Monsieur D'Arque

"So, you want me to throw her father into the asylum unless she agrees to marry you? Oh, that is despicable. (Evil laugh) I LOVE IT!!!"

- Monsieur D'Arque Monsieur D'Arque is the tertiary antagonist in the 1991 animated film, Beauty and the Beast.

Background
Although he does not have much screen time compared to the film's other villains, enough of Monsieur D'Arque is seen for people to judge him as a callous, self-centered man who will do anything for money. However, it's implied that he may be far more motivated by sadism than money, to the point that he even notes that Gaston's plan to blackmail Belle into marrying him is despicable, only to claim immediately afterwards with an evil laugh that he actually loves it, clutching a gold coin tightly in his fist. Also, when he arrives with his men and the lynch mob to take her father away to his establishment Les Maison des Lunes, he promises Belle with a wicked smile that they will "take good care" of Maurice, further implying that the patients there are subjected to forms of abuse, and D'Arque himself takes pleasure in watching it.

Despite being a minor villain, it is rather interesting to note that D'Arque personality and Tony Jay's performance as the character is what led Disney to cast Jay as Judge Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Coincidentally, Tony Jay also portrayed one of the antagonists in the live action TV series Beauty and the Beast, made before the Disney animated feature.

Beauty and the Beast
When Belle turns down Gaston's marriage proposal, Gaston becomes angry but when Belle's father Maurice comes into the tavern telling everyone that Belle has been locked in the dungeon by the Beast and everyone starts laughing thinking that Maurice is crazy, Gaston comes up with a plan to make Belle his wife. Later that night, after everyone else goes home, Gaston and LeFou summon Monsieur D'Arque, who runs the local madhouse Les Maison des Lunes (or "Asylum for Loons") and Gaston pays him to listen to his plan upon learning he did not usually leave the asylum at night. He then tells him that Maurice had earlier ranted about a Beast in a castle holding Belle in a dungeon, and mentioned that Belle needed "persuasion." D'Arque was uncertain of what Gaston was getting at, citing that Maurice, though eccentric, was harmless, with Gaston (and LeFou), clarifying that he means Belle would even resort to marrying Gaston if it meant preventing Maurice from being locked up in the madhouse (which is blackmail). After fully understanding what Gaston was trying to convey, he notes with feigned disgust that the plot was despicable, only to chuckle and declare he likes the idea. However, when they go to Belle's cottage neither Belle nor Maurice are there. Gaston has LeFou stay there on guard until Belle and Maurice return.

When Belle and Maurice do come home, LeFou rushes to get Gaston, D'Arque, and their lynch mob. D'Arque himself appears at Belle's doorstep and formally says he has come to "collect" Maurice, before snidely promising her that they will "take good care of him", showing her the asylum's carriage. D'Arque has his men carry Maurice to the carriage despite Belle's protests. Gaston promises to have Maurice released if Belle will marry him, but Belle turns down Gaston's proposal again and manages to prove that her father is sane by showing the crowd the Beast by using the Magic Mirror the latter had loaned to her. D'Arque sped away in his carriage. He is not seen after this, and since he was not among the rioters attacking the Beast's castle, it is likely that he and his men merely went back to Les Maison, knowing that he now had no case against Maurice, whose sanity had effectively been proven.

Disney on Ice
In the Disney on Ice version of Beauty and the Beast, Monseiur D'Arque enters the tavern (and the story) earlier than in the film, coming in just as Maurice is telling Gaston and the villagers about his encounter with the Beast. He is bribed by Gaston into locking Maurice up in the asylum wagon (prior to carting him off later to Les Maisons des Lunes if Belle refuses to marry Gaston), but disappears after that.

Musical
In the stage musical version, D'Arque's scene with Gaston and Lefou in the tavern is turned into a musical trio, "Maison Des Lunes". He also joins Gaston and the villagers in their attack on the castle, mainly out of greed, as indicated in his gleeful reaction to Gaston's line, "Take whatever booty you can find..." During the battle, he is seen getting a well deserved trouncing from some of the Objects.

In a touring production of the musical, the trio "Les Maisons des Lunes" was replaced by spoken dialogue, in which D'Arque, who is depicted as more of a humorous character, pretends to mistake Gaston and Lefou as potential patients when he meets them, giving a cuttingly accurate analysis of them both.

Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Monsieur D'Arque appears in the 2017 live-action remake, played by Adrian Schiller. However, unlike in the animated film, he plays a smaller role and it's left in question to believe whether D'Arque is aware of Gaston's plan to marry Belle or not, as he hasn't been shown to accept a bribe from Gaston to lock up Maurice.

D'Arque briefly appeared in the climax as he was taking Maurice to the asylum under Gaston's orders. As it turns out, Gaston previously left Maurice to die in the woods after the latter refuses to let him marry Belle, and Maurice has returned after being rescued by the local beggar woman Agathe before accusing Gaston for attempted murder. To that end, Gaston plans to have Maurice detained in the asylum for his 'silly' cravings about the Beast in order to cover his crime and blackmail Belle into marrying him. Fortunately, an arriving Belle foils this by using the Magic Mirror to prove the Beast's existence, which made D'Arque and the villagers realize that Maurice was telling the truth.

Despite this turn of events, a furious Gaston (being jealous of Belle's relationship with the Beast and not wanting to be exposed of his crime) steals the magic mirror and convinces the townsfolk that the Beast is a threat to the village that must be put down. As Gaston rallies the villagers to attack the Beast's castle, he angrily orders D'Arque to lock up both Belle and Maurice in the carriage and watch the two on guard until he and the villagers return after slaying the Beast. However, D'Arque is forced to move back from the carriage as the villagers march off to raid the Beast's castle, which buys Maurice enough time to release himself and Belle from the carriage by unlocking the padlock with Belle's hair pin.

As D'Arque returns to the carriage, he is stunned to find it empty with Maurice standing next to it. Maurice then stalls D'Arque by returning his padlock to him, which allowed Belle to escape on horseback, much to D'Arque's shock and confusion. Maurice then asks D'Arque if he has any children, but D'Arque remains speechless as he watches Belle running off to the Beast's castle. It is unknown what happened to him afterwards.

As Old as Time (A Twisted Tale)
This novel expands greatly on D'Arque's background. Flashbacks reveal that his first name is Frederique, and that he was close friends with Maurice and Alaric Potts- Mrs. Potts' husband and the stable-master of the Prince's castle- when he was younger. However, Frederique already harboured a subtle distrust of magical beings despite the fact that he possessed a minor magical ability himself in the form of the ability to see brief glimpses of the future, prompting him to agree with the king and queen's plans to drive magic out. When he learns that Alaric was smuggling out suspected magical beings, he stabbed his old friend in the chest and buried him in the stables, and captures the Enchantress- revealed to be Belle's mother Rosalind- after she casts the curse. In the final confrontation in the asylum, it is revealed that he has successfully 'repressed' the magic in several of his patients via brutal treatments, and has even partially lobotomized himself to remove his own abilities. He is killed when Gaston shoots him in the back during a confrontation with the villagers, who were told of his actions by the Beast and are disgusted that he would lock so many people away when any possible magic they possessed was relatively harmless.

Trivia

 * His name means literally "of arches" in French, which might be a reference to his eyebrows and angular features. It could also be a play on the English word "dark" in reference to his character.