Charles Perrault's The Sleeping Beauty In The Woods

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Charles Perrault was the first person to have the story “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” published in 1697. Upon further examination of Perrault’s work, it becomes clear that he was using the story of a king returning from war to save his princess as an allegory for a deeper religious purpose. Perrault offers up his Christianized views in this fairy tale and it requires a more in-depth reading of the story to understand what he is trying to say. He placed ingenious clues that subtly articulate that he was referring to the second coming of Christ throughout the story. Through the use of this allusion, Perrault was trying to warn his readers that if they do not repent, they will meet the same fate as the queen as seen in the passage on page…show more content…
In this fairy tale, the number seven appears several times in the first few paragraphs indicating that there is a recognizable Christian feel in the writing. When the original king and queen (princess’ parents) were trying to have a child they went to “all of the waters in the world” (Perrault 398). While this quote may seem vague, it is the first appearance of the number seven as there are seven oceans in the world. When it came time to give the baby godmothers, the king and queen gathered up seven fairies and prepared a dinner for them with seven cases of gold, one for each fairy. The repetition of the number seven at this point in the story begins to reveal that there must be a profound meaning for why Perrault included it. This constant reiteration of the number seven immediately shows that Perrault was trying to convey a Christian message. The eighth fairy did not recieve one because she was not invited. The king and queen clearly believed that there was religious significance behind the number seven and did not want to invite the eighth fairy because it would have lessened the significance of the number of fairies. The recurrence of the number seven throughout this fairy tale is undoubtable evidence of a Christian…show more content…
This final judgment day is clearly represented in Perrault’s story. Jesus is commonly referenced as the King in the Bible. An instance of that reference would be when on of the three kings came to Jesus’ manger and asked, “where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him,” (The New Jerusalem Bible, Matthew 2:2). The king, just as his title denotes, is a clear representation of Jesus. When the Princess and the others were about to be brutally murdered, the king “(who was not so soon expected) entered the court on horse-back” and was able to save all of those in peril (Perrault 405). This passage is clearly showing that the king serves as Jesus and his second coming. Perrault was saying that if you are innocent, then, the king will save you. In parenthesis it states that the king was not expected to come so soon and this is the same way with Jesus. In the Christian faith, nobody knows when Christ will come again but they faithfully wait that He will save them when it is time. This is Perrault’s way of renewing the idea that nobody knows when will Jesus come again so you should always be prepared for him. Meaning that you should behave as a good Christian at all times and that way you will always be ready for Christ’s second coming. When the king comes back from war to save all of the innocent people, this is an obvious allusion
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