Fairytales play an important role in the formation of personality in childhood. Knowing this, most parents read stories to their children. In fact, every fairy tale has a moral lesson that is presented in the form of a narrative. And children, by reading stories, automatically learn certain truths. However, some fairy tales might be more than instructive stories. Sometimes they can have quite ambiguous subtext. This paper analyzes the fairy tale "Red Riding Hood" by Charles Perrault. Probably everyone used to read this story as a child. It seemed that everything is clear in it. This paper presents a deep interdisciplinary analysis of this tale, which encounters the second bottom of this tale.
The fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” by Charles Perrault is so well-known that there is no need to recall the plot. The little girl lives with her mother. The first question is where is the dad of this girl? Does he exist in nature or is he dead? It is unknown. The reader can only operate on the facts, and they are stubborn: it is a family where there are no men.
So, the girl`s mother bakes cakes and sends her into the dark forest. And, despite the fact that the mother, as it is stated in a fairy tale, loved a girl with no memory, she nevertheless tells her to go to grandmother. Why did mother let her daughter walk in a dark forest alone? There are several ideas. The first is that the mother is ill (perhaps she drinks), or very naive. The second is that mother wants to get rid of her daughter forever. The third explanation is that the mother decided to have fun sent her daughter out of the house. In the forest Little Red Riding Hood immediately stumbles upon Wolf. Mom is an adult woman, so she should have known, that the forest is the habitat of wolves, that it is dangerous, and that the little girl could get lost. And yet, the mother sends her daughter to the forest. Here, the reader faces with a situation where the parents, who should have taught their children to take care of themselves and to warn them of the dangers, are not doing this for some reasons.
Wolf is also an interesting character. It looks like a promiscuous man, susceptible to various temptations. He quickly turns the game with a well thought-out Little Red Riding Hood. He has a plan, he wants to eat two women at once (the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood). An intelligent man would ask at least something about the family. After all, if neither the grandmother nor mother do not have a husband, it means that in this family men disappear somewhere. But the wolf was nervous, naive, and he did not care.
If to consider that in the Charles Perrault`s times people married early, the grandmother apparently was not even fifty years old. She used to be quite a young woman. In the fairy tale the grandma seems to be specially prepared and already in bed. She does not live with her daughter for some reasons. Apparently for her it is more fun to live alone on the edge of the village. When Wolf knocks, naive grandmother for some strange reasons does not distinguish his voice from the voice of her granddaughter. Is this not strange?
However, if the grandmother can be justified due to some health problems, Little Red Riding Hood can not be. She is not surprised because of the rough voice of "grandmother" behind the door. A normal girl would run for help, but Red Riding Hood bravely enters the house of the grandmother. Further more, for her it is not surprising that "grandma" offers her to put the basket on the table and lay down next to her. If grandmother was really ill, she should have been afraid of infecting her granddaughter. But Little Red Riding Hood obediently gets into bed with the wolf and "naively" wonders: why are you, grandma, your hands, ears, and eyes are so big? (Reid, 2014) This episode has an obvious sexual overtones. Hard to believe that Little Red Riding Hood is so naive. Seems like she already knows what final is waiting for the stupid Wolf. That is why she plays with confidence in her game.
At first glance, these are the wolves who are dangerous and insidious in the case of such "Little Red Riding Hood," the wolves are always the losers, as they are usually lured and "thrown away". Little Red Riding Hood knows that there is always the hunter, woodsman, or knight, who will save the poor little girl and punish the evil wolf. But, unfortunately, there are always a lot of hunters, and dexterous Red Riding Hoods, thanks to an innocent look and attractive appearance, lure their next victim, which is ready to succumb to Red Riding Hoods` manipulations. By and large, dysfunctional family creates the same patterns from generation to generation, and if grandmother somehow "ate" her grandfather, as well as mother, the granddaughter will also entertain in this way. Karpman (2011) states that «Ageing, for Little Red Riding Hood, probably means first playing her mother and later her grandmother» (Karpman, 2011). Little Red Riding Hood knows how to spoil the life of a man who thinks he is the Wolf. In fact, a real predator in this tale is Little Red Riding Hood, which only seems to be an innocent and naive small girl.
Firstly, Red Riding Hood takes care of her appearance. She is bright, attractive and, despite her age (fourteen or under fifty), she tries to look like an innocent girl.
Secondly, Red Riding Hood looks cute and totally secure. She also seems very naive when saying to any man "Oh, you are a top manager in a large company!" and counting his salary with amazing accuracy in her head.
Thirdly, it is necessary to say that Red Riding Hood is a woman, who is not ready for a mature relationship. Psychologically, she was stuck between childhood and adolescence. She does not have her formed “I”, which should be based on her own values, desires, plans and knowledge. That is why she always tempts men, but she can not hold in close human relationships with them.
Fourthly, such woman is a wizard in creating triangles. She is often likely to have someone else who will save her from the wolf. She plays in such a game as long as she does not get bored with the game, or until the wolf does not require a serious attitude to him. However, the rescuer of the Red Riding Hood often finds himself the next victim in her long chain of wolves. First he saves her, then he is rejected, impaired and charged.
Fifthly, the woman of such type is always the winner. She is a professional player who "pulls" the Wolf into her field and makes him so what she needs. She gets pleasure from the process. Moreover, she sincerely believes that the Wolf is guilty in all her troubles, and that he should be punished for all his sins. Such a woman is often very convincing when it comes to the trial for the division of property, in the issues of children custody, and in the stories about the mother-bloodsucker-in-law.
And finally, Red Riding Hoods are usually a bad mother, wife and employee. They often leave a good first impression, but then they destroy the life of people around.
In the end, it is necessary to say that everyone should be wary of Red Riding Hoods, in order not to be physically or psychologically killed and unjustly accused. Those who are familiar with the Red Riding Hoods in reality, are often very sorry about that day, when they met. Therefore, the real Wolf in the fairy tale is she, the girl with the name Little Red Riding Hood. The conclusion is simple: not every obvious thing is exactly what it seems. It is the real reason why the "Little Red Riding Hood" has been the subject of psychoanalysts` analysis.
References
Karpman, S. B. (2011). Fairy tales and script drama analysis. Group Facilitation, (11), 49.
Reid, J. (2014, November). Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: Transgressive Sexualities in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’and Angela Carter. Postgraduate English: A Journal and Forum for Postgraduates in English (No. 29).
