Writing Homework Help

Contemporary Americans know a version of the Sleeping Beauty story that goes something like this: A young princess is cursed at birth by a wicked fairy. She manages to stay out of trouble and avoid the curse until she is in her late teens. Then she pricks her finger sewing and invokes the curse. The whole castle full of people fall asleep for a hundred years–luckily maintaining perfect health–until a prince comes searching and finds Sleeping Beauty. Instantly falling in love, he impulsively kisses her on the lips, awakens her, and she immediately returns his affection. They live happily ever after. This version is SO popular that there is even a Disneyland ride that acts out this tale.

Perrault’s version tells this story which takes him to the bottom of p.4 in your copy of the tale but continues the story to tell us readers what happens next (as tv show “The Bachelor” fans would say, “after the Rose”). He turns “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” into his most anti-aristocratic story by detailing what Beauty and the Prince’s life was REALLY like once they were wed. According to the second half of the story, what are the tough challenges that the newlyweds face now that their sudden, idealized moment of love is over? What reality lies behind the pretty facade of aristocracy?