Fairy Tales: An Analysis of "Little Red Cap"
Assignment: For centuries storytellers have used fairy tales to instruct as well as to entertain. In an essay, make an argument about the purpose or meaning of a well-known fairy tale. You must refer to one or more specific versions of your chosen fairy tale (such as “Little Red Cap” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm).
You may use one or more of the assigned variations on the Red Riding Hood story or you can request the professor's approval of a different fairy tale as your topic.
Your composition should have a SINGLE, SPECIFIC THESIS supported by TWO SEPARATE REASONS. The essay should have three paragraphs (an introduction and two support paragraphs) and be approximately 550 words in length. DO NOT INCLUDE A CONCLUSION IN YOUR INITIAL DRAFT.
You are not required to quote the story or stories directly, but if you do, you must enclose the author's exact words in quotation marks. You must cite any words, facts, ideas, or details from the assigned texts or any other sources using in-text citations as well as a Works Cited page. Please use MLA style formatting throughout.
An Analysis of "Little Red Cap"
Ancient writers used myth to instruct and entertain. They wrote fairy tales to teach morals and unveil untold truths. One of those prominently known mythological pieces of literature, "Little Red Cap" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, is a remarkable example of how poets and writers artistically portrayed folk characters to embody life lessons mostly around gender, relationships, and wisdom. In almost all Little Red Cap variations, the composers relate a story of the loss of innocence, meanwhile displaying the education and empowerment of women, gravitating between choice and control. Mostly, the readers, who do not dive deep into the subtle nuances, may find Duffy’s poem a remake of Grimm’s story. However, the poem "Little Red Cap" by Ann Duffy is a rework of "Little Red Riding Hood" with a less shy and more active protagonist traveling from childhood to adulthood, losing her innocence, and with a self-controlled, consensual feminist response to seduction produce by the wolf.
A feminist element of the poem is how the protagonist draw maturity out of her bitter experience at the sacrifice of her innocence that is deemed pivotal to woman in traditional context. This initial part of the discussion aims to cover the protagonist's transition from immaturity to maturity and simultaneous loss of innocence in the process. In "Little Red Cap,” Ann Duffy reproduces the pretty virgin in "Little Red Riding Hood," beginning a journey to losing innocence. The poet has used the metaphor of “dove” to convey the idea of innocence (Duffy 1). Contrarily, the imagery surrounding the meeting with a wolf makes an atmosphere that is too wild for such an innocent girl as the protagonist in Little Red Cap (Chalou 3). Her attention to the wolf's words, the straying path in the lust of pleasure like collecting flowers and nuts, and affirmations to the wolf's suggestions to reach the grandmother's home reveal the immaturity and temptation of a little maiden. The same depiction of the girl is also evident in Grimm's version of the story (Grimm and Grimm 1). Many other indications in the poem lead to the girl's venture from immaturity to maturity, such as "my stockings ripped to shreds" (Duffy 1). Another reference to the words "Little Red Cap" implies the wisdom she comes about lying next to the wolf. However, Duffy's Little Red Cap disables the wolf to seduce again, stuffing his belly with stones (Duffy 1). After a few years, she is in the woods, haunted by another wolf. This time, she ignores tem...