In the famous fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, the road to her grandmother's house is not a walk in the park: it is dark, disturbing, dangerous. It also offers choices, but Little Red Riding Hood tends to make the ones that lead to trouble. The innocent heroine's decisions always involve a seductive stranger, usually a wolf. In the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood's naivety and poor decision-making gets her into a lot of trouble, and although she escapes in the end, she comes pretty close. In Angela Carter's modern interpretation of the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood is forced to sacrifice her dignity and virginity to save her life; this is the result of yet another credulous decision made on the way to her grandmother's house. While the overall plot of an innocent girl who encounters a carnivorous wolf on her way to her grandmother remains largely congruent in both of these adaptations of the classic fairy tale, the differences in moral and theme suggest an evolution of women from dependent and naive to self -responsible and aware of the influence of sexuality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIn the Brothers Grimm's classic account of Little Red Riding Hood it seems to be the prevailing moral, as Little Red Riding Hood says at the end of the book. story, "Never again will you stray from the path or go into the woods, when your mother has forbidden it (Brothers Grimm 16.)" Although simple, this conclusion implies that girls should not think for themselves, as putting them in the trouble; this is a lesson that Little Red Riding Hood learns almost the hard way. Isn't this watered-down version of the tale so daring or risky? as well as other interpretations where the young protagonist is kidnapped by the wolf or even killed in some cases, as the authors allow both the innocent heroine and her grandmother to survive and live happily ever after. Rather than an empowering statement about women's advancement, this account serves to illustrate more than anything else women's powerlessness and their dependence on men to save them. It is only when Little Red Riding Hood is trapped between the ribs of the satisfied, snoring wolf (and left for dead due to her involuntary gullibility) that she is saved by a brave and attentive hunter nearby, who tears the wolf apart. and rescues her from the depths of her captor's stomach. In his analysis on “The meaning and importance of fairy tales”, Bruno Bettelheim concludes that the cesarean operation and the liberation of Little Red Riding Hood by the hunter symbolize rebirth, stating that the central theme “is that of a rebirth to a upper floor ( Bettelheim 179.)” Just as Jonah's stay in the belly of a whale was God's way of teaching him a lesson and enlightening him, Little Red Riding Hood emerges as a more attentive and aware being after being released from the stomach of the wolf. This marks the transformation of Little Red Riding Hood from naive and dangerously curious to wary and submissive. The Brothers Grimm adaptation shows that women at the time were not supposed to be independent, as it was a certain means to an end. The theme of rebirth suggests that, although it may take a hard lesson, women will eventually come to understand that they are dependent on others, usually men. This interpretation of the children's story serves more as a cautionary tale for women than anything else. After all, hunters won't always be around to save the day. "The Company of Wolves" has a completely different intent than its predecessors, expressly the tale of the Brothers Grimm. While in the Grimm version Little Red Riding Hoodis saved by a hunter, thus softening the dangerous reality represented by sexual predators, Carter's story is brutal, as the heroine is forced to use her female sexuality to escape death. The world Carter creates is real. There is no hunter and no noble gentleman who can drag Red RidingHood out of the mess he finds himself in. Now it is up to her to spare herself, use her wits and, ultimately, sacrifice her dignity and become one of the "wolves". In her modern interpretation of the fairy tale, Carter reevaluates women's self-understanding. Nowadays women are aware of the power of eroticism; instead of asking for help, Little Red Riding Hood is her own savior. Indeed, Carter's heroine, who begins the story as a pure and seemingly untouchable virgin child, knows how to use her sexual allure to her advantage better than most. As he watches the “wolf's jaw begin to drool” and “the room fills with the clamor of the Liebestod of the forest,” he laughs in the face of death and bravely thinks “I am no one's flesh (Carter 118.).” Carter's Ending Leaves Nothing The point is that a woman's awareness of the influence of seductiveness is an empowering understanding, as it allows Little Red Riding Hood to save herself. However, it also offers a sad reality. Sometimes women are forced to shrink to rise in society and a partial loss of dignity must be sacrificed. Carter recognizes this feminine power and the great responsibility that accompanies it. The main difference between Carter's modern version of Little Red Riding Hood and the Brothers Grimm's earlier version is that women today are not weak and guarded, rather they have developed an understanding of the weakness that their libido precipitates in most men, in particularly in rapists and sexual relations. predators. This realization has allowed some women to rise above and avoid problems, as is the theme of “The Company of Wolves.” It is impossible for the werewolf, who symbolizes sexual predators, to refuse consensual relations with a girl who “stands and moves within the invisible pentagram of her virginity… an unbroken egg… a sealed vessel… [that] she has within her a magical space whose entrance is hermetically sealed by a membrane cap." This is why the heroine laughs at the prospect of death; she is fully aware that she serves a more useful purpose to the wolf alive and willing to satisfy his sexual demands than if she were raped and eaten. Unlike the helpless grandmother whose “old bones made a terrible noise under the bed (Carter 118)” because she offered no potential sexual pleasure to the wolf, the red-hooded vestal virgin is spared by the carnivorous beast. In the end, Little Red Riding Hood's courage proves itself as she sleeps "between the paws of the tender wolf," who like many rapists, makes her life less unpleasant for choosing consent over struggle. The moral of Carter's interpretation, then, is that women's sexuality is one of their most powerful tools and, if used wisely, can help level the social playing field between men and women, or get them out of dire straits. However, women must carefully hold onto this unique influence and use it wisely because it is so closely linked to their self-esteem and self-respect. As time has passed, the Little Red Riding Hood saga has evolved. Although in both Carter's and Grimm's tales the young girl does not change in terms of her curiosity – lowering her guard when she encounters the wolf on her way to her grandmother's house – the real change is revealed when she encounters the wolf for the second time. time. While in the Brothers Grimm tale Little Red Riding Hood is weak and compliant, now she is, 1977.