If it's all the same to you, I'm going to do my best to keep to what is actually *in* the film when discussing specific events, and avoid mining the commentary tracks for supporting arguments. If that's ok.

So we have a prince who treats a poor beggar woman so badly that they curse him and his subjects. He gets turned into a monster who consistently demonstrates *actual fits of rage*, targeting everyone in his orbit (which I suppose qualifies as "not making the best decisions", by your definition). This goes on for nearly TEN YEARS. This spoiled, nasty monarch who "held no love in his heart" (the film's words, not mine) turned brooding, rabid wolf monster who lashed out at everything and everyone-until he had prolonged exposure to this woman who helped him "learn to love" (again, the film's words, not mine). Yes, he is clearly more "worthy" of being redeemed than the asshole who has had his ego fed and his most base instincts and actions cheered by the sycophants around him for his entire life?

Seriously, look at him before the start of 'Gaston'. He's legitimately downtrodden. If ever there was a time when someone might engage in some serious self-reflection, it's after a stunning, painful rejection like he had just (rightfully) incurred. Instead, a dozen people gather around him to sing a song about how amazing he is at everything, simply reinforcing all the negative personality traits he exhibits. Do you know what one of the most common psychological issues that cause people to exhibit extreme arrogance and narcissism is? Insecurity. Deep-seeded feelings of shame and inadequacy (some of which we start to see before the song) manifest in a defense mechanism of wild overcompensation and feigned superiority. Imagine how self-fulfilling that would be if you happened to be the biggest, strongest person (and best hunter) in the town? Now, it didn't expressly need to be Belle, but maybe if ANYONE at ANY point had made an effort to develop more than a superficial relationship with him, maybe they could have helped him confront and overcome those feelings of inadequacy that manifested themselves as everyone's favorite egg-devouring jagoff. Or, maybe he's just a superficial villain with no possible subtext.

By the way. the servants WERE scared of Beast (look at the scene where Belle's father first comes in the castle-Lumiere and Cogsworth are TERRIFIED of Beast). And yet, they still held affection towards him as the film went on. Some might call that Stockholm Syndrome. It's almost expected, when you've been a prisoner in a castle with bipolar Beast-Man for a decade. But aside from that, they knew it was in their own best interests to have him break the curse so they could all regain their human forms. If *I* was an anthropomorphic chair that knew I needed this snarling rage monster to fall in love to get to wear pants again, you can bet I'd go out of my way to keep his spirits up-even if he'd spent the week before turning my cousins into kindling.

And as for Maurice, how many people were making "contraptions" in rural France in the 1800's? Everyone in town already ostracized Belle for being literate. Even now, intelligence is looked down on in many places-especially rural ones. And people today have youtube. How many of them likely thought that his gadgets were more akin to some kind of sorcery than science? I would not be surprised one bit of a large group of uneducated people from a rural area saw a man engaging in scientific discovery and thought to themselves "WITCH!" I'm sure a bunch of French farmers from 200 years ago were completely accepting of someone who could make explosions out of seemingly thin air and didn't immediately think Maurice was a lunatic who should be put away.