This work can be seen as supporting and criticizing the rule of King Louis XIV. The tale begins describing the king as “the most powerful ruler in the whole world” who was “terrifying in war” and “just in peace” (Perrault, “Donkeyskin”). This tale can be seen as a description of King Louis XIV on how he solidified the complete rule of the monarch and his victories against foreign powers. However, the fictional king, thinking he would never marry a queen more wise and beautiful than his late wife, commits an act of incest and attempts to marry his daughter, which is only foiled by her escape in a donkey skin. This act of incest, the king thinks, would benefit the kingdom by having a queen on the throne with his lineage secure, when in fact
