little red cap
“Little Red-Cap.”
An interpretation
8.10.2013
Little Red Cap is a poem written by Carol Ann Duffy in 1999. The action in the poem revolves around a young girl who is also the speaker in this poem, she tells her story through a first person narrative perspective. The personas are two characters a young girl and a wolf. Her story is about the transaction from being a little girl to being a woman, with lust and curiosity towards men, but the poem takes a sudden turn towards the end when she kills the wolf which is presented as an allegorical element and as a symbol for a man.
In this poem it is easy to interpret that the man is fabricated into an imagery role as a wolf. Such as in the first stanza when she clapped eyes on the wolf. An explanation to this interpretation could be the association which is given already in the headline; “little red cap” and towards Grimm Brothers fairytale “little red riding hood”. The tone of speech is through the young girl and it expresses independence and an adventures way of talking to the readers in an informal way.
The action in the fairy tale is also about a young girl, but she gets lost and the wolf wants to eat her. In this poem the setting is quite different. It is almost like the young girl takes the role as the hunter; “she made it quite clear that he spotted her.” The girl wants the wolf to see her even though she is innocent and hiding, showing her virginity as the same time as she is giving into the wolf; “sweet sixteen, never been, babe, waif, and brought me a drink.” Later in the last stanza the girl takes the fairy tale hero role as the hunter, now she is the one killing the wolf and filling the wolf’s belly with stones. In fairy tales the hero is the one who saves the day. For the girl in this contest to engage the heroic part of the story is a brave and shows her transaction into being an independent woman.
Other similarities connected between the fairy tale and the poem is in the second stanza; “What big
An interpretation
8.10.2013
Little Red Cap is a poem written by Carol Ann Duffy in 1999. The action in the poem revolves around a young girl who is also the speaker in this poem, she tells her story through a first person narrative perspective. The personas are two characters a young girl and a wolf. Her story is about the transaction from being a little girl to being a woman, with lust and curiosity towards men, but the poem takes a sudden turn towards the end when she kills the wolf which is presented as an allegorical element and as a symbol for a man.
In this poem it is easy to interpret that the man is fabricated into an imagery role as a wolf. Such as in the first stanza when she clapped eyes on the wolf. An explanation to this interpretation could be the association which is given already in the headline; “little red cap” and towards Grimm Brothers fairytale “little red riding hood”. The tone of speech is through the young girl and it expresses independence and an adventures way of talking to the readers in an informal way.
The action in the fairy tale is also about a young girl, but she gets lost and the wolf wants to eat her. In this poem the setting is quite different. It is almost like the young girl takes the role as the hunter; “she made it quite clear that he spotted her.” The girl wants the wolf to see her even though she is innocent and hiding, showing her virginity as the same time as she is giving into the wolf; “sweet sixteen, never been, babe, waif, and brought me a drink.” Later in the last stanza the girl takes the fairy tale hero role as the hunter, now she is the one killing the wolf and filling the wolf’s belly with stones. In fairy tales the hero is the one who saves the day. For the girl in this contest to engage the heroic part of the story is a brave and shows her transaction into being an independent woman.
Other similarities connected between the fairy tale and the poem is in the second stanza; “What big