Little Red Riding Hood’s Hidden Themes/Meanings

     Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” is more than a story about a girl encountering a wolf in the woods, it delves into the societal fears surrounding child endangerment, manipulation, and predatory behavior towards children which is a reflection of how many predators exist in today’s online world. Little Red Riding Hood’s innocence contrasts with the wolf, who transcends animalistic instincts and embodies manipulative and predatory behavior as he takes advantage of Red’s nonchalance in his favor. Beyond this narrative, the tale also addresses subtopics that correlate to the issues that most fairy tales paint within their stories, such as gendered-powered dynamics that resonate within its historical context and even in today’s modern society.

     In “Little Red Riding Hood”, the symbolic representation of the tale delves into the themes of “predatory behavior around children” which is heavily portrayed through the wolf’s interactions with Red. When Red first encounters the wolf, their interactions feel nothing more than an older creature taking advantage of a young and unwilling victim, with the wolf manipulating her into thinking he’s someone she can trust, when in reality, the wolf only views Red as his meal, with his actions further correlating to the idea of playing with his food. 

When it came to the point where the wolf disguised himself as Red’s grandma after supposedly trapping her in the closet, he told Red to go to bed with him. There are many interpretations of this particular scene, which can be seen as predatory in a sexual or non-sexual way. For the latter, the wolf could be preparing to devour his meal while giving Red a false sense of security that her grandmother is in front of her, asking for care, in which the wolf is still following his animalistic instincts through manipulation and deception. 

The former, however, the sexual theme can be best described in a metaphorical sense. According to the article “Teaching Symbolism in Little Red Riding Hood” by Francisco Vaz Da Silva, he goes into depth with the idea of a girl being eaten in bed, by comparing it to the likes of pedophilia, in which this case, is a man “eating out” a prepubescent girl in bed sexually, quoting “the act of pouncing on a young woman to eat her amounts to sexual violation. In short, Perrault provides a layered text where the wolf-man eats a girl in both the literal sense (as a wolf will) and in a metaphoric sense (as a sexual predator will)” (175). 

Overall, the symbolic representation in “Little Red Riding Hood” showcases that even in a children’s fairy tale, there are hidden themes of sexual abuse towards young children which is an in-depth interpretation of how everything in the story played out, from the wolf’s deceptiveness contrasting to Red’s innocence.

     The tale highlighting the wolf’s predatory behavior towards Red reveals a hidden meaning behind the term “wolf”. In Angela Carter’s “Company of Wolves” which follows a similar plot to “Little Red Riding Hood”, the wolf is a “werewolf” which is an anthropomorphic creature disguised as a human (Carter, 1984). Throughout the 16th-17th century, a “werewolf” was considered to be a mythological creature, containing behavioral traits closely associated with sexual violence. Because the original “Little Red Riding Hood” was written during this era by Charles Perrault, the wolf painted within the dark light can be seen as a reflection of the cultural fears surrounding werewolves, with the violent beast being symbolized as a “rapist” figure, which highlights the male aggression present upon passive females of that era. Although the wolf technically didn’t commit rape against Red in the original variant and wasn’t a “werewolf” physically, his actions are still deemed predatory in all aspects of committing risk of injury to a minor since Red lost her innocence. With the wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood” correlating itself to a horrid crime that the most depraved individuals commit, the wolf is often associated with negative traits according to “Little Red Riding Hood: Werewolf and Prostitute” by Richard Chase and David Teasly, they describe the term “wolf” refers to “a devil lover, deceiver, and trickster” (774) which is biblical terms that give the wolf the worthy title of an antagonist. Even in other fairy tales that use a wolf such as “The Three Little Pigs” and “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”, the wolf is also characterized as an antagonist, with the wolf in “The Three Little Pigs” motive for blowing down the pigs houses is to eat them, and in “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” disguising himself as a sheep to further prey on a herd of sheep. In total, the term “wolf” has a negative meaning in fairy tales, with traits such as deception and manipulation being inscribed onto a wolf which is completely normalized and establishes their characterization even if there’s a wolf that doesn’t have these traits.

     As “Little Red Riding Hood” delves into the themes of predatory behavior around children through the portrayal of the wolf, it also highlights traditional gender roles/dynamics that were mainly prevalent back then and how they connect to predatory behavior. When it comes to gender roles/dynamics in fairy tales in general, the female is always painted in a pitiful, positive light as she works through the situations they’re put in to have the best ending possible. As a young girl, Red suffers the most since women during the era of fairy tales are considered inferior to men and are more susceptible to dangers if they aren’t wise or vigilant enough about others and their surroundings. This is evident through Red’s actions, although she can’t be blamed, as she is too young to understand the dangers of the outside world and the risks of encountering unknown/suspicious individuals. On the other hand, males are often portrayed as antagonists, one who desires “possession” or “consumption” over a female through the use of physical force or psychological mind games which in turn, can be seen as predatory behavior. This is highly evident with the wolf, being characterized as “dangerous and cunning” from “Little Red Riding Hood: Then and Now” by Faye Johnson and Carole Caroll, which is explicitly described in masculine terms (76), as he controls what’s about to occur. Furthermore, according to “Erotic Infedilities: Angela Carter’s Wolf Trilogy” by Kimberly Lau, “the Old English term “wer” or “were” specifically means “man” as a biological category”, and the term “werewolf” has historically been associated with men because of their masculinity as they can easily overpower a woman strength-wise (82). With all of this, the wolf is an embodiment of a metaphor for sexual control and predation. This is also reflected in the times when men’s power over women was normalized and built upon as a discriminatory culture that is mainly seen in third-world countries today. As stated in “Little Red Riding Hood: Werewolf and Prostitute”, claims that “The tale reveals a social order in which women required masculine protection and guidance. Any female who chose to be alone placed herself outside of the norm” (769), adding to the patriarchal system and guidelines that were meant to be followed by both gender roles. If either didn’t comply, then they would have to face the punishment from external parties.

     Overall, “Little Red Riding Hood” has many hidden messages and themes that range from predatory behavior to highlighting the traditional gender roles that were prevalent back then and even in today’s standards although it isn’t as reinforced. From an analytical standpoint, the wolf has been a main staple in how all the aspects of the tale have been thoroughly studied to create these interpretations that most people wouldn’t have thought of or caught when reading the story.

MLA Works Cited

Carter, Angela. (1984). Company of Wolves [Video/Trailer]. Youtube. The Company of Wolves (1984) – Official Trailer

Chase, Richard. Teasley, David. “Little Red Riding Hood: Werewolf and Prostitute” The  Historian, Vol. 54, No. 4, pp. 769-776. Jstor. https://www-jstor-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/stable/24449269?searchText=Little+Red+Riding+Hood+%22Symbolism%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DLittle%2BRed%2BRiding%2BHood%2B%2522Symbolism%2522%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_phrase_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ae5a1d03d6e16ec889be02f880db859c4&seq=1

Johnson, Faye. Caroll, Carole.”Little Red Riding Hood: Then and Now.” Studies in Popular Culture, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1992, pp. 71-84. Jstor. https://www-jstor-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/stable/45018122?searchText=Little+Red+Riding+Hood+%22Behavior%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DLittle%2BRed%2BRiding%2BHood%2B%2522Behavior%2522%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_phrase_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A993f11c8ec9515ae3a99e69e6b7d83f6&seq=7

Lau, Kimberly. “Erotic Infedilties: Angela Carter’s Wolf Trilogy.” Marvels & Tales, Vol. 22, No.1, 2008, pp. 77-94. Jstor https://www-jstor-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/stable/41388860?searchText=%22Little+Red+Riding+Hood%22+%22Predator%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2522Little%2BRed%2BRiding%2BHood%2522%2B%2522Predator%2522%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_phrase_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A552c235fce654b6b2e8063c82d406e3a&seq=9

Perrault, Charles. The Complete Fairy Tales. OUP Oxford, 2009. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=302377&site=ehost-live.

Vaz da Silva, Francisco. “Teaching Symbolism in Little Red Riding Hood.” New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales, 2016, pp. 172-184. Google Scholar. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3u73DAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA172&dq=little+red+riding+hood+%22symbolism%22&ots=BatfCzGK4W&sig=cclT_2WxZ1oAn4qhLzgs0ZtaixM#v=onepage&q=little%20red%20riding%20hood%20%22symbolism%22&f=false