Little Red Riding Hood Comparison

In each version of The Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf is a stranger who cannot be trusted yet Little Red trusts him anyway. In every version he asks Little Red where she is going knowing she is a naïve child. This reflects that in each time period and each culture there predators prowling on children. In each version the wolf tricks Little Red the same, telling her that taking her time and enjoying the outdoors is more important than seeing her grandmother. This proves that in each culture all predators were the same, tricking young ones to lead to their doom. However the wolf differs in each version, In Perrault’s version her asks Little Red to take off her clothes showing that he had more than just the intention of eating her. In the Brothers

Bill Delany writes a scholarly article about the meaning of Little Red Riding Hood and describes how because of Little Reds actions the story goes the way it does. “The timid old lady asks, “Who’s there?” Because the little girl has given the stranger a vital piece of information, the wolf easily gains entrance” (Delany 2). Also in each version her mother tells her a vital piece of advice that Little Red does not follow. Her mother states in each version “Behave yourself on the way, and do not leave the path, or you might fall down and break the glass” (Brothers Grimm 26.) This to the normal eye could mean for her to be careful not to break the bottle of wine she is bringing for her grandmother, however is a deeper view this means for her to be careful not to stray from her path and to keep her purity intact which in the end she fails to do with each version. Charles-Heinz Mallet is a director at a school for special ed children and has written multiple books on the psychoanalytic study of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. In his article “Little Red Riding Hood; Rated R” he compiles research done on the Grimm’s fairytale and reveals more than just the normal meaning of a quote form the story. “Her advice to Red Riding Hood is disguised…the real meaning of the warning is stay on the right path or you will lose your innocence and be a fallen

But with each culture and time period the story differs. “In the earlier French adaptations of the story, the conversation is laced with sexy innuendo: the wolf asks her to get in bed with him and she complies quite happily” (Douglas 4) However as time goes on things become less taboo and clean cut for children to read. From telling young girls to get into bed, to getting cut open and having rocks thrown inside his belly, to simply eating Little Red, in each version the wolf plays the role of the antagonist but is portrayed slightly different with the newer the version the less taboo he