Throughout history, fairytales have been told to teach lessons, show heroism and give something for little girls to dream about. “Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” by Charles Perrault is an example of a classic fairytale that is still read to children today. Conversely, Mary Atwood’s work, “There Was Once” criticizes traditional fairytales and the oppressive nature of them.

It is seemingly impossible to go through childhood without hearing some type of fairytale featuring a “damsel in distress” who is a princess. “Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” by Charles Perrault is a prime example of a traditional fairytale. However, since it is from the seventeenth century, it does not quite match the modern view of fairytales. That is, it is more traditional. It begins with a girl who is cursed and needs help from the strong, handsome prince to save her. Perrault writes “He jumped immediately to the conclusion that it was for him to see so gay an adventure through, and impelled alike by the wish for love and glory, he resolved to set about it on the spot.” (Perrault 506). She is deemed as the most beautiful, witty, and graceful girl, who can also sing and dance, which makes her the perfect “wife material” for a prince. However, the Prince still judged the Princess for what she was wearing when she woke up. “… his royal highness took care not to tell her that she was dressed like his great grandmother…” (Perrault 507). Later into the story, the Princess and the children fall defenseless against the Prince’s mother, who is prepared to execute them, until the Prince enters the room and saves the Princess and their children from their awaiting death. In the final lines of the story, the Prince decides that he should not be sorry for his mother dying, but instead appreciate his beautiful wife and children. The princess has very little character development and relies on the handsome Prince to get her out of situations. This idea of a Princess needing a Prince to save her and take care of her remains relative in many other works in the fairytale genre, with very little questioning of what it teaches young girls and women about their place in society. 

In Margaret Atwood’s work, “There Was Once”, she transcends the fairytale genre and puts the ideology of it into question. The work is formatted as a dialogue between the narrator and the listener. The narrator tries to tell a traditional fairytale, but is constantly stopped and scrutinized for every detail by the listener. The narrator says the girl in the story is poor and the listener points out “Poor is relative. She lived in a house, didn’t she” (Atwood 511). As the narrator attempts to continue, she is stopped repeatedly because the listener does not want to hear another average fairytale. She brings up issues with the princess being beautiful and white and having a “wicked stepmother.” The listener scrutinizes the first word, “there”. The idea is that every fairytale has been the same, since they have first been written. They were never adapted to modern values and ideas. They still follow a beautiful white woman looking to marry a prince and there is no variety beyond that. Although these fairytales are nice to listen to, they do not teach children the right values and what they should strive for. Fairytales teach young girls that they must wait for their princes and they need to make sure that they have the right qualities that will properly please them. Margaret Atwood points out the situation in a way that over exaggerates the situation in order to make the audience think. 

Beauty should not be used as a way to get out of situations and there should be more of an emphasis on diversity and making your dreams a reality rather than relying on someone else to do it. These are the ideas that get lost in the average traditional fairytale. Although the ideas expressed in traditional fairytales may have been appropriate for Charles Perrault’s time in the 17th century (Charles Perrault), the ideas are no longer up to date, yet they are still very popular. On the other hand, Margaret Atwood does not consider herself a feminist writer (Margaret Atwood), but she still recognizes the issues in the ideologies of fairytales and the lack of diversity within them. Therefore, as time changes, fairytales should be adapted to teach children better values and to show more diversity.
