The folk tale begins when Briar Rose is placed under a curse that foretells she will prick her finger on her fifteenth birthday and fall dead. On the day of her birthday, Briar Rose began exploring the unused rooms of the castle until she discovered a scared, locked room at the top of stairs inside the tower in which there was an old woman turning a spinning wheel. In attempting to take this spinning wheel from the old woman Briar Rose pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep along with the rest of the kingdom, fulfilling the curse placed upon her by the uninvited thirteenth fairy at her christening. However, another fairy reworked the curse, sentencing that death be a hundred years sleep. Over the hundred-year period legends were told about the sleeping princess who lay hidden at the heart of the forest and the many attempts that were made by suitors to cross the hedge of thorns that grew up surrounding the tower. In the midst of this, a prince from far away heard of the legend and became determined to find her. It was for this prince that the hedges of thorns gave way, turning into roses and opening a path that led to the sleeping princess whom he awakened with his kiss. Along with the sleeping princess, the whole kingdom awoke and preparations for the marriage began.

Within “Briar Rose” many classic symbols exist. Symbols or symbolism, according to the Hindu philosopher Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, is ‘the art of thinking in images’ (

Some topics in this essay:
Briar Rose, Anne Baring, Grimm Brother’s, Briar Rose’s, Ananda Coomaraswamy, , According Bettelheim, briar rose, hedge thorns, “briar rose”, spinning wheel, sleeping princess, Beauty Prince, feelings intuitions images, surrounding tower, loss recovery, head heart, pricks finger, thorns roses,