Charles Perrault was born to a wealthy family in Paris, France. He was always interested in learning. He went to the best schools, where he was always top of his class. When he grew up, Charles Perrault got married and became a lawyer. He was always ahead of his time, and caused a stir for writing that modern ideas are better than ancient ideas. He believed in the future and in progress. Charles Perrault knew a lot about a lot of things, and he was interested in making life beautiful for people. The King still liked him, and gave Perrault several appointments and positions, including looking after Royal buildings, designing tapestries, and writing poems. When Charles Perrault became a member of the famous Académie Française in 1671, he again showed his love for the people by opening up the ceremony to the public for the first time. When his wife died, he gave up his public life to educate their children. He was almost 70 years old when he wrote his first fairy tales in 1697 and it is from Perrault Fairy Tales that we get the most famous versions of some classic stories. Charles Perrault died five years later, in Paris in the year 1703.

Regarded as one of Canada’s finest living writers, Margaret Atwood is a poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and environmental activist. Born on November 18, 1939 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Margaret Atwood is one of today's leading fiction writers. She studied at the University of Toronto and Radcliffe College, becoming a lecturer in English literature. Her first published work was a collection of poems entitled The Circle Game (1966), which won the Governor-General's Award. Many of her poems might be called feminist retellings of traditional fairytales, written from perspectives of female characters as active human characters, rather than “damsels in distress.” Evoking the stereotypical opening of many fairytales, “There Was Once” was originally published in her 1992 collection Good Bones.

Charles Perrault’s “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” and Margaret Atwood’s “There Was Once” are both pieces that contain fairytale elements despite their purposes and different periods. Perrault’s fairytale, written during the 1600s, focuses on a king and a queen who finally give birth to a princess. After pricking her finger, the princess falls into a deep sleep until her true love, a young prince, wakes her. The prince and princess get married and have 2 beautiful children named Day and Morning. While the prince is off to war, his ogre-ish mother attempts to eat his wife and children. The prince comes just in time to save his family from certain death. Atwood’s satire, written during the 1990s, focuses on how fairytales are too unrealistic and how they create false ideas of beauty and life which affects the way people think or feel effectively. The listener makes it hard for the storyteller to tell the story by interjecting with comments that suggest that the terms are incorrect or inappropriate.

Fairytales typically consist of a protagonist, a villain, a royal family, and a happy ending. Fairytale soften begin with “‘Once upon a time,’ ‘Long ago,’ or ‘Once there was a …’ (Kautzer 5)” The fairytale elements are evident in both stories. The first sentence in “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” contains the archetypal fairytale beginning and the royal element. “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” begins with “There were formerly a king and queen... (Perrault 1)” The other story also starts with a typical fairytale beginning. “There Was Once” begins with “There was once a poor girl, as beautiful as she was good… (Atwood 1)” In fairytales, there seems to always be an evil mother figure that antagonizes the main character, who is typically quite beautiful and charming. In the piece by Perrault, the queen was the princess’s enemy. It is evident that the princess’s mother-in-law is the villain because she says that she “will eat the Queen with the same sauce [she] had with her children (Perrault 509).” In the piece by Atwood, the stepmother is made out to have a negative role in the story. The storyteller in “There Was Once” says that the main character “lived with her wicked stepmother in a house in the forest (Atwood 1).” Although one story contains more elements than the other, both pieces contain fairytale concepts that allow readers to recognize the archetype.

The works take place in different periods and have different purposes. Perrault’s work was written in 1697. This is suggested in “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” through the language of which it is written. Charles Perrault uses words such as “hitherto,” “shall,” and “sabbath.” His use of outdated words also reveals that the story is intended for people of that time period. The main points of the fairytale are that it is acceptable to wait for good things or people to come along and that good triumphs over evil. Atwood’s piece was written in the 1990s. Margaret Atwood shows that “There Was Once” is a more modern piece by her use of language. She uses words such as “passé,” “socioeconomically,” and “anorexia.” Atwood’s purpose is to draw attention and criticize fairytales, which is why the title is a typical beginning of a fairytale. In addition to the satire being a modern work, the main point that the listener in the story makes is that fairytales have become outdated and unrealistic. 

Charles Perrault’s “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” and Margaret Atwood’s “There Was Once” share their similarities but they also have their differences.  “There Was Once” highly criticizes classical fairytales like “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods.” A fairytale is a story in which improbable events lead to a happy ending. Though they are traditional, Fairytales have become outdated and unrealistic. Fairytales must change with the times to appeal to different generations and to be understood correctly and clearly. 
