The Beasts of Gender Norms and Conduct: Three Versions of Little Red Riding Hood - Essay Example

May 4, The Beasts of Gender Norms and Conduct: Three Versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” “Little Red Riding Hood” is one of the most famous children’s stories of all times because it interconnects the universal themes of innocence, deception, violence, and good-versus-evil. Its earlier versions, however, have underlying themes of sex and sexuality, which argue that Little Red Riding Hood is not just a little girl, but a young woman in transition to her sexual awakening. Three stories are compared for the changes the authors made in the fairy tale, as well as the goals and effects of these changes: Charles Perrault’s 1729 version of “Little Red Riding Hood,” Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm’s “Little Red Cap” published in 1812, and Angela Carter’s “The Company of Wolves,” which is her account of “Little Red Riding Hood,” published in 1979. The stories are similar because all portray a cunning wolf as an antagonist and the little girl as the naïve girl trapped in a vicious world. Differences are made in their endings and characterization of the wolf and the girl because of dissimilar target audiences and writing goals, where Perrault and the Brothers Grimm want to caution girls and young women about sly beasts in the real world, which promote and preserve traditional gender roles and values, while Carter makes these changes to expose girls to their sexuality, so that they can control their desires in contradiction to traditional gender norms. Perrault and Grimm’s stories share the same themes of innocence and deception through the character of the sly wolf that contrasts with the vulnerability of the little girl, and these authors keep the same characters and their personalities because they are essential to driving the lessons of the story. Perrault offers the earliest version of “Little Red Riding Hood,” where the wolf is the nemesis of goodness because he is a devious pretender, and Little Red Riding Hood’s fate is the lesson that all young women must understand. He emphasizes the contradiction of physical appearance and attitude between the “little country girl, the prettiest creature who was ever seen,” but “who entertain[ed] herself by gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and gathering bouquets of little flowers,” and the cunning wolf with big eyes, ears, legs, and teeth and who uses strategy to eat the girl and her grandmother. These contradictions aim to underscore the lesson that the younger and the more attractive girls are, the more vulnerable they are to sly beasts. Innocence and deception are also present in Brother Grimm’s “Little Red Cap.” Their little girl is not as pretty as in Perrault’s version, but she is a “sweet little girl.” As in Perrault’s story, the little girl is not aware of how wicked a wolf is. Their wolf is more deceiving in a way that Perrault’s is not. Perrault’s wolf started a game of reaching grandmother’s house first, but Grimms’ wolf manipulated the girl to enjoy her surroundings. Grimm’s wolf says to Little Red Cap: “Little Red Cap, just look at the beautiful flowers that are all around us. Why dont you go and take a look?...You are walking along as though you were on your way to school. It is very beautiful in the woods.” In Perrault’s story, Little Red Riding Hood takes the initiative to wander about, but the Grimm’s wolf is much more deceptive in influencing her to dilly-dally. The effect is teaching children to be more aware of evil in their world because strangers cannot be trusted. Despite these changes, the same characteristics of innocence versus deception are important to the lessons of awareness for the lurking evils in humanity. Carter has the same theme of innocence versus deception, but she emphasizes that Little Red Riding Hood is not at all as innocent as she is in previous versions and she made this essential change to reflect her goal in empowering women on their own sexuality decisions in life. On the one hand, Little Red Riding Hood is physically innocent. Carter describes her at the commencement of her womanhood, for the little girl is an “unbroken egg; she is a sealed vessel; she has inside her a magic space the entrance to which is shut tight with a plug of membrane.” By doing this, Carter underlines her virginity that is essential to society during these traditional times. In addition, the wolf remains deceiving, but instead of being a wolf, he is turned into a werewolf, “carnivore incarnate.” Though half-man and half-wolf, the wolf is still sly and intends to feast on Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother through his “dashing” looks and suave interaction with the young woman (Carter). On the other hand, Little Red Riding Hood is not sexually innocent. She is aware of how the young man desires her because she flirts with him by making sure that she will come later than him at her grandmother’s house, so that she can give him the kiss as their wager (Carter). She does not tremble in fear for the thought of being killed by the wolf, and instead, she undresses him and gives her virginity to him as a Christmas and birthday gift (Carter). By changing the nature of the wolf from pure animal to werewolf, Carter is able to change the personality of Little Red Riding Hood to a blossoming young woman. Her intention is to create a young woman who is not a victim, but a willing participant of her sexual awakening. The modern adaptation of “Little Red Riding Hood” is not a caution to young women, but a push for their sexual freedom. Despite adding a sexual dimension to Little Red Riding Hood as a difference in Carter’s fairy tale version, all three stories maintained that the girl is spoiled because it shows the lesson that beauty should not be spoiled or it will lead to greater harms. Perrault’s little girl is well-loved by all, but especially spoiled by the women in her household. Her mother and grandmother love her, but her grandmother, though poor, even made a special red robe for her: “Her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmother doted on her still more. This good woman had a little red riding hood made for her.” They live in a small town, which signifies their low social class, and yet the grandmother treats her like a princess. Perrault chooses a beautiful girl to teach parents and grandparents to not spoil a child, or she will be naïve and vulnerable to harms like Little Red Riding Hood. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm also portray a spoiled child. They do not mention that she is pretty, but that: “Everyone who saw her liked her, but most of all her grandmother, who did not know what to give the child next. Once she gave her a little cap made of red velvet.” She is not physically attractive in the sense that Perrault’s little girl is, probably because the Grimm brothers want to apply her situation to all girls, not just the pretty ones. They want to caution all parents too that doting too much on children will make the latter ignorant and potentially dead before they become adults. Carter’s Little Red Riding Hood is as beautiful as Perrault’s little girl. Like the rest of the stories, the girl is spoiled too, being “so pretty and the youngest of her family, a little latecomer, had been indulged by her mother and the grandmother whod knitted the red shawl that, today has the ominous if brilliant look of blood on snow.” Carter must have maintained the beauty of the young woman because it is essential to the lustful theme in her version. Beauty corrupts girls in ways that it makes them more susceptible to lustful intentions. Spoiling girls are also not good because it can make them naïve in their ability to be safe in this world. Carter says that the young woman thinks that a knife can protect her, and her mother spoils her too much to let her go, though her father would have not agreed to it. These differences underline the impact of spoiling children, which is making them less aware of the realistic harms of real life. Spoiling children shelters them from the knowledge of how evil the world can be- an essential aspect of these three versions of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Apart from the harms of spoiling children, two stories maintain the innocence and carelessness of the young woman about evil wolves, while Carter’s Little Red Riding Hood is well-aware of the danger, and these differences contribute to their goals in writing their stories, which is maintenance of passivity for women for Perrault and the Grimm brothers and empowerment for Carter. Perrault notes that the young girl is not knowledgeable about bad wolves for she “did not know that it was dangerous to stay and talk to a wolf.” Brothers Grimm only had the mother cautioning her daughter about minding her manners and making sure that she does not break the bottle of wine. She never warns her of evil wolves, so Little Red Riding Hood, upon meeting a wolf for the first time, “did not know what a wicked animal he was, and was not afraid of him.” The stories, first, blame the older women for not teaching the young girl about gender values of being suspicious of wolves, which are metaphors for lusty men. Second, they blame the girl too for not being more careful of her virtue. Her carelessness is present in Perrault, when the little girl wanders in the wood, taking her sweet time “entertaining herself by gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and gathering bouquets of little flowers.” Grimms’ little girl is also frivolous. She does not go straight to her grandmother’s house but picked flowers: “Each time she picked one she thought that she could see an even more beautiful one a little way off, and she ran after it, going further and further into the woods.” The carelessness of the girl indicates that carefree nature attributed to women, which, when they apply, become their fall from grace. These attitudes of the young girl underscore typical gender value of passivity, a sign of the patriarchal nature of these stories. Carter’s Little Red Riding Hood is not passive because she knows the danger ahead. She has armed herself with a “carving knife,” ready to protect herself from any wolf. The knowledge of the wolf does not stop Little Red Riding Hood from flirting with strangers, and later on, even sleeping with a werewolf. Carter gives knowledge about the wolf to the young woman to show that she knows what she is doing. She has free will and is empowered to make sexual choices for herself. Hence, omitting or adding knowledge of the wolf is essential to the nature of these women in these fairy tales. Finally, the endings are different for all three stories because of their target audiences and primary goals for the lessons they want to teach, where Perrault and Carter target young women more, while Brothers Grimm target children too, and where Perrault and Grimm seek to maintain traditional gender roles and values on following gender expectations and protecting virtues, while Carter undercuts these gender values and enables women to explore their sexuality through applying free will. Perrault has a gruesome ending where the wolf eats up the little girl for good. His main audience is young women, especially those in upper classes, which is clear in his side note for them: “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.” He explains that wolves are of different kinds, but “these gentle wolves …are the most dangerous ones of all.” His main goal is to protect women’s virginity because they are expected to remain virgins and to follow social codes of feminine conduct. The gruesome ending serves to shock young women, so that they will be fearful of not knowing their usual place in society. Carter also targets young women because of her language that is more complex for children and because of the emphasis on the girl’s transition to womanhood. Her ending is sexually-charged because her different goal for the story. For Carter, the beast is not the wolf, but the social codes that expect women to follow gender expectations, including expectations about sex and sexuality. She wants women to own their sexuality, by ripping the clothes of the wolf and becoming one with her sexual desires. Carter does not want Little Red Riding Hood to be a passive sex object, but an active sexual being who has free will in her sexual actions. Brothers Grimm do not target young women, but children too, so they created a happy ending, but like Perrault, they want to promote traditional gender values. A huntsman saves the women, while the little girl no longer has another wolf fool her, and her grandmother deceives a wolf to his death. The main point of the happy ending is to reduce the gruesome aspect of the story, so that it would be more palatable to kids, and, at the same time, to show that deception does not pay. However, it is clear from the story that a man, not a woman, saves the little girl and her grandmother, thereby showing the power of men over women’s fates. In addition, women stay in their passive conditions. Little Red Riding Hood learns obedience as a woman when she says: “As long as I live, I will never leave the path and run off into the woods by myself if mother tells me not to.” The grandmother protects the virtue of her granddaughter by deceiving the wolf. Cooking is her strategy, a traditional gender role. Thus, like Perrault, the Grimm Brothers promote gender stereotypes through maintenance of gender roles and expectations. “Little Red Riding Hood” has three versions with major and minor changes because of the different target audiences and goals of the writers. Perrault and Carter target young women more so they have brutal or sexual “adult” endings, while Brothers Grimm target children too, so their version has a happy ending. All three authors preserve the themes of innocence and deception too, although Carter’s Little Red Riding Hood is not as sexually innocent as she is physically innocent. Furthermore, differences in the physical aspect and attitudes of the young girl are essential to their destinies. Hence, Perrault and Grimm’s “Little Red Riding Hood” portray and preserve gender stereotypes, while Carter questions them through creating a self-aware and sexually liberal Little Red Riding Hood, a young woman who is not fearful of the wolf, but who learns how to satisfy her desires. These stories are about beasts within and amongst women, and how they cope with these challenges, with or without following expected social codes. Works Cited Carter, Angela. “Excerpt from ‘The Company of Wolves.’” 1979. Web. 2 May. 2014. Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. “Little Red Cap.” 1812. Web. 2 May. 2014. Perrault, Charles. “Little Red Riding Hood.” Histories: Or, Tales Of Times Past With Morals, trans. Robert Samber. London: J. Pote and R. Montagu,1729. Web. 2 May. 2014. Read More