them brag about Gaston being "entertaining" and capable of "keep[ing] up with these endless reprises." Like in the movie, he dies after falling off the roof of the Beast's castle, but not before fatally wounding him after arrogantly lying that Belle sent him to the castle to kill him.

Notable actors who have played the role on Broadway include Burke Moses (who originated the role on Broadway and in the original London production), Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, Cody Carlton, and Donny Osmond (singing voice of Li Shang in Mulan). Other actors include Steve Condie.

Walt Disney World
As of 2012, Gaston has become a common, and very popular, character within Walt Disney World Resort. He appears in the live stage show Beauty and the Beast: Live! at Disney's Hollywood Studios. During Halloween, he is a part of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom.

He is also seen walking around in the parks, such as walking down the International Gateway. Depending on which Cast Member is portraying him in the parks, his sexism towards women and his opinion on reading and thinking varies depending on who plays him, but he is very popular with female guests and is much nicer to young girls, as he even gives them hugs.

Gaston has his own restaurant, Gaston's Tavern, in the Beauty and the Beast area of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. He can now be found there for meet-and-greets daily, but he is the only character present there (though LeFou is mentioned). Before then, his park appearances were mostly confined to parades, shows and special events.

Tokyo Disneyland
Gaston appears in Tokyo Disneyland in parades.

Disneyland Paris
At Disneyland Paris, Gaston can be found for meet-and-greets in Fantasyland. He also appeats in several shows, specifically during Halloween time.

Quotes

 * "How can you read this? There's no pictures."
 * "Here, picture this: A rustic hunting lodge, my latest kill roasting on the fire, and my little wife massaging my feet, while the little ones play on the floor with the dogs." (it is to note that he only describes this in the movie and musical play, it is never envisioned).
 * "That girl has tangled with the wrong man!"
 * "No one says 'NO' to Gaston!"
 * (Deleted) "Time to die!"
 * (complains on his chair) "Dismissed! Rejected! Publicly humiliated! Why, it's more than I can bare!"
 * "As a specimen, yes I'm intimidating!"
 * "And every last inch of me is covered with hair."
 * (sings) "When I was a lad, I ate 4 dozen eggs every morning to help me get large. And now that I'm grown, I eat 5 dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a barge!"
 * "No one has great ideas like Gaston!"
 * "No one sings like Gaston!"
 * "No one eats candied apples like Gaston!"
 * "Hmm I might be able to clear up this little misunderstanding if, if you marry me."
 * "One little word, Belle, that's all it takes."
 * (gets rejected by Belle) "Have it your way!"
 * "If I didn't know better I'd think you had feelings for this monster."
 * "I say we rid the village of this beast! Who's with me!?"
 * "If you're not with us you're against us, bring the old man."
 * "Take whatever booty you can find. But remember the Beast is mine!"
 * (bullies the Beast) "What's the matter, Beast? Too 'kind and gentle' to fight back?"
 * (gets his neck wrung toughly by the Beast) "Let me go! Let me go! Please don't hurt me. I'll do anything. Anything!"
 * "Well, it looks like Gaston hasn't visited here yet.  I don't see any antlers at all." (Belle about Gaston in "Kinect Disneyland Adventures")
 * "Come on out and fight!"
 * "It's over, Beast! Belle is MINE!"
 * "I've got my heart set on marrying Belle but she needs a little...persuasion."
 * "Everyone knows her father's a lunatic. He was in here tonight raving about a beast in a castle."
 * "The point is Belle would do anything to prevent him from getting locked up."

Trivia

 * In earlier versions of the script (for which concept art is revealed on the diamond edition of BatB) Gaston was a wealthy marquis (French nobleman), dressed in a powdered wig and blue coat. In the final version, he is a hunter, but it is implied in one scene that he is still wealthy, at least in regards to the other villagers.
 * On an interesting note, most of Gaston's actions were edited out of the final cut of the film: during his battle with the Beast, Gaston was originally intended to shout "Time to die!", but it was changed to "Belle is MINE!" (but his lips still mouth "Time to die!") in order to edit violence and get the main point of his rage straight. Also, Gaston's death scene originally had him stabbing the Beast in the back and willingly falling to his death while laughing maniacally, as if satisfied that if he could not have Belle, then neither would the Beast. Though this was changed to Gaston accidentally losing his footing, it appears to explain why Gaston chose such a dangerous and risky position to wound the Beast despite knowing that it would not help him win Belle's heart.
 * Scar's original death scene in The Lion King was altered for similar reasons.
 * Despite his death, Gaston has recently been enjoying a considerable degree of fan popularity on the Internet, with the character himself becoming a minor internet meme. Recently, for example he has shown an obsession with Taco Bell, and has been the subject of Chuck Norris-style jokes.
 * Gaston became a lot more popular with his quote "No one (insert name of activity) like Gaston", which also became a somewhat popular internet meme.
 * Gaston's hobby of mocking Belle's books also became a lesser known internet meme as well. The most notable one is Gaston Reads (insert name of book), which features Gaston reading any random famous book/manga and mocks it.
 * Spike.com ranked him the #9 spot in their "The Top 10 Hollywood 'Villains' Who Got Totally Screwed" below Rambo villain Will Teasle.
 * Gaston has some similarities to Avenant, the character from the 1946 French film Beauty and the Beast, played by Jean Marais. Specifically, both characters were madly in love with the "beauty" character in the film, and also eventually conspired to put an end to the beast. A character named Avenant was originally intended to serve as the villain of a proposed sequel to the Disney film, as Gaston's younger brother, but the idea was scrapped. Unlike Avenant from the 1946 film, Gaston doesn't outright confess to Belle that he loves her, which leads to his demise.
 * Contrary to popular belief, Gaston himself was not actually based on Avenant, as Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter for the Disney film, refused to watch the Jean Cocteau version specifically because she didn't want to use it as the source material for the Disney movie.
 * Richard White stated in an interview that while he himself doesn't know whether Gaston survived, he does mention that the viewers never saw the body, implying that he might have survived. However, the 2002 DVD commentary confirmed his death, and mentioned that the skull and crossbones seen in his pupils as he falls, which were either speculated to be some sort of demonic subliminal message or that he had seen death himself, were intended to confirm his death.
 * Interestingly enough, Disney made absolutely certain to remove the skull and cross bones from Gaston's pupils as he fell to his death in the theatrical and VHS version, yet made no attempt to do so in the later releases on DVD and Blu-ray. Skull_eyes.jpg
 * The amount of arrows in Gaston's pouch often changes from three to two and sometimes even four.
 * On the 2011 Cartoon Voices Comic Con, Bill Farmer said that he had done Gaston, during Gaston's song in the bar. Bill did the sound of Gaston eating the eggs.
 * Notably, Gaston is the only main antagonist who did not appear in the Kingdom Hearts series despite his homeworld, Beast's Castle, appearing in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. As Beast is shown to have transformed back into Prince Adam during the credits of Kingdom Hearts II, it is possible that Gaston's fight against the Beast and subsequent death occurred while Sora, Donald, and Goofy were absent from the world.
 * Xaldin (An antagonist from Organization XIII and the nobody of Dilan) played the role as the antagonist of Beast's Castle in Kingdom Hearts II in substitute to Gaston (despite the fact that it isn't his home world). Although, his intentions were entirely different to Gaston's (being closer to that of Forte, in fact) as Xaldin used the Rose and the Beast's anger to create a Heartless and a Nobody of the Beast to serve Xaldin and only ever used Belle to further pursue his intentions of manipulating the prince by using Belle as bait.
 * In addition, despite his absence in Kingdom Hearts II, he was included in a fan-made version of Kingdom Hearts. In it, he attempts to kill The Beast with a dark arrow, but Sora managed to intervene. He also was largely without any speaking lines, suggesting that he was completely taken over by the Heartless similar to Clayton. In the end of the battle, he ends up cut in half from the waist and falling, similar to Darth Maul.
 * In the book Disney Villains: The Essential Guide, Gaston didn't even appear until the very last page, where's he actually shown complaining about why he didn't even appear in that book.
 * It is implied in the trailer that Gaston may have been aware of the Beast's curse, and had ulterior motives besides wanting Belle as his wife for attempting to kill the Beast, as the trailer described him as being "one man who wants to keep the spell alive," although it is unconfirmed whether this was the case in the film itself outside of Gaston being suspiciously subdued about Belle's exposure of the Beast's existence compared to the fearful gasps of the other villagers.
 * Gaston's proposal outfit, consisted of a red tailcoat trimmed with gold fabric, a waistcoat, breeches and even black boots, which implies that the events of the film occurred sometime in the late-17th to mid-18th century. However, Belle's cameo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (which took place in the mid-to-late-15th century) renders this date questionable. Glen Keane confirmed in the commentary for Beauty and the Beast that the film's setting was indeed intended to be the late 18th century.
 * At the tavern, besides the aforementioned antler and deer-related trophies, Gaston also had among his hunting trophies a Bald Eagle's head and a Water Buffalo's head, implying that he may have hunted abroad (as they were not native to his village, France, or even Europe, being instead native to North America and a small portion of Africa and Asia, respectively). This was further supported by his first appearance in the film, where some of the kills carried by LeFou included a Raccoon (although raccoons technically were present in France via the French-German border, they weren't part of France's ecosystem at the time until two pet Raccoons were released into the wild at Germany in the 1930's).
 * Gaston is the opposite of the Beast. While the Beast is an ugly monster based on his appearance, he is actually innocent and truly cared for Belle, and became a protagonist of his film; Gaston, on the other hand, while being superficially handsome on the outside and praised by the populace, is actually egotistical and male-chauvinistic, and only wanted to marry Belle based purely on her beauty, and eventually allowed his lust to make him a villain in the film. One of the filmmakers even described Gaston as having "the heart of a pig" due to his sloven behavior during his proposal to Belle.
 * In addition, after he fell into the mudpool during the failed proposal, a pig's head rose up before Gaston's head emerged, acting as a slight pun on "pig-headedness", alluding to arrogance.
 * This scene is referenced in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon fall into the mud and a pig rises up in Diamond Tiara's place.
 * Gaston has blue eyes, the same eye color as his rival. So far in Disney history this is the only time the villain has had any physical features (i.e. eye color, hair color, etc.) as a protagonist.
 * In the musical, Gaston mentioned women as being "He-Man's property." However, the first use of that term was in 1982, at least a few centuries after the plot setting of the story, for the protagonist in Masters of the Universe. However, the name of said protagonist is derived from a noun which means "a strong, virile or sexually active man", which is what Gaston thinks he is. The word "property" is this sense refers to the fact that upon marriage during this time period, women were believed to be owned by the husband just as he owned material possessions, however he could be using the word as his means of attempting to flirt and joke with her as well.
 * Additionally, before "Me" even begins, he mentions to the Silly Girls that their "rendezvouses" will continue after he marries Belle, suggesting that he would be unfaithful and that he is an adulterer. He is the first Disney villain to conspire to commit adultery, at least in a Disney musical.
 * Gaston gets a second song, "Me", which can be heard in the musical and in New Fantasyland. The song serves as a (rather conceited and sexist) marriage proposal to Belle, taking the place of the proposal scene in the movie where he has a wedding set up outside Belle's house without her prior knowledge.
 * The design for the main villain in Golden Films version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Claude Frollo, bears some resemblance to Gaston, with the only notable difference being that Frollo possessed a moustache typical of stereotypical Frenchmen.
 * Although concept materials, as listed above, give Gaston the surname of LeGume, the Bimbettes during the song of "Belle" refer to Gaston as "Monsieur Gaston," and Belle in the reprise twice sarcastically refers to herself as "Madame Gaston," suggesting that Gaston is his surname in the final version.
 * Despite the praise for Gaston in the eponymous song (specifically the lyrics "No one hits like Gaston, matches wits like Gaston"), the visuals show Gaston either having lost a game of Checkers or otherwise about to lose (due to him angrily swiping the board away).
 * Although no character like Gaston originated in the original tale, the name itself was originally used in the first known tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, the original author of the fairy tale, and was a reference to "Gaston Phoebus," full name "Gaston III de Foix-Béarn" and also known as "Comte de Foix." Similar to Gaston in the Disney version, Gaston Phoebus was also a renowned and expert hunter, and was even used as a book-reference to the book "The Art of Hunting."
 * Rupert Everett was a considered choice for the voice of Gaston, but was turned down because he didn't sound "arrogant enough." Everett eventually made sure to sound as arrogant as possible when voicing Prince Charming in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, who was coincidentally very similar to Gaston (although his motives are closer to Jafar).
 * According to the creators, Gaston's primary colors were red to symbolize evil to contrast with Belle and Beast's blue. Despite this, however, there were various characters who wore red in the movie without being evil, including Sultan, Claudia, and even Belle herself.
 * Ironically, in the film's original screenplay, Gaston actually was shown wearing blue.
 * In the Disney cruise line show Villains Tonight, Hades mentions Gaston and compares him to actor Charlie Sheen.
 * His original last name LeGume is a pun on his "pea-brained" insight and views of women.
 * In some book versions of the film, the entire fight with Gaston and Beast is omitted, and Belle simply managed to find him dying from wounds, which gave the implication that the mob succeeded in attacking the Beast and left without any casualties.

Comparisons with other Disney Villains

 * Gaston bears many similarities with Judge Claude Frollo, both having an obsessive infatuation for the female protagonist (Gaston-Belle, Frollo-Esmeralda), both being French, both wielding bladed weapons, red and black clothing, fought the deformed male protagonist on a high area, and falling to their deaths. Both also held a large amount of influence over their hometown (Gaston being the town hero, and Frollo being the Minister of Justice of Paris). Because of this, they were featured in many YouTube Poops as best friends, though their biggest appearance was in The Frollo Show. Incidentally, as noted above, the Golden Films' adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame modeled their version of Frollo after Gaston, and Tony Jay, who voiced Frollo, also voiced Monsieur D'Arque, the head of Les Maison Des Lunes. The only differences are that Gaston had no relation to the Beast outside of being jealous of Belle's affection to the latter, while Frollo was the adopted father of Quasimodo due to killing his parents and taking him in to soothe his soul at the command of the archdeacon, and Gaston was loved in the village, while Frollo was feared and universally hated in Paris.
 * In addition, he was ranked 11th in a poll by UltimateDisney.com on the top 30 Disney villains of all time.
 * Gaston is the first male Disney Villain to appear in a Disney Princess film. The second is Jafar, the third is Governor Ratcliffe, the fourth is Shan Yu, the fifth is Doctor Facilier, and the sixth is Hans.
 * The horse that Gaston rides to Beast's Castle is actually the horse from The Headless Horseman, the main antagonist from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the second half of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
 * In the movie's continuity, Gaston is the first Disney character of the Disney Renaissance era to have negative attitudes and opinions towards females, the second is Chi-Fu from Mulan.
 * Gaston is the first villain to have an obsessive crush on the female lead, Belle. Although in Aladdin, Jafar was a bit affectionate with Jasmine in the scene where she kissed him. Claude Frollo was the second villain to have an obsessive crush on the female protagonist, Esmeralda.
 * Gaston is also similar to Ronno from Bambi. Both are part of a love triangle between the male and female protagonist, the main antagonist (Ronno, of the second film: Gaston of the first film), they are both in love with the female protagonist (Gaston, Belle, Ronno, Faline), both want to marry them for a different reason (Gaston, because of Belle's beauty and Faline for Bambi) but the female protagonist actually loves the male protagonist who is actually an animal (Belle loves The Beast and Faline loves Bambi) but both have a different defeat. Gaston falls off the beast's castle to his death and Ronno falls down a cliff and walks away.
 * Some people think he is the hunter who killed Bambi's mother, but this is unconfirmed.
 * Gaston also shares several similarities with Ratigan.
 * Both are the primary antagonist.
 * Both, of course, have huge egos.
 * Both live in European countries (Gaston, France; Ratigan, England).
 * Both have smaller incompetent sidekicks who serve as the secondary antagonist (Fidget for Ratigan; Lefou for Gaston).
 * Both drink alcoholic beverages. Ratigan drinks wine while Gaston drinks beer.
 * Both sing songs that praise themselves (Gaston: song of his name, Ratigan: World's Greatest Criminal Mind).
 * Similarly, both songs also have the sidekicks/minions (Gaston, villagers and tavern men; Ratigan, Bill the Lizard and Thugs being praiseworthy of them in the reprise, though unlike Gaston's allies, Ratigan's minions were shown to only do it out of fear during the reprise.
 * At one point both their villain songs are interrupted (Gaston's is interrupted as Maurice came into his tavern while Ratigan's is interrupted when Bartholomew accidentally called him a rat which annoyed him). Before each song resumes, those who interrupted them are thrown out of the villains' headquarters.
 * Both have blackmails involving harming a father and a daughter if they don't get what they want. Ironically, Ratigan threatened to harm Olivia Flaversham if her father didn't do his job, while Gaston threatened to hurt Maurice if his daughter didn't marry him.
 * Both have trapped the main characters (Gaston: Belle, Ratigan: Basil, Dr. David Q. Dawson and Olivia Flaversham) at one point before heading out to carry out their evil plan (Gaston: killing the Beast, Ratigan: overthrowing Queen Mousetoria).
 * Both sing a second song (Gaston: The Mob Song, Ratigan, Goodbye, So Soon, although the latter wasn't sung by Ratigan directly, as it was played on a record player).
 * Both fight the protagonists somewhere high during a storm. (Basil on Big Ben, Beast on his castle)
 * In their final moments, they believe they have successfully killed the hero, but their triumphs are cut short, and they fall to their deaths and are not seen again, though Gaston never knew of his complete failure, only knowing he had managed to wound the Beast.
 * Gaston also shares similarities to Governor Ratcliffe
 * Both are Disney Princess Villains
 * Both are villains who weren't revealed to be bad at first, though unlike Gaston, who retained his popularity until his death, Ratcliffe was grown to be hated by most of his men throughout the film, especially regarding their failure to find gold and his not doing any work.
 * Both are of European origin (Gaston is French, while Governor Ratcliffe is British)
 * Both have baritone voices.
 * Both bully their immediate inferiors who act as sycophants (Gaston to LeFou, and Ratcliffe to Wiggins). Unlike LeFou and Gaston however, Wiggins turns against Ratcliffe by the end of the film, although with much sorrow.
 * Both appear in front of princess (Belle and Pocahontas) to antagonize them after princesses sang (Belle (Song) and What a Day in London). The main difference being that Gaston did have some romantic feelings for Belle, while Ratcliffe hated Pocahontas.
 * Both tied their own hair
 * Both fought a Disney Prince (Beast and John Smith) during the storm, suddenly they said "don't hurt me" when Disney princes almost attack them.
 * Coincidentally, they were also responsible for harming the Disney Prince in the climax of their debut films, although the primary difference is that Gaston deliberately tried to harm Beast, while Ratcliffe's harming John Smith was an accident (as he had actually been aiming for Chief Powhatan, only for John to take the bullet).
 * Both are skilled with firearms.
 * Both came up with dastardly plans when it became apparent they weren't going to get what they were hoping for and by accident (Gaston planned to blackmail Belle regarding Maurice being put into the asylum unless she married him after Belle rejected and humiliated him as well as Maurice claiming a Beast took Belle hostage; Ratcliffe became despondent when it became apparent that the place they settled was devoid of even a spec of gold, only to become inspired when his manservant played a prank about an arrow lodged into his head and wondered if the Native Americans were hiding the gold).
 * Ratcliffe was actually planned to be voiced by Richard White, but they decided to have David Ogden Stiers voice him instead because they feared that people would view him as being too similar to Gaston.
 * Gaston shares a few similarities with Hans from Frozen.
 * Both want to marry the beautiful protagonist of their films and don't love them for who they are (the main difference being their motives: Gaston wanted to marry Belle due to her beauty, while Hans simply wanted to use Anna to gain the throne, as well as kill her afterwards).
 * Both are very handsome on the outside, yet sinister on the inside.
 * Both try to kill someone close to the protagonist, whom the crowds are scared of and thought of as monsters (Beast for Gaston, Elsa for Hans).
 * Both led a mob to the "monster" for the "safety" of the citizens.
 * Both have locked up the protagonist before heading out to kill that "monster" (In the case of Hans, it was to quicken Anna's demise as a means to sell the act).
 * Both were shown to be highly arrogant at least one point in their films.
 * Both are the youngest Disney villains so far, as Gaston is 25 and Hans is around 23.
 * Unlike Hans, Gaston ends up exposing enough details of his plan to a public crowd to ordinarily prove detrimental to said plans. Also, unlike Gaston, Hans actually survives his defeat. Also, unlike Gaston, Hans never referred to Anna and Elsa as his property.
 * Also unlike Gaston, the main female protagonist does actually fall for Hans initially.
 * Coincidentally, both were also of noble birth at some point during development (Hans was a prince in the final film, while Gaston was initially intended to be a Marquess in the original 1989 script).