Sherry Ning

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Sherry Ning
The Only Writing Advice I'd Ever Give

The Only Writing Advice I'd Ever Give

A Lesson from Sleeping Beauty, Oedipus Rex, & Marc Andreessen

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Sherry Ning
Sep 14, 2023
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The Only Writing Advice I'd Ever Give
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A wicked fairy curses a princess at her christening so that she will die at the age of sixteen by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. As a precaution, the king orders all spinning wheels throughout the kingdom to be burned while the princess is raised in a forest cottage so that she can live in safety until her sixteenth birthday. Yet, fate doesn’t stutter: The terrible prophecy fulfills itself and Princess Aurora falls into a deep, never-ending sleep.

That’s the story of Sleeping Beauty. Although it is most known for its romance, I think we ought to spend more time examining its theme of inescapable doom. The Greeks call this “hamartia”, or, tragic flaw. The essence of tragedy is that it is a person’s own character that leads them to their demise. Had Princess Aurora been less curious, she wouldn’t have crept into a lonely castle. Had Romeo and Juliet asserted more reason over their impatient teenage passion, they wouldn’t have rushed to their deaths.

The epitome o…

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