The adult desire in the “Little Red Riding Hood” is seducing a young girl and tricking her into bed. The story shows that not all wolves appear as wild beasts, but as gentlemen. The sexual undertones are very apparent. For example, the French idiom for a girl losing her virginity is, “elle avoit vu le loup.” In other words, she has seen the wolf. Little Red Riding is also wearing red until the end of the story when she strips naked and jumps into bed. The young girl also does not know any better and tells the wolf of her whereabouts upon meeting him for the first time. Specifically, the wolf asks the little girl where she is heading and gives him the exact location of her grandmother’s house, “A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; you surely must know it.” The adult desire in this story is enacted through a wolf that acts gentle and tricks a young, naive girl.
Bibliography:
Perrault, Charles. “Little Red Riding Hood.” Folk and Fairy Tales. Eds. Martin Hallet and Barbara Karasek. 3rd Edition. Toronto: Broadview Press.