Most Fatherly figures in the Grimm stories are angry or reluctant--like Hans My Hedgehog, The Seven Ravens, 12 Brothers. They are ashamed or unsatisfied with their offspring and either drive their children away or engage in magical powers that place curses on their children. It is interesting to notice the role of the Father in the Grimm's version of Beauty and the Beast and how inconsistent he is with other patriarchal figures in these tales. The father is not the domineering man of the house type character that we normally see but instead is a frightened and feeble and helpless person. He is not only at the mercy of the Beast but also to his own daughter.
He relies upon her more than once in this story and we not only see the common Grimm motif of the virtuous selfless girl rewarded in the end, but a theme of a father's dependence upon his daughter's familial devotion. I believe that the father's helplessness is a useful detail in this story because it acts not only as a plot device and explanation for the daughter's "imprisonment" at the castle, but it also serves as a striking contrast in the portrayals of masculinity between the father and the beast.