Social values are society’s position as to what is desirable or undesirable. One of the social values in this folktale is that a woman’s place is primarily in the home and a man is to leave the home to earn a living. Little Red Cap leaves her house only to travel to her grandmother’s home. She is associated with the household. The wolf is a prowler and the woodcutter is earning a living. They are associated with the outdoors. Another social value that is demonstrated in this folktale is the importance of a girl’s purity. Little Red Cap’s innocence is symbolic of this purity. The wolf is there to steal it from her. When the wolf says: “How tender and young she” and “she’ll be even tastier than the old woman” (46) it is a depiction of his desire to tarnish Little Red Cap’s purity. When the wolf ravishes Little Red Cap, she is ruined. She is dead to this world. The woodcutter arrives to free the grandmother and Little Red Cap from the evil wolf’s stomach. This act is symbolic of Little Red Cap’s rebirth to innocence. Purity is preserved.
Gender roles are what society expects from a person based on their gender. The gender roles of this time period were that women were weak and needed the protection of men. Men were the protectors and providers for the household. Little Red Cap is described as being young and innocent. The wolf, which is male, is a powerful creature, a trait often used to describe men. When Little Red Cap meets up with the wolf she is unaware of his evil reputation. This unawareness demonstrates that women were generally seen as being naïve. The wolf is a very ambitious character, another trait carried by men. Instead of eating Little Red Cap in the woods, he wants to have both her and her grandmother. The woodcutter is everyone’s hero. Because of his strength and bravery, an additional element of maleness, he is able to enter the grandmother’s house and free the captured women. These examples point to the different role expectations in this society of a person based on their gender.
The Christian social ordering in this time period were that men were perceived as being spiritually superior and more vigilant than women when dealing with issues of religion. Little Red Cap is easily led astray by evil when she decides to venture off the path. Her leaving the path is symbolic of her lack of vigilance. The woodcutter enters the grandmother’s house to investigate loud noises that he has heard while working in the woods. He sees the wolf sleeping in grandmother’s bed. Being of superior mind, the woodcutter surmises that the grandmother is in the wolf’s belly. Instead of killing the wolf, the woodcutter opens the creature’s belly and rescue Little Red Cap and the grandmother from the “bowels” of hell. He is their savior. The woodcutter represents a Christ-like figure that saves both women from damnation. These are examples of how men were seen as being spiritually superior and more vigilant than women.
The establishment of the family unit and the importance of purity are what society valued at the time “Little Red Cap” was written. Gender roles evolved around these social values. A woman’s purity and innocence needed the protection of the men in her household. Religious roles based on gender are also established by the idea that men are spiritually superior and more vigilant than women. This tale truly reflects the social values, gender roles and religious considerations of its time.
Work Cited
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. “Little Red Cap.” Introduction to English Studies.
- Arnold et al. Print Plus Courseware Services, 2001. 45 – 46.