This characterization method was common in Perrault’s generation. Male authors presented male characters with power, while the female characters exhibited weak or foolish traits. In Little Red Riding Hood, Perrault utilized this method in each character. Little Red’s travel exemplified a young woman’s naïve decisions. She conversed with a stranger, discussed private information, distracted herself along the way, and fell victim to the wolf’s trickery. Plus, Little Red’s mother, ironically presented as a loving figure, failed to warn her about any danger. While the women served as failing characters, Perrault presented males as capable. For example, as the male antagonist, the wolf fatally duped Little Red and her grandmother. However, he, earlier in the tale, refrained from eating Little Red “because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest.” In other words, Perrault subtly regarded the static woodcutters, most likely male during Perrault’s generation, as safeguards for Little
This characterization method was common in Perrault’s generation. Male authors presented male characters with power, while the female characters exhibited weak or foolish traits. In Little Red Riding Hood, Perrault utilized this method in each character. Little Red’s travel exemplified a young woman’s naïve decisions. She conversed with a stranger, discussed private information, distracted herself along the way, and fell victim to the wolf’s trickery. Plus, Little Red’s mother, ironically presented as a loving figure, failed to warn her about any danger. While the women served as failing characters, Perrault presented males as capable. For example, as the male antagonist, the wolf fatally duped Little Red and her grandmother. However, he, earlier in the tale, refrained from eating Little Red “because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest.” In other words, Perrault subtly regarded the static woodcutters, most likely male during Perrault’s generation, as safeguards for Little