The Awakening of Feminine Power

In “Little Red Cap”, poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy takes a story that has traditionally been used to oppress women and inverts it into a celebration of female agency. Arguably the best known version of the original fairy tale in the Western world is Charles Perrault’s rendition entitled “Little Red Riding Hood.” Perrault liked to attach a moral to the end of his fairy tales, many of which were directed at young girls on the cusp of womanhood. One of the most notorious examples of this practice is “The Story of Bluebeard”, a story of a murderous bridegroom used to caution women against curiosity. “Little Red Riding Hood” was intended to discourage young girls against trusting “wolves”, a metaphor for predatory men. The story implied a parallel between physical safety and chastity. In Duffy’s poem, the young woman at the...