Little Red Riding Hood
The Protagonist
The character of Little Red Riding hood has never enjoyed an easy life. She is a peasant, and it appears that she does not have a Father. As a result, Little Red Riding Hood seems to be quite close with her Mother and Grandmother.
She began her fame by being eaten by a wolf, and was later saved by the male hero (Orenstein, 2002). In various versions, she is beautiful, spoiled and helpless. In Perrault’s Le Petite Chaperon Rouge, the hero of the story is absent and therefore, there is no one to save her.
Little Red Riding Hood is gullible, and trusts too easy. Consequently, helpless and unaware of the danger, the protagonist loses her life to the fierce, veracious wolf. Similarly, in Grimm’s Little Red Cap, the protagonist is described as a sweet, innocent girl and “everyone who saw her, loved her” (Zipes, 1993). It is evident that the she is spoiled and well liked.
In both Grimm and Perrault’s versions Little Red Riding Hood lives in the middle of the forest, where she is free to live in a fantasy world. Her innocence and vulnerability hide beneath her red cloak, and she continues to trust strangers, and take their advice.
A young, innocent peasant girl. She certainly resembles Little Red Riding Hood.
Whereas in the oral tradition, the protagonist appears to be a young, innocent girl stepping into the adolescence world for the first time (Verdier, 2013). This young women wants love, fantasy and to be a woman.
Is she a good girl gone wrong when she listens to the wolf’s advice on which path to take?
Furthermore, in modern adaptions, the protagonist is seen a sexy, witty young women (Orenstein, 2002). She sleeps with men, who happen to be the night killing wolf. She has also been known to strip her clothes off and get into bed with the wolf. It seems, that over time, the protagonist has been sexualised for entertainment. Her innocence, purity and moral has been lost. However, her vulnerability still lies dormant within her.
Little Red Riding Hood in the sxiteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century. She was innocent, pure, and helpess.
Little Red Riding Hood in the twenty first century. She is a sexy, witty women. She has been known to be seen without her famous red cloak.
Perhaps Little Red Riding Hood has just grown up?