The concept of fairy tales has existed for centuries. All from youth to the elderly know the classical fairy tale archetype as read to them by their parents. Recently, these stories have opened many avenues to interpretation and critical analysis. For example, there has been much debate regarding the way women are portrayed as unequal to their male counterparts. This idea can be seen through many feminism ideologies. In fact there are major fairy tale analyses that "have developed into a coherent discipline...influenced by feminism" (Hasse xiii). There Was Once by Margaret Atwood is a poem that aims to point out the degrading female attributes that have been researched and discovered. This piece of literature captures the very prominent feminism movement of the 1970s. This movement was known to promote equality among men and women and question gender roles that had been unchanged for centuries. The poem critically analyzes the role of the female in cliched fairy tale stories, and aims to rewrite the fairytale. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood by Charles Perault is a French adaptation of the recognized Sleeping Beauty. It is a classic fairy tale that makes the women in the story appear inferior to men. While There Was Once and The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood differentiate based on their historical context , both seek to provide life lessons and morals that have impacted its readers.  

The historical context of The Beauty in the Wood and There Was Once heavily affects the portrayal of female characters within each fairy tale. Perault's The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood was written during 17th century, a time where women weren't highly regarded, due to their gender. This attitude didn't leave much room for females to achieve success. This concept can be seen throughout the story. For example, at the Princess's celebration for her birth, she was presented with presents that would make her successful. However, these presents only consisted of beauty and meager skills such as dancing and music playing, with no mention of skills such as wit or courage weren't at all. The Princess's ultimate success would be to use her mediocre skills to achieve the greatest success of the time- to find a husband and marry. (Perrault 297). On the contrary, There Was Once is a fairy tale that promotes female successes aside from beauty and marriage. The premise of the story is heavily influenced by the historical context. There Was Once was written at a time when many researchers questioned the portrayal of female characters within fairy tales. These "questions about...the male-dominated fairy tale tradition would lead to the discovery and recovery of alternative fairy tale narratives" such as There Was Once (Hasse 2). The speaker in Atwood's poem explains she "is so tired of negative female images" and sought to change it to accurately portray women in a positive light (Atwood 306). Overall, the two fairy tales portray women based on the attitudes towards women during each time period. 

The Beauty in the Wood and There Was Once are both based on influences of Feminism. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood takes on an anti-feminsim approach as it leaves very room for women to successfully thrive independently, especially without male assistance. For example, the Princess is made to appear to be very dependent in that she is unable to save herself from her inevitable hundred year sleep and only a "king's son shall come and awake her" (Perrault 297). The other female character within the story is not portrayed in a positive light. The prince's mother, known as The Queen, is unable to control her emotions and possesses a very instinctive behavior when it comes to getting what she wants, much like a young immature child. When The Queen is about to cook her grandchildren and the Princess, it is her son's presence that makes her terminate the plan and "threw herself head foremost into the tub" (Perrault 302). This action indicates that while cannibalism is by no means highly regarded, the Queen's success in the endeavor ceased the moment a man arrived. There Was Once is completely pro-feminism as it promotes women's independence. By the end of the story, the character interrupting the narrator explains to the narrator to "scratch the condescending paternalistic terminology" present in fairy tales and cease the stereotypical ending with marriage (Atwood 306). Though the two fairy tales have different approaches to feminism, they both have attributes regarding the topic that make up the plot of each story. 

The Beauty in the Wood and There Was Once both have a common purpose for their writings- to provide morals and life lessons to its readers. In The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, each of his fairy tales, each fairy tales has a poem or paragraph that are labeled as the moral of the story. It becomes apparent, that the author's purpose for writing was to influence the reader's future actions. Lewis Seifert explains that "fairy tales were intended for adult readers in the seventeenth and eighteenth century" and that they were intended to allow adult readers to cope with maturity (Seifert, 2). By including morals, Perrault's writings aimed to influence and help adolescent readers as the began to experience life's problems. In The Beauty in the Wood, Perrault's life lesson is that why it may be easier to fall in love quickly, love "grows better by delay" (Perrault 303). Aside from the moral expressed in the ending of the story, The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood also explains the repercussions of doing evil to another. For example, just as the cannibalistic Queen is about to cook the Princess and her two children, the Queen is caught and ironically dies the way she intended to kill her daughter-in-law and grandchildren (Perrault 302). At the end of the story, the reader understands that the cannibalistic queen got what she deserved. In this case, the reader learned the moral of what goes around comes around. Similar to how Perrault's want to provide life lessons to his readers, Atwood intends to do the same. There Was Once aims to point out the flaws in fairy tales that put women on an inferior level. The poem also advocates for women's self worth and to dissuade from the idea of a "perfect" women with beauty and a husband. This idea is encouraged with the hope that young women reading these fairy tales will not be discouraged and aim for mediocre successes. 

There are many differences between There Was Once and The Sleeping Beauty. Margaret Atwood's There Was Once is a contemporary piece aiming to point out the bad portrayal of females within fairy tales. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood by Charles Perrault is more of a traditional fairy tale, and encompasses very anti-feminism concepts as seen in the negative depiction of women. The representations of women in each story are heavily influenced by its historical context. Despite the differences, however, both encompass elements of the feminism, whether it be pro or against, and contain life lessons that will hopefully impact their readers. Women reading The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood would learn how to cope with growing up, and have a bit of love advice along the way. There Was Once aimed to influence many aspiring feminists to promote equality and self-worth. In the end, despite the differing historical contexts of each piece Perrault and Atwood wanted to provide assistance that would hopefully one day influence their readers worldwide.
