am describing, however, is one of the most successful television shows ever created: Game of

Transcription

1 Steven Cooney Writing as a Discipline Dr. Smith 2/16/15 Perrault s Little Red Riding Hood You might innocently expect that the average person would by disgusted by a story that centered on incest, patricide, matricide, infanticide, and rampant immorality. The entertainment I am describing, however, is one of the most successful television shows ever created: Game of Thrones, the widely popular HBO series. Viewers are unfazed by abhorred scenes of murder, torture, or any manor of savage behavior imaginable because, no matter how depraved a character may be, the graphic content does not contradict their expectations. HBO s history and reputation of showing graphic violence, sex, and gritty amorality inform viewers that moral sensibilities and basic decencies have no place in evaluating Game of Thrones. Fanatics instead focus on the detailed storytelling, the emersion into a fantasy world, and the pageantry that make the series so spectacular. On the other hand, similarly dark stories presented in a more unexpected context warrant strikingly different reactions. More specifically, discovering these themes in the original folk versions of our beloved fairy tales generally inspires disgust, and often total rejection. Charles Perrault s Little Red Riding Hood, for example, begins innocently enough, largely indistinguishable from modern adaptations. In the end, however, rather than the girl outsmarting the wolf or being suddenly rescued, this classic version ends with Little Red Riding Hood undressing, getting into bed with the wolf, and being consumed (Perrault 12). Her last words are the famous observations of the wolf s staggering size, and the phallic implications are as subtle as they are comforting. But is this symbolic deflowering a grotesque perversion, as startled modern readers often assert, or do the metaphors and didactic, sub-textual implications reflect

2 valuable insight within the text? Little Red Riding Hood s tragic fate leads many readers to reject this classic version outright. Some even condemn the text as deplorable and unfit for contemporary society. Rather than expunge classic fairy tales from our cultural history, however, I believe that readers must simply alter their expectations regarding folk stories and their audience. By reconsidering the expected audience, and by examining the themes and other content within the texts, readers can better appreciate the reflections of human nature and society within classic fairy tales such as Perrault s Little Red Riding Hood. Modern portrayals and uses of fairy tales often inspires the prejudiced, mislead belief that all fairy tales are intended for children. Evaluating classic texts without applying this bias of modern culture, however, may seem difficult, unnatural even, as it requires the abandonment of ideas and practices so deeply engrained within contemporary thought that they seem universal. The distinction between the developmental stages of childhood and adulthood, for example, is something taken for granted. Imagining a culture without this distinction may seem absurd, yet this is exactly what an analysis of Perrault s work demands. As Zohar Shavit explains in The Concept of Childhood and Children s Folktales: Test Case- Little Red Riding Hood, during Perrault s life the concept of childhood as we know it today did not exist (Shavit 318). At the time, children were viewed as entertainment, rather than impressionable minds in need of protection. It is totally counterintuitive, then, to analyze or evaluate his writings in terms of their potential harmful effects on a developing mind. Young children, as we understand them, could not possibly be the intended audience of the story; in the public consciousness of Perrault s France, children did not exist, only younger men and women. Although the text was, at least partially, intended for younger audiences, a child s petrified reaction to folk-fairy tales would not have been viewed as potentially damaging; rather, it would be seen as a simple source of

3 entertainment for adults toying with their children for a cheap laugh. Once readers abandon the prejudiced assumption that fairy-tales are for children s edification, they can instead identify the true audience by examining the story s complexities in relation to the culture of 17 th century France. As Shavit describes, the text s ironic and satiric tone, as well as the tragic ending of the tale indicate that the story is meant for adults (Shavit 325). The unhappy ending in particular contradicts fairy-tale conventions, an indication that Perrault intended his work for not only peasants sharing stories across campfires, but also for the amusement of the higher class and literary elite. The moral verse Perrault included after the story s conclusion, which confirms the symbolism of the wolf as a sexually threatening male, exemplifies the work s sarcastic and ironic implications, declaring that tame, pleasant, and gentle wolves are the most dangerous of all (Perrault 13). This veiled condemnation humorously debases the honor and integrity of upper class men by lowering them to the depravity of man s most primal, savage desires. The satire of this portrayal is holistically lost by interpretations that fail to recognize Perrault s true audience and intention for the story. Recognizing this dark yet playful jab at high society fundamentally changes a reader s understanding of Little Red Riding Hood s tragic fate and offers an entirely new dimension to the story that is otherwise missed entirely. Humor is not the only aspect of the text missed by readers who reject the story because of its clash with contemporary expectations; In addition, prejudiced readers who are unwilling to change their perception of folk-tales gloss over the complex reflections of humanity that can be identified within the text. Perrault masterfully addresses both his audiences, the peasants and the French high society, simultaneously, delicately entertaining the literary elite with a dark, twisted wit while also infusing moralistic teachings within the text s multiple layers of meaning. The

4 complexity and value of the work are best exemplified by variety and social gravity of its interpretations. On the basic level, readers recognize the story s sexual undertones: the wolf stalking the girl, the building tension of their final encounter, and Little Red Riding Hood s eventual consumption. These underlying forces, however, are open to a multitude of interpretations. From the folk-tale s concluding moral, which reads young girls/pretty, wellbred, and genteel/are wrong to listen to just anyone/and it s not at all strange/if a wolf ends up eating them, for example, comes the interpretation that Little Red Riding Hood is to be understood as a cautionary tale for young women about the dangers of strange men, and a reflection of man s ultimate wickedness (Perrault 13). The wolf s sadism functions as a symbolic mechanism to explore humanity s unsettling capacity for evil, advocating the importance of being alert to potential dangers. If, however, you prefer the psychoanalytical approach employed by scholars such as Bruno Bettelheim, Little Red Riding Hood s interaction with the wolf reflects an adolescent s confrontation with adult sexuality, an interpretation excoriated by Robert Darnton in Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose (Darnton 281). This radically different understanding of the story s central conflict suggests that it is not defenseless young girls whom the story should terrify, but rather the girl s parents, particularly the father, who is petrified by their child s development. Although the disparity between these interpretations is largely irreconcilable, scholars on each side draw the basis for their arguments directly from the text. Moreover, these two perspectives are far from being the exclusive routes to analyzing the text. The wolf, for example, can be characterized as a member of the elite class exercising a sense of entitlement over the life of a peasant girl; alternatively, viewing the wolf as a barbaric, lower class savage suggests that the story serves as a warning against consorting with dirty,

5 amoral poor people. This ambiguity is indicative of the text s psychological depth and literary value. Any text that inspires such varied interpretations, particularly those regarding the fundamentally human issues of immorality, sexuality, and class relations, does so by poignantly reflecting human nature and masterfully expressing a complex assortment of insights regarding the human experience. Such literary accomplishments are tremendously valuable to readers, despite the loud protests of the puritans who deafly exclaim in repetition that Perrault s Little Red Riding Hood, and the sexuality of its tragic ending, must be forgotten in order to protect our children. Audience based analyses and textual analyses of Perrault s Little Red Riding Hood are far from contradictory. Rather, each of these approaches, taken in conjunction, elevate a reader s understanding of the work as a whole. Understanding Perrault s duplicitous audience explains his departure from fairy-tale conventions, allowing readers to better analyze the text. Simultaneously, identifying Perrault s occasionally sarcastic tone within the text helps readers to identify his audience. To achieve the greatest possible understanding of the work, therefore, readers must abandon the notion that it is intended for children, and analyze the story based on both the true audience and on the actual text. Properly understanding Perrault s work, then, requires readers to abandon their preconceived expectations for the text. Only by considering the work s true audience and evaluating the meaning behind the text can a reader appreciate the folk tales which, as Bruno Bettelheim describes, can speak simultaneously to all levels of human personality (Bettelheim 271). Readers who refuse to adapt their expectations are inherently unable to appreciate the significance and value of folk fairy-tales. Maintaining the belief that Perrault s Little Red Riding Hood is intended for children is much like insisting that Vince Gilligan s Breaking Bad

6 should be evaluated as a light-hearted sitcom, or judging HBO s Game of Thrones for its historical accuracy. These approaches are fundamentally futile, holistically hopeless, and simply senseless. Admittedly, a person s first exposure to the depravity of folk fairy-tales starkly contrasts a contemporary reader s reasonable expectations in a shocking manner; however, rebuking and rejecting the entire genre based on this surprise is a totally inappropriate response, preventing readers from appreciating the stories larger cultural significance, depth of meaning, and literary value.

7 Works Cited Bettelhiem, Bruno. "The Struggle for Meaning." The Classic Fairy Tales (1999): 271. Print. Darnton, Robert. "Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose." The Classic Fairy Tales (1999): 281. Print. Perrault, Charles. Little Red Riding Hood. N.p.: Norton Classics, Print. Shavit, Zohar. "The Concept of Childhood and Children s Folktales: Test Case- Little Red Riding Hood'" The Classic Fairy Tales (1999): 317. Web