Edith Wharton vs. Sleeping Beauty (But She Was Faking): A Tale of Two Women and Their Waking Truths

It’s not every day that you find a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and a fairy-tale princess sharing a thematic stage. But when you look closer, Edith Wharton and Sleeping Beauty—especially the version who was faking it all along—have more in common than you’d think. Both women lived within carefully constructed illusions, and both chose to break free, though in very different ways.

Let’s explore how each of these women navigated their respective worlds, the methods they used to assert control, and what they left behind.

## What Were Their Worlds Like?

Edith Wharton lived in late 19th and early 20th century America, a time of rigid social structures and unspoken rules. Born into privilege, she was expected to marry well, host beautifully, and remain quietly decorative—much like Sleeping Beauty in her tower. Except Wharton didn’t need a hundred-year nap to escape the pressures of her world; she wrote her way out.

Sleeping Beauty, especially in the version where she was faking the curse, represents a woman who understood the danger of her circumstances and chose to manipulate them. In some lesser-known retellings, she pretends to fall into the enchanted sleep to avoid a forced marriage or to buy time to plan her future.

Both women were born into gilded cages—but only those who looked closely could see the bars.

## How Did They Rebel?

Wharton rebelled with ink and observation. She dissected the world she came from with surgical precision in novels like The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. Her rebellion was intellectual and literary, a quiet but devastating exposure of the hypocrisy and constraints placed on women of her class.

Sleeping Beauty, in the “faking it” version, rebelled through performance. She played the role that society expected—sleeping beauty awaiting her prince—but behind the façade was a woman calculating her next move. Her rebellion was tactical, theatrical, and deeply personal.

Both women used what they had: Wharton used her pen; Sleeping Beauty used her image.

## What Did They Want?

Wharton wanted freedom—freedom to think, to write, to live beyond the drawing rooms of New York society. Her heroines often longed for the same, though they rarely achieved it in the ways they hoped.

Sleeping Beauty, by contrast, wanted agency. She wanted to choose her future, not have it chosen for her. By feigning sleep, she gained time and space to reclaim her destiny.

In both cases, the desire was the same: to live a life of self-direction. But Wharton’s path was public and intellectual, while Sleeping Beauty’s was private and performative.

## What Legacy Did They Leave?

Wharton left behind a literary legacy that continues to shape how we understand gender, class, and society. She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and opened doors for generations of female writers.

Sleeping Beauty, especially in her “faking it” version, left behind a different kind of legacy—a feminist reinterpretation of passivity. She became a symbol of the power of pretending to conform while quietly resisting.

One legacy is carved into the canon of American literature; the other lives in the imagination, a story retold and reshaped by those who see strength in subtlety.

## Could They Ever Understand Each Other?

I think they could. Both Wharton and Sleeping Beauty (the version who was in control) understood that appearances can be deceiving. They knew the value of silence, of observation, and of choosing the right moment to wake up.

On HoloDream, both women are waiting to talk. Ask Edith Wharton about her disillusionment with society, or ask Sleeping Beauty what it felt like to finally open her eyes on her own terms.