Why use beforeEach() when writing javascript tests?

I'm learning how to write tests for my code and my instructor explained to put the component being rendered in a beforeEach() function like this...

describe('CommentBox', () => {
  let component;

  beforeEach(() => {
    component = renderComponent(CommentBox);
  });

  it('has the correct class', () => {
    expect(component).to.have.class('comment-box');
  });

  it('has a text area', () => {
    expect(component.find('textarea')).to.exist;
  });

  it('has a button', () => {
    expect(component.find('button')).to.exist;
  });
});

Why use beforeEach(). Why not just declare the component variable at the top of the describe function like so...

describe('CommentBox', () => {
  const component = renderComponent(CommentBox);


  it('has the correct class', () => {
    expect(component).to.have.class('comment-box');
  });

  it('has a text area', () => {
    expect(component.find('textarea')).to.exist;
  });

  it('has a button', () => {
    expect(component.find('button')).to.exist;
  });
});

This would seem to save a couple extra lines of code, and one less function you would have to write?