A major argument in many fairytales is whether or not a character can consciously change or shape their fate, Charles Perrault’s story of The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood is no different. Perrault’s narrative centers around the story of a princess who is given an unfortunate gift for her christening. The gift states that after pricking her finger on a spindle, the princess will fall into a one-hundred-year sleep, only to be awakened by a prince. The princess’ fate seems to be set in stone from her christening, and despite the trouble her parents go through to stop the curse, the princess falls into a deep slumber. Perrault utilizes characters of the fairies, the old woman, and the prince to prove the theme that a character cannot change their fate once it has been declared.

As a tradition, the fairies of the kingdom present the princess with gifts at her christening. As a consequence of the King and Queen’s neglect to invite the eldest fairy, she presents their daughter with her awful fate. However, a younger fairy notices that the elder fairy is bitter about not being treated with the same luxuries as the young fairies and manages to prevent the princess from dying when she will prick her finger. “’It is true, I have no power to undo entirely what my elder has done. The princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a spindle; but, instead of dying, she shall only fall into a profound sleep,’” (Perrault, 2) exclaimed the young fairy after the elder fairy presented her gift. The younger fairy observes that she cannot change the gift, or fate, that the elder fairy has presented to the princess, but she does manage to alter the gift to benefit the princess. This is an example of how Perrault expresses the theme of not being able to change fate. The fairy must work around what the elder fairy presents to the princess, but she cannot completely alter the princess’ fate once it has been stated. Perrault utilizes the fairies as a way to introduce the fate that the princess will inevitably encounter. By doing so, he is able to directly tell the reader what is supposed to happen to the princess. Perrault is also able to introduce the theme that fate cannot be tampered with. By having the younger fairy acknowledge that she cannot completely undo what the elder fairy gave to the princess, he shows that her fate is inescapable.

While the fairies present the princess with her fate, the good old woman contributes to how the princess’ fate is sealed. “The king, to avoid the misfortune foretold by the old fairy, caused immediately proclamation to be made, whereby everybody was forbidden, on pain of death, to spin with a distaff and spindle, or to have so much as any spindle in their houses,” (Perrault, 2) shows how the king tried to prevent his daughter’s fate. However, despite his best efforts, the princess would eventually stumble upon a spindle. When the princess is exploring through the palace and towers, she stumbles across a woman working with a spindle, “this good old woman had never heard of the king’s proclamation against spindles” (Perrault, 2). From the old woman’s lack of knowledge, Perrault displays how fate is inevitable. She is another character that contributes to the theme of not being able to change fate. The old woman’s naivety proves that no given character went out of their way to enforce the fate that the elder fairy presented to the princess. The old woman is without bias to the princess and her fate, therefore she could not contribute to it knowingly by owning a spindle. Using this reasoning, it can be assumed that the princess would have eventually stumbled upon a spindle, without it having to be formally presented to her. Also, when the princess inquires what the good old woman is working with, the old woman answers her with “’I am spinning, my pretty child,’ said the old woman,” (Perrault, 2) because she was unsure of who the princess was. This emphasizes the point that the old woman was completely oblivious to who she was speaking to, as well as how the princess should not be around spindles. The old woman’s lack of knowledge towards the princess’ predicament proves that fate is inevitable. This is a direct example of how the princess’ fate would remain, despite the efforts against it.

In order for the princess to be awakened, a king’s son must find her and wake her up, one hundred years after she has been pricked by the spindle. As the reader learns when such a prince is introduced, he is unaware of what lies in the tower where the princess is asleep. Upon learning that there is a princess within the tower, “the young prince was all on fire at these words, believing, without weighing the matter,” (Perrault, 4) and takes off through the woods to find her. Perrault utilizes the prince’s willingness and lack of prior knowledge to prove that fate is inescapable. The prince goes through the wood, which opens for him, and is shocked to discover that his men cannot follow, but still continues on this journey. The prince would eventually have found the princess due to his curiosity drawing him toward the tower, proving that fate cannot be changed. 

As noted by Perrault in the moral of the story, while the princess had to wait one hundred years for her prince to awaken her, it did eventually happen. Here, Perrault directly acknowledges that with due time, the princess’ fate would eventually continue to come true. Perrault uses the fairies to introduce the initial idea of fate in the story. He has the fairies present gifts to the princess that would later shape her fate. By having both the princess and the good old woman be oblivious to the gift that the princess shall receive, he proves that fate will come true, regardless of protections put in place to prevent events from occurring. The prince’s natural curiosity and the final moral of the story reinforce the idea that fate will always ring true. The moral of the story wraps together the different aspects of the princess’ fate and how they all became true in the final ending of the story. Perrault uses the characters to prove the theme that fate cannot be changed.