Women VS Little Red Riding Hood
Fairy tales have two sides to its stories. One side is a friendly, magical story where there is a happy ending and sugar-coated morals. The other side is not so friendly, it takes on more of a dark turn, has not so happy endings, and a bitter moral. One perfect example of a fairy tale that is two sided is Little Red Riding Hood. Many grow up to believe that the moral of the story is that one should obey their elders and not stray from a pre-ordained path. However, the moral is a bit more complex than that. In Little Red Riding Hood, sexuality is a recurring theme. In fact,one can even say the moral of the little red riding hood is about controlling a woman’s sexuality.
Little Red Riding hood has been an oral folktale for hundreds of years before Charles Perrault took the initiative to publish his french version in 1697. In his tale, there were a lot of sexual elements that were not appropriate for children. In the beginning lines of his tale, Perrault describes little red as “ the prettiest creature ever seen” (1). Her mother and grandmother were extremely fond of her and doted on little red (1). So when the wolf saw little red, and kept his temptations from eating her immediately, it indicated that he did not have an appetite for food, but to fulfil his sexual desires with little red. Perrault then scripted how the wolf got little red to tell where her grandma was, went to the grandma’s house, imitated little red, ate the grandma up, and put her clothes on and laid in her bed, waiting for little red. When little red came the wolf told her to come in bed, making her take her clothes off. Sweet innocent little red complied and ended up getting “eaten” by the wolf. Perrault then ends with this little moral:
Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say “wolf,” but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all. (p2)
This little moral at the end indicated that Perrault was talking about the sexualization of the “well-bred young ladies”. According to Jamshid J.Tehrani in The Phylogeny of Little Red Riding Hood, over time original tales were adapted to fit the different cultural norms and preferences, which gave rise to different ecotypes (2013, p.1). If you look at Charles Perrault Little Red Riding Hood, his fairytale reflects life in the 17th century. During the 16th and 17th centuries, there was an epidemic of trials against men that were being accused of taking little children and harming them in an offensive way. Rape was increasingly becoming more and more popular in the 17th and 18th century and families were increasingly fearing for their children, thinking that their children would be taken advantage of because of their innocence. By relating a fairytale to true events, Perrault utilities symbolism in sexuality to control these beautiful and young ladies and their sexuality.
There are other versions of Little Red Riding Hood that pertain to sexual elements. In Charles Perrault’s time, his narration was focused on young adults and those of the upper class. He “ sought to appeal the erotic and playful side of adult readers” ( Zipes,1983,p.9). As a result, his narration influenced the 17th-century era. According to Zipes The Trial and Tribulation of Little Red Riding Hood, “ wherever oral versions of the Little Red Riding Hood tale was found later in the 19th and 20th centuries, they were primarily discovered in those regions were werewolf trials were most common in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries” (1983, p. 4). Thus, Paul Delarue’s The Story Of Grandmother derived from Charles Perrault’s story. The plot is the same, Delarueis’ story has the masculinity of the male figure as a wolf just like in Perrault’s story.
During Delarue’s era in the nineteenth century, there was a revolution for children. In the Concept Of Childhood’s Folktales: Test Case — Little Red Riding Hood, Shavit explains how before the era there was no such thing as a childhood in someone’s life. Kids were forced into adulthood, leaving them to have no memories of being adolescent. For that reason, the revolution led to children’s education. (Shavit, 1999). Authors like Deralue during this time had to adapt and create a “ new image of the child.” (Shavit, 1999, p.327) Devalue had the same elements in his story as Perrault’s. What was different was the ending. The end included little red using her wits and confidence to trick the wolf by explaining how she had to poop when she was forced to burn her clothes in the fire before getting in bed with the wolf. The rope that was tied to her ankle, she cut off and tied to a tree and ran off into the woods. Devalue took advantage of controlling little red’s sexuality and showed a confident and brave little red instead.
There have been a few more versions of little red riding hood that had sexual elements to it. In Angela Carter’s The Company Of Wolves, Carter had written a new version of little red riding hood that illustrated how a woman can use her own sexuality to take advantage of a skimpy situation. Carter’s fairy tale was published in 1979, in the midst of the feminist movement. According to Feminism and Postmodern Aesthetics in Angela Carters “ Wolf ALICE, tHE COmpany of wolves and the werewolf” Carters fairytales features are explored “ to show the opposition between women’s growing awareness of their sexuality and the cruel constructs which society creates to control women.” (Rabab,2013, pg 6) In her fairytale, Carter displayed the beginning of the story as a stereotypical fairytale where the woman is submissive to the “dominant” male and is objectified. In the latter half she then shows a little red riding hood, who is fierce and is unafraid to protect herself using a knife. Though Little Red falls for the wolf’s trick and makes a deal with the huntsman that he would win a kiss if he made it to grandmother’s house before she did, she manipulates the game by walking slowly to “make sure the handsome gentleman would win his wager.” (Carter p6) Little red noticed the oddities of the room, like her grandmother’s bible being closed, the pillow having no indent and she sees a lock of her white hair on a log in the fire. She immediately realizes what the wolf had done but still remains unafraid since she knows “she was nobody’s meat.” This feminist version of little red riding hood shows how a woman can control her own sexuality, and use it for her advantage.
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