Gender dominance is an issue that has progressed throughout the course of history. In the majority of societies around the world, men assume the role of taking care of the family financially. Throughout history, women have been held to a different standard than men and have had a different set of expectations. The women's rights movement began in the late nineteenth century and impacted the lives of women all over the world; not only has the movement impacted individuals, but has provided an outlet for writers to express their opinion about how women are viewed and treated. The texts, The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood by Charles Perrault and There Was Once by Margret Atwood are two very interesting pieces that stem from different periods of the women's rights movement, but have multiple similarities and differences. The similarities in the tone and irony in the ending and the differences in the time periods that the pieces were written in raise awareness to the important issue of society's negative connotation when women obtain power throughout history.

The tone that is used by the women (the wicked Queen and the narrator) who are main characters in both of these pieces of literature comes off as condescending and forces the reader to see the women in a negative way. In The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood the wicked Queen talks to the clerk in a very demanding way, " 'I will have it so,' replied the Queen (and this she spoke the tone of Ogress who had a strong desire to eat fresh meat) and will eat her with a sauce Robert" (Perrault 301). In this scenario, the Queen does not give the clerk a choice and wants him to kill another human being for her meal. These actions by the wicked Queen portray her to the reader as condescending without any morals. " 'I will eat the Queen with the same sauce I had with her children.'"(Perrault 301). The tone of the wicked Queen in this excerpt is very insistent on getting the meal she wants, another human being; through the tone of the wicked Queen, the reader perceives the wicked Queen as evil and corrupt once she has power. In There Was Once the narrator is trying to tell a story, but the woman keeps on interrupting with little comments about everything that the person is saying. The reader can infer that the person interrupting is a woman because this piece was "written from the perspectives of female characters as active human characters" (Atwood 304). "- There was once a girl who was a little overweight and whose front teeth stuck out who-,  -I don't think it's nice to make fun of people's appearances. Plus you're encouraging anorexia.   -- I wasn't making fun! I was just describing-,  - Skip the description. Description oppresses. But you can say what color she was." (Atwood 305). Another spotlight on the tone of the woman includes the statement, "Forest? Forest is passe, I mean I've had it with all this wilderness stuff. It's not a right image of our society, today. Let's have some urban for a change." (Atwood 305). The woman is so picky and demanding about every aspect of the story and how it is told that she is made out to the reader as being someone who is condescending and has the attitude that her way is the only way. Her tone is emphasized through the short, demanding sentences throughout the piece. A study performed by students at California Polytechnic State University found that females are seen as devalued (Burn, Aboud, and Moyles). These pieces are showing that when women have some position of power they become too demanding and are only concerned with executing their opinion. Because the norm of society is that women cannot obtain power successfully, they are seen as having a lesser value than men. 

A very important component of both of these texts are the irony in the way that the women are the reason for their own destruction at the end of both of these pieces. In The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood the wicked Queen, "commanded the next morning, by the break of day (with a most horrible voice, which made everybody tremble), that they should bring into the middle of the great court a large tub, which she caused to be filled with toads, vipers, snakes, and all sorts of serpents", but her plan was ruined by the King and the wicked Queen was killed by her own doings by jumping into the tub of creatures (Perrault 302). The way that the Queen dies is very ironic because essentially, she ordered the tub of creatures, which is the way she dies. As soon as a woman was given power without supervision in this piece, negative consequences and destruction were soon to follow. The expectation of the wicked Queen, while the King was gone, was never to make executive decisions that would impact the lives of others. This shows the reader that women are the reason for their own destruction when they try to do things outside of their expected role. The same message is portrayed in There Was Once because of the irony at the end of this piece. Because the woman was so critical about every aspect of the story, "Well, it would probably be your color, wouldn't it?" "How old was she?" "This ends with a marriage, right?" the story abruptly ends with the complaints of the woman (Atwood 306). The piece ends with, "-So?  -So what?  -So why not here?" to show that because of the woman's attention to detail and inability to accept other ways of telling the story the piece just ends (Atwood 305). What started out to be a normal fairytale, turns into a mess and comes to an end without even the baseline for a fairytale at all. When the woman does voice her opinion and it is actually used to revise the story, the story becomes so detailed with things that are irrelevant that it just ends. Typical stereotypes of women include, "Women are not as strong as men, women don't need to go to college, women are not politicians, and women are never in charge" (Brewer). The writers of both of these pieces of literature have their work end in such a way to portray the view that when women assume different roles outside of the household, or traditional roles, they are never effective and cannot get work done. This shows how male dominance throughout history has engrained in peoples' minds, through stereotypes, that the work that a female does is always inferior to the work of a man. These texts emphasize societies perception of these stereotypes by showing the negative effects of what would happen if women went against the norm of the expectations of a housewife.

The difference in the time periods that the pieces were written is a very essential part in showing the duration of the negative connotation when women obtain power. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood was written in 1697, a time where no one questioned the role of a woman. This was a time where, "Women as prophets retired being the closed doors of the meeting house, while larger, centralized meetings for business were attended only by men" (Mack 2). Women were used to being told what to do and be comfortable with not having any power. In contrast, There Was Once was published in 1992, a time near the end of the women's rights movement where women spoke up against the norms of society and fought to obtain the same rights and power as men. During this time, many women understood the concept that "women's rights must be understood as human rights" (Peters and Wolper 3). The amount of time between these pieces emphasizes how long women have been struggling to be able obtain the same power as a man. The time period also show the progress that women have made from not questioning their lack of power, to almost being able to obtain the same amount of power as a man. 

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood and There Was Once are two stories that emphasize the theme of society's negative perception of women who obtain power. Through the similarities in the tone of the women, the reader perceives women in power as being condescending and ineffective. The actual context of the plot of both of these pieces is very essential to the affirmation of women's struggle to obtain power in a positive light. The irony in the endings of these stories support the struggle, because once the women obtain power, destruction soon follows. The readers always look at women in these texts with a negative connotation, which parallels to society's view of women. Because the difference in time period between the two pieces, the reader can see the duration for which women have been struggling to obtain power. These texts raise awareness to the issue of gender equality and how it has changed throughout history and over the world.
