A Comparison of the Versions of "little Red Riding Hood"

The story "Little Red Riding Hood" has been read and retold for hundreds of years. The story has been told so many times, that now there are many versions of that same story. Some stores have had more exposure than others, some with sexual innuendo, and others just making fun of the whole concept of "Little Red Riding Hood."

The Charles Perrault version of "Little Red Riding Hood" is probably the most known, because parents will tell it to their children because it is the version that would offend the least amount of people and more friendly to children of all of the versions. The story was originally told to higher class girls in their development stages, where the wolf is a metaphor for men. This is clearly put across in the moral at the end of the story: "From this story one learns that children, especially young girls, pretty, well-bred, and genteel, are wrong to listen to just anyone, and its not at all strange if a wolf ends up eating them [...] Some [wolves] are perfectly charming, not loud, brutal, or angry, but tame, pleasant and gentle" (Tatar, 13). Perrault does a fine job of telling the reader just who the audience is, and personifies the wolf, just as he did throughout the story.

"The Story of Grandmother" was told well before Perrault's "Little Red Riding Hood" by Louis and Francois Briffault in 1885. This version is not as popular with people in modern America, because of the heavy sexual themes that are portrayed in it, as it was clearly written for an older audience. The story also has the little girl at least attempt to eat the remains of her grandmother because she was tricked into thinking she was meat and wine. The little girl encountered a cat in the room with her who told her that the meat and wine was the body and blood of her now deceased grandmother. The little girl is now confronted with the fact that she ate her grandmother, and this wolf in her grandmother's bed wants to strip for him before he tries to eat the little girl. "'Take your clothes off, my child,' said the wolf, 'and come into bed with me'"(10). While it was not uncommon for two people in the same house to share a bed, it was that the wolf told her to throw all of her clothing into the fire, because she "won't be needing them any longer" (11).

There are some that satire the whole concept of "Little Red Riding Hood."