Ghita Oana Madalina

Implicit vs. Explicit

Little Red Riding Hood

Since the beginning of times people used to tell little children tales. Some of them

were real stories and some of them imaginative anecdotes that were based, little or less, on

true facts. Later, they became what we call today “fairytales”.

At first sight, the study of fairytales doesn’t raise any difficulties. But after a more

careful approach we start to realise that, actually, there is more to a fairytale.

“Little Red Riding Hood” is a good example of a complex tale. Its psychoanalysis

reveals another gruesome side of the story. If, when you were little, you thought that the

moral of it is to always listen to your parents and never trust strangers, growing up you start

seeing the other façade of it. Innumerable interpretations show the multiple sides of the bad

wolf or the course of the events. There are versions originally from France (“The

Grandmother”), Poland (“Little Red Hood”) or Austria (“Little Red Hat”).

Nevertheless, the most famous is the one collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It

shows that disobedience or straying off the “straight and narrow” path of parental dictates is

dangerous and might lead to injury or even death. Still, you could always be entitled to a

second chance. Even if Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother were eaten by the wolf,

they were rescued by the huntsman, a paternal figure of the story.

Other author that has rewritten this tale is Charles Marelles with his authentic “The

True History of Little Golden-Hood”. Reading the title, we realise that this story is something

else. The red cape, a symbol of passion, sexuality or reaching adulthood as a woman is

replaced by a golden hood, which could be a representation of power, richness or even the

golden sun. This version explicitly states that the story had been mistold earlier. The girl is

saved, but not by the huntsman; when the wolf tries to eat her, its mouth is burned by the

golden hood she wears, which is enchanted. Therefore, the hood is here a protector for the

girl, a token that keeps her safe and kills the wolf.

Also, the antagonist is not always a wolf, but sometimes an ogre or a 'bzou'

(werewolf). In the last case the wolf leaves the grandmother’s blood and meat for the girl to

eat, who then, unwittingly, cannibalizes her own grandmother. Furthermore, the wolf was

also known to ask her to remove her clothing and toss it into the fire. After getting in bed

with him, the girl succeeds in tricking him and goes back home. This story bewilders by its

content and also by its language, a very graphic one. Words like ’killed’, ‘slut’, ‘tobacco’ or

‘load’ show that this is not a fairytale for children, but a narration intended to warn grown-

ups of the dangers in the world.

However, the very first adaptation was in 1679 by Charles Perrault in his collection

of fairy tales “Histoires et contes du temps passé, avec des moralités. Contes de ma mère

l'Oye”.

His version is much more realistic and even horrid, if we see the actual message of it:

a girl seduced, raped and murdered by a ‘’beast’’.

Even from the first line ( Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little

country girl) we are transported in a known place- “a certain village’’. Usually, in fairytales

the plot is set in a mythical area that could be anywhere in this world.

If in Grimm’s version the girl is told not to stray from her path and to behave herself,

Perrault is not giving any advice. This could mean that, maybe, the little girl in its story is

more mature. Even so she will be allured by the bad wolf.

The ending scene is so concrete, that it leaves little to the imagination. The girl takes

off her clothes and gets into bed with the “wolf”. By now it is clear that the wolf is not an

animal, but a man that seduces the Little Red Riding Hood and succeeds in devouring her. At

the end, the author states the moral of the story: nice ladies should not to listen to all sorts of

strangers. If they do, it is not surprising that the wolf will get them and eat them up. As for

wolves, these come in all variations, and the gentle ones are the most dangerous of all,

particularly those who follow young girls into the streets. Perrault wanted not only to

entertain his audience, but to teach a specific moral lesson with his tales.

In his ‘Uses of Enchantment’, Bruno Bettelheim criticises the rationalist perspective

of Perrault’s story, stating that a fairytale loses its charm if its content is explained. What he

failed to realise is that Le Petit Chaperon Rouge is not a story for youngsters, but a warning

for the girls during those times. Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood, mirrors life in the

seventeenth century.

The violence and rape towards woman in this particular time era in France became a

major problem and men’s reputations during those times were getting worse by the increasing

number of rape offenses.

The choice of veiling the grim part of this anecdotes was a good decision for many

writers. Reading to a child a horror story would be impossible. Making it more captivating

and cheerful is the best way of spreading it and making it more popular.

In my opinion, the changes made throughout time were a necessity. The society and

its thinking is in a never ending evolution, so the many paraphrasings had to be made. Also,

the interpretations are different from every region, so it could also be a matter of culture and

tradition.

Even so, we should always be aware of the true meaning of The Red Riding Hood:

that looks could be deceiving, the forest (maybe a symbol of life) is full of temptations and

ignoring the elder’s advice might lead to disastrous consequences.