The Wicked Wolf and the Innocent Girl

Wood-Ward
Assignment LRRH Done

The Wicked Wolf and the Innocent Girl
As long as there have been pretty little girls who have wanted to grow quickly, there have been predators that use their charm and cunning to play off the innocence of these girls in order to devour them. Such is the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood.”
Little Red Riding Hood, in Charles Perrault's original 1697 version, is introduced as “the prettiest creature that was ever seen.” He goes on to states that “her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmother doted on her still more.” In Perrault’s tale, the grandmother makes Little Red Riding Hood a red capuchin to wear. Monica Daniels explains that “In the eighteenth century a riding-hood or capuchin was a large, soft hood with a deep cape attached, faced with a coloured lining, worn by all classes.” Orenstein suggests that Perrault finds his heroine ready for the world in that he chose to cloak her in red as “red, the color of harlots, scandal and blood, symbolizing her sin and foreshadowing her fate.” This color is attributed to a more adult garment, suggesting both the grandmother and mother think Little Red Riding Hood is ready to venture out on her own, as it was given to Little Red Riding Hood by her grandmother and her mother sends her out into the world alone wearing it. It may even suggest Little Red Riding Hood herself thinks she is ready to handle the world because we are told “she wanted to wear it all the time” (Grimm). This idea is supported by Windling who notes that “Red would have been an unusually flamboyant color choice for an unmarried girl; more modest attire, the text implies, might not have attracted the attention of the wolf. Her attractiveness is not lost on the wolf who croons “Hey there Little Red Riding Hood, You sure are looking good” (Blackwell).
One day this little girl is sent on an errand by her mother to her Grandmother’s house. Along the way, in the woods, she encounters a wolf that has a “great mind to eat her up, but [who] dared not, because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest” (Perrault). Little Red Riding Hood “who did not know that it was dangerous to stay and talk to a wolf” stops to talk with him. This is demonstrative of her youth and feeling that she can handle talking to a stranger. The wolf comes “frisking up to her like a good dog.” It is clear “the wolf has a certain wicked charm” (Daniels), as “he calls her by name and she misinterprets this to mean that the wolf knows her” (Marelles). The wolf begins to question her as to her destination.
A note should be made that in the time of the Perrault tale men and women were not to socialize in public and so would “frequent salons where men and women could mix more casually than was possible at court“(Windling). And so the wolf plots to get her away from onlookers by using his charm and inviting her to play a game with him and race to the grandmother’s. The wolf says, "I'll go and see her too. I'll go this way and go you that, and we shall see who will be there first" (Perrault). In her innocence Little Red Riding Hood buys into the ruse completely. In the Grimm tale the wolf says “Listen, Little Red Cap, haven't you seen the beautiful flowers that are blossoming in the woods? Why don't you go and take a look? And I don't believe you can hear how beautifully the birds are singing. You are walking along as though you were on your way to school in the village. It is very beautiful in the woods." While an argument can be made that it matters who is the distracter, in the end the distraction is what matters, and it is the result of her youth. So along she goes, “the little girl . . . [entertains] herself by gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and gathering bouquets of little flowers” (Perrault). It is here that we begin to see the wolf’s predatory nature with his plotting to get her out of the public eye, and by distracting her with a longer route, knows he will beat her to the grandmothers so that he can lay in wait for Little Red Riding Hood’s arrival.
The wolf quickly arrives at Grandmother’s and “counterfeits” Little Red Riding Hood’s voice, and deceives the grandmother, thus gaining entry into the house where he proceeds to eat the grandmother and take her place. For him, this element of familial deception is essential as Little Red Riding Hood is expecting to find her ailing grandmother and not the Wolf. Again we see that the wolf is a predator and is cunning as he easily could have attacked her either in the forest or when she arrived at the house, but he takes the extra effort to disguise himself as the grandmother to draw her into bed with him. He has already eaten the grandmother so we know he is not hungry. At this point he is luring Little Red Riding Hood into bed with him so that he can devour her sexually. Windling notes that Perrault ends his tale with a moral stating that “Now there are real wolves, with hair pelts and enormous teeth…but also wolves who seem perfectly charming, sweet-natured and obliging, who pursue young girls in the street and pay them the most flattering attention. Unfortunately, these smooth-tongued, smooth-pelted wolves are the most dangerous of all.”
Finally Little Red Riding Hood arrives at the grandmother’s house and notes that something isn’t right. However, Little Red Riding Hood still chooses to enter the house and the bedroom despite her reservations. It is here that she demonstrates both her youth and eagerness to grow up and enter a situation that may be more than she bargained for. In the Grimm tale she asks herself “"Oh, my God, why am I so afraid? I usually like it at grandmother’s.” In the Marelles tale, as she encounters the wolf dressed as her grandmother in bed she notes “How like you are to friend Wolf, Grandmother.” It is here we enter the crux of the tales. Instead of turning and running from the wolf Little Red Riding Hood proceeds to do a slow striptease for the wolf and get into bed with him. As Windling points out, in reference to “The Grandmother’s Tale,” “the slow striptease demanded by the wolf hints at another kind of appetite, as does the fact that the bzou is not just a wolf, but also a man.”
In a dance of seduction between girl and wolf she begins to question the wolf about his different features. She proceeds to taunt him, “why what big arms you have,” “why what big legs you have,” “why hairy arms you have” and ultimately “why so large teeth you have,” drawing attention to his mouth. One can argue that she asks these questions in an attempt at seduction, but due to her youth, does not know what the consequence of this taunting will be. At that point the wolf attacks Little Red Riding Hood. The question here is who is the real seducer? Windling states that “Perrault's story addresses the subject of seduction and rape.” However, she attributes the seduction to the wolf and states that “her fate is as merciless as that of girls seduced by wolves in human skin.” Orenstein takes the position that Perrault’s wolf was the ultimate charmer “who insinuated his way into the best beds in town, deflowering young women.”
In summation, the Perrault tale is geared to young girls who are coming into their femininity and thus their impending sexual maturation. It is designed to keep girls chaste and virginal by avoiding talking to dapper charming strangers as the stranger may be wolves in human form whose only motive is to devour young women. Ultimately, it was the wolf that got what he wanted. Little Red Riding Hood paid for her game with the loss of her innocence.