Anne Sexton`s Transformations attempts to re-write Grimm Brothers` fairy tales from the perspective of a “middle-aged witch,” who sustains a critical view of patriarchal society. In poems deconstructing the binary oppositions between two types of women and revealing the impossible fantasy of the idealized married life, Sexton uses similes in order to link the past and the present. Similes are effective weapons in Sexton`s writing, in that they bridge the gap between the idealized world of fairy tales and the real American society of the 1960s. Unlike metaphors, which tend to emphasize the organic nature of figures, similes display the artificial nature inherent in figurative language and lead the readers to realize the tensions between two entities connected through them. In addition to showing a critical view of patriarchy in general, Sexton also foregrounds forms of sexuality that are usually marginalized as abnormal in patriarchal society. For example, in “Rapunzel,” the relationship between the witch and Rapunzel is portrayed as that between mother and child, almost bordering on lesbianism. In “Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty),” the sleeping princess is under the control of her father, who appears to have incestuous desire toward her own daughter. Also, Sexton emphasizes that women are often circulated as commercial goods in the patriarchal system and that this tendency is reinforced in modern American society. Through her brilliant parody of fairy tales inherited from the past, Sexton engages the readers to recognize problems both in the original texts and in their own society.