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Sarah King
ENG 303
David Elias
October 9, 2017
“Little Red Riding Hood” Rhetorical Analysis
The fairytale “Little Red Riding Hood” details the story of a young girl who, when

visiting her sick grandmother, trusts an unfamiliar wolf, eventually leading the wolf to eat both

the girl and her grandmother. The true purpose of the reading is to warn children, especially little

girls, about the dangers of trusting strangers; however, depending on which version is being read,

the reasons for not trusting them can be different. In Charles Perrault’s version “Le Petit

Chaperon Rouge,” the reason is that the stranger might have sexually corrupt agendas, but in the

Brother Grimm’s version “Little Red Cap,” they use this experience to instill obedience into

Little Red after she goes against her mother’s rules. The historical and cultural contexts

surrounding these stories as well as the authors’ use of word choice, literary devices, and

emotional appeal are weaved together not just to entertain children but so they can translate

specific messages to them as well.

The historical context surrounding Charles Perrault’s version demonstrates the types of

influences on the story and why he added the sexual connotations to the fairytale. Perrault’s

version is considered the foundation of the fairytale. Little Red Riding Hood goes to see her

grandmother, meets the wolf, and eventually tells him where she is going. The wolf then rushes

to Grandmother’s house, eats her, and, after pretending to be Grandmother, the wolf eats Little

Red Riding Hood. This story was first told by 17th-cenrury peasants who orally expressed it long

before he ever adapted it. The French writer tried to express the problems of his society through

his literature, specifically the struggles of women during that time. Catherine Orenstein describes
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these expectations in her book Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked, stating:

Penned by Charles Perrault for aristocrats at the court of Versailles, ‘Le petit chaperon

rouge’ dramatized a contemporary sexual contradiction. It was the age of seduction…

Nonetheless, chastity was the feminine ideal, demanded by the prevailing institution of

marriage… Hence the age of seduction was also an age of institutionalized chastity.

During Perrault’s France, women were praised in the high court for their sexual deeds, especially

those who gained the King’s attention and were named the official mistress, or “maîtresse-en-

titre” (Orenstein). During this same age many patriarchal laws were set in place such that a man

could place his female relatives in a convent until marriage; furthermore, the law made

seduction, elopement, and rape all punishable under the same crime of rapt (Orenstein). Perrault

balanced these contradictions in his tales, keeping the innuendos for the nobility who praised

sexuality and incorporating the values and beliefs for chastity of the lower classes. Charles

Perrault’s version is a time capsule of 17th France, reflecting and layering their influences and

values into the story.

On the other hand, another popular version of the fairytale, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s

“Little Red Cap,” incorporates their Germanic culture, specifically their obsessive need for

obedience. This version is similar to Perrault’s with the main difference being that after the wolf

eats Little Red Riding Hood, a hunter comes upon the sleeping predator and cuts open his

stomach, freeing Little Red and her grandmother. While the wolf is still asleep, they fill his

stomach with heavy stones and when he awakens, the weight kills him. The Brothers Grimm

aimed to revolutionize common fairytales and began to collect

tales from friends and acquaintances… The Grimms declared the tales pure, original and

German, yet they were conflated from the writings of Perrault and his contemporaries,
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from the anthologies of Basile, and from storytellers of the Middle East, Asia and

elsewhere. Even with the multicultural influences, however, their stories demonstrated a

distinct Germanic flair (Adler).

Rather than the sexual connotations of Perrault’s earlier version, the Brothers Grimm added

violence and obsessive obedience to their tale. Over time as a result of these adaptations, their

fairytales took on negative criticism, with many saying how “A prisoner of his passion for order,

logic, and instrumentality, Wilhelm Grimm unfailingly smoothed the rough edges of the tales he

heard and read, even as he imbued them with the values and pedagogical demands of his time”

(Tatar). While a new appreciation for the stories has arisen in recent times, it’s important to

understand the historical context of the stories as gaining an understanding of these points is

essential in fully analyzing the story.

The authors’ purpose in writing can also been seen in their specific word choice

throughout the stories. Starting with Perrault’s version, the French word “chaperon” in Perrault’s

version translates as “cloak,” meaning her riding hood. The cloak alludes to protecting her

virginity and innocence; interestingly, the word chaperon now refers to a person accompanying a

couple or group to protect the virginity and honor of the females. Furthermore, the color “red” of

the cloak refers to her menstruation and virginity. Also, the choice of the predator being a wolf is

no mere coincidence in that during Perrault’s age, “when a girl lost her virginity it was said that

elle avoit vû le loup — she’d seen the wolf” (Orenstein). After now establishing the other sexual

undertones of the piece, the audience can assume that when the wolf “eats” the two females, he

is raping or at least sexually harassing them. In comparison, the Brothers Grimm lessened the

sexual connotations and replaced them with messages against curiosity and disobedience. In their

revised title, the word “cap” could refer to limiting Little Red, specifically her mind. “Red” again
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relates to blood but in this story takes on a more violent sense. Both of these stories use specific

word choice to further their purpose in persuading readers against certain behaviors.

The authors also use literary devices such as imagery, personification, and irony to

suggest meaning and offer depth and clarity to their fairytales. An example of this is the use of

imagery in the Grimm’s version. To postpone Little Red from getting to Grandmother’s house

before him, the wolf persuades her to pick flowers. The Grimms use imagery to describe the

forest, such as how every time Little Red picked a flower “she thought that she could see an even

more beautiful one a little way off, and she ran after it, going further and further into the woods.”

This wandering alludes to Little Red following her curiosity as well as her disobedience since

her mother ordered her to go straight to grandmother’s house. Another literary device used in

these fairytales is personification of the wolf. Both authors use these devices through the

character of the wolf by giving him the characteristics of a human, such as when he speaks and

walks with the girl and opens the gate to Grandmother’s house. The authors use personification

to help children make connections between the evil wolf and malicious people they might

encounter in real life. A final literary device used in these fairytales is irony, specifically

dramatic irony. This device is demonstrated when Little Red is coming into Grandmother’s

house after the wolf has already devoured the old woman. The audience knows the situation of

the scene, making the parts when Little Red is questioning the wolf tenser. This conflict builds

until Little Red asks, "Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!" and the wolf responds, "All

the better to eat you up with” (Perrault). Dramatic irony is used to keep the girl ignorant of her ill

fate while the audience is kept on edge, knowledgeable of the outcome. However, readers of the

Brothers Grimm’s version receive another dose of dramatic irony. In their story, after being eaten

by the wolf, the audience knows that the huntsman will come along and free the females though
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Little Red and Grandma are unaware of their survival. The authors’ use of imagery,

personification, and irony make the story more vivid and add to the cautionary purpose of the

fairytale.

A similarity between the two versions is how they both use emotional appeals to

influence their audience. In Perrault’s version, he specifically includes the lesson he wants

children to learn from his story, writing:

“Children, especially attractive, well-bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers,

for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say "wolf," but there

are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite,

unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the

streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of

all.”

Perrault uses Little Red being eaten by the wolf as an emotional appeal for children to be wary

against strangers as they could be sexual predators in disguise. Similarly, the Brothers Grimm

use the story as a call against curiosity and disobedience. While they don’t specifically include a

moral, Little Red’s last line “As long as I live, I will never leave the path and run off into the

woods by myself if mother tells me not to” (Grimm). With both of these final sentiments, the

authors are using children’s fear about being eaten by a wolf to persuade the readers into

behaving how they wish.

As a teacher of secondary English teaching, my students will be at the age where they

have far surpassed the age of believing fairytales but will still feel nostalgia for the stories of

their childhood. I can use these stories as a way to engage my students by calling upon their past
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experiences and knowledge and rework the stories to show them in a new perspective the

students haven’t seen before. I can also use these stories to discuss syntax and literary devices,

such as the imagery, personification, and irony I discussed previously. Also, while it is unlikely

any other appeals except for emotional will be included in fairytales, these stories are a great

example of this type of persuasion. Finally, I can have students compare the stories to find the

basic structure of the tale and show how each culture is connected through these similarities as

well as how the additions each author puts into the story are reflective of the authors’ culture and

time frame. However, owing to the semi-controversial messages given in this specific fairytale, I

would need administrative approval to discuss these topics. As my plan is to teach in a rural

community, the beliefs of the parents and students might be more conservative in nature and

would disprove of the discussion of sex and virginity. However, to deal with this possible issue I

will just need to stress the purpose of learning how to interpret texts as well as the history and

culture surrounding the literature to understand the messages within it.

Works Cited:

Abler, Alice. “The Moral of the Story.” Vision, Spring 2008.

http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/society-and-culture/moral-of-the-story/153.aspx

Grimm, Jacob, Wilhelm Grimm, Margaret Hunt, Ph. D. Kenneth C. Mondschein. “Little Red

Cap.” Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales. Canterbury Classics, 24 November 2011.

Orenstein, Catherine. “Dances With Wolves: Social and Sexual Messages of Fairy Tales.” Ms.

Magazine , 2004, www.msmagazine.com/summer2004/danceswithwolves.asp.

Perrault, Charles. “Little Red Riding Hood.” October 8, 2003.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault02.html

Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Woodshire, Oxfordshire, Princeton

University Press, 2003.