Preview

Critical Analysis of Red Riding Hood Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
758 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Critical Analysis of Red Riding Hood Essay Example
Critical Analysis: Little Red Riding Hood

The story of Little Red Riding Hood has been around for years. Throughout the years this story has been told many different ways. The story began as a folk tale that European mothers and nurses told to young children. The fable soon came to the attention of Charles Perrault (1628-1703). He was a French attorney who turned into a poet, writer, and anthologist. He published one version of the story in a 1697 collection of fairy tales, which is a book that became a French juvenile classic. The story was soon revised by the Grimm brothers which is the version known today. The moral of Little Red Riding Hood is to show that children should obey their mothers when they tell them about walking through dangerous areas and to beware of seemingly friendly strangers.

Little Red Riding Hood starts with the setting of a small cottage in the middle of a thick forest which is the home of a humble girl name Little Red Riding Hood. One day, her mother said, "Grandma is ill. Take her this basket of cakes, but be very careful. Keep to the path through the wood and don't ever stop. That way, you will come to no harm." Her mother plainly told her to follow the path to her grandmother’s house and never to stop; that way she can be safe. She disobeyed her mother by not staying on the path which will cause her to eventually meet the wolf, who is popular for playing the villain in most fables. “Little Red Riding Hood ran back and forth popping strawberries into her mouth… In the meantime, two wicked eyes were spying on her from behind a tree a strange rustling in the woods made Little Red Riding Hood's heart thump.” When she felt that someone was spying on her or when she heard strange noises, she should turn back or kept going on the path. The author made her get off the path several times by causing distractions such as butterflies which is a good because is shows no matter how great temptation is one should follow a mother’s orders.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Grimm Brothers describe Little Red Cap forcing the wolf “down the roof” with the smell of sausage, and consequentially drowning in the trough (Tatar 16). “Little Dread Riding Hood” portrays that heroic scene by designing a presumably older little red riding hood riding a wolf as though it was a horse. This domestication, or possibly dead body, of the wolf into a play toy demonstrations how little red riding hood matures, and is able to defend herself against the wolf rather than relying on someone else, the huntsman, to save…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “The Grinnies” is an entertaining essay about a young girl who had grown up with a term that she thought everyone knew. It was only through what was perceived as a bad grade that she found out that everyone did not know what she was talking about.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prejudice in "To Kill A Mockingbird" Prejudice is a many faced demon which comes in many shapes and disguises. The point that it often goes ignored or unnoticed and shows up in the most unlikely places is what makes it an even more dangerous thing. This is extremely evident in the novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird'. The first sign of prejudice in the novel is shown by the Finch children regarding Arthur (Boo) Radley.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eng 125, Week 2

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Many short stories have been written throughout time. Many are just for entertainment, but many of them are for teaching a lesson. Little Red Riding Hood was written partly to teach a lesson. In France, a girl that loses her virginity is said to have “seen a wolf.” That is what this story is based on. Little Red Riding Hood is about a little girl that runs in to a wolf in the forest as she is on her way to her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother was ill and her mother baked some food to make her feel better, in which Little Red Riding Hood was taking to her grandmother. When she met the wolf, the wolf was thinking he did not want to attack the girl because there were workers in the area and he did not want there to be any witnesses. Therefore, the wolf gained the trust of the little girl in just a short time so he can learn where the grandmother lived. The little girl, being naïve, gave the location of her grandmother’s house to the wolf. The end result was the death of the grandmother and the little girl because the wolf ate both of them.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hoodwink Analysis

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hoodwinked is an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood put into today’s context. In this version, the Police have been called to investigate the recent events that have occurred at Granny’s house. At the same time, recipes throughout the forest are being swiped by the ‘Goodie Bandit’, causing all the goodie shops to go out of business. Back at Granny’s house, the police interview all the suspects at the scene, Red, Wolf, Granny and the woodcutter, and each of the characters tell their own version of what happened. Throughout these stories you begin to learn more about each character and you begin to see how today’s society has changed the movie which makes it stand out from the original. In the movie,…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2.12 english

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sharing her destination with the wolf turns out to be a bad choice. When Little Red Riding Hood arrives at her grandmother's house, she finds her grandmother looks much like the wolf that she met in the forest. She notes her grandmother's large ears, long nose, and sharp teeth, to which the wolf replies, "All the better to eat you with!" Innocent Little Red Riding Hood is spared by a hunter who happens to hear the exchange between the girl and the wolf. As if the fear induced by a scary wolf that threatens to eat a child does not communicate the message clearly enough, the tale closes by saying,…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    For my Rhetoric-In-Practice (RIP), I decided to write fracture fairy tales on "Hansel and Gretel", "The Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Ugly Duckling". I take upon the role of Rory Madden, an experienced children's author promoting his newest book The Modernize Collection of Fairy Tales on his website. In my book, each fairy tale is revamped to target a modern audience and to address a specific issue with children and modern technology. My collection of fairy tales targets two audiences, my primary audience is third and fourth graders; meanwhile, my secondary audience is parents.…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jem wrote a note to Boo in the knothole which was Boo Radley to thank him for the gray ball of twine, the soap carvings, the gum, the spelling bee medal, and the pocket watch. And also the note said “We're askin' him real politely to come out sometimes, and tell us what he does in there- we said we wouldn't hurt him and we'd buy him an ice cream."…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Art falls under the umbrella of literature, allowing it to be crucial part of how literature is viewed and analyzed, whether it is critiquing the text or providing a deeper meaning for the text. Hence, Sharon Singer’s paintings of well-known fairy tales function as literary comments and critiques of those stories. In Singer’s image of little red riding hood, named “Little Dread Riding Hood”, there is a vital part that depicts Dread wearing or riding the wolf. Arguably, the skates Dread wears signify she is probably riding the wolf, as though he is a “hobby horse” (Zipes 2). However, whether she is wearing or riding the wolf, she is using his body, mirroring the version of the famous fairy tale by Roald Dohl when Little Red Riding Hood kills…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “We are not supposed to go out and kill all those we suspect to have committed a crime.” (Bianca Jagger). In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the reader discovers many characters that could symbolize the mockingbird. The mockingbird symbolizes Tom Robinson because he was innocent yet found guilty and wrongfully killed.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    a.i Boo Radley is a man who is feared by the society even though he has done nothing wrong…

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I decided to rewrite the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” because it seemed very fitting in relation to my topic of rape. In the story, Little Red is tricked by a wolf into taking off her red hood that protects her from wolves. She is then attacked by the wolf, and afterwards she runs to the village begging for help. Unfortunately no one will help her; they give the responses countless give to victims of sexual assault, and so Little Red cries. Then a hunter decides to help her and teaches her how to defend herself, they kill the wolf and Little Red is never a victim again. However, unlike this story, most rape victims never receive a happy ending, and never receive justice.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mallet states that little red riding hood shares similar trait with her grandma and mother that they are women without men and show they haven’t conduct sexual relationship for a long time. The kinship between them reveals psychoanalytic criticism that one’s action is resulting from another one’s unconscious desire. The mother is the daughter of the grandma, and little red riding hood is the daughter of the mother where each of them carries expectations from their mothers. From the text, it mentions "Indirectly, Red Riding Hood's mother satisfies some of her sexual needs in the character of the grandmother. But, in addition, the mother seeks vicarious fulfillment through her daughter, with whom she identifies herself" (Mallet 9). The father of little red riding hood never appears in Perrault's version of the story which implies to the loneliness from the mother. The wolf eats the grandma who shows her satisfaction of sex from man and fulfillment of her daughter's sexual need from the absence of a husband. The grandma and the mother are each other’s second identities that they share feelings, and one of them accomplishes action can fill up another’s needs. Similarly, little red riding hood shares the bond with her mother, and she carries her mother's expectation of attracting the wolf. According to the text, it mentions "...the one expressed in words, to "walk decently" and stay out of trouble, and the underlying, unspoken message, to go out and seduce the wolf of her mother's vicarious pleasure" (Mallet 9-11). The author suggests little red riding hood's conflict with self and her mother is her another side of self that wants her to experience the sex. Little red riding hood's experience in sex is same as her mother having sex with the wolf in the little girl's body. The expression of the superego,…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A child learns so much from interacting with its surroundings. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jeremy Finch does a whole lot of learning. Jem and Scout witness some of the evils of man and learn important lessons from them. However, Jem understands most of the events going on around him than his younger sibling Scout. From roughly the age of 10 through 13 we see how much Jeremy (Jem) Finch has evolved from the point-of-view of his little sister, Jean-Louise (Scout) Finch, which gives an exceptional perspective on his growth.…

    • 730 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The king figure in fairy tales for example stand for more than high power. They often idealize the dreams of lower class people. Kings would embody the ideal reality that everyone was striving to achieve. This was partially only achievable because the people writing these stories are within the lower class so fairy tales were their way of escaping their real lives. This would give a voice to their aspirations and give them an escape from their simple lives. Characters outer appearance correlates to its inner appearance. A mean witch is often dressed in dark colors because she has bad intentions. A king iss dressed well because he is the image of ultimate success. Characters are not the only aspects of fairy tales that have multifaceted meanings. Fairy tales teach lessons of self-control to develop skills to help children have control over themselves as well as their surroundings. Fairy tales ending in showers of wealth and glory are common because they teach nonmaterial rewards like pride are more important than material wealth. This book is interesting because it focuses less on how important fairy tales are to the development of children and more that fairy tales are more complex than they seem to be. They teach lessons beyond role modeling; they teach lessons about creating and executing a plan, standing up for others and believing in yourself. Author touched on points…

    • 1154 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays