Ignoring the fact that the grandmother's wedding ring is on her right hand for some reason, this quote demonstrates the running theme of cruel deception and madness in all three wolf stories. Carter seems to have decided that werewolves can shapeshift (and not have reflections, so she's combining their mythos with vampires) or at least play with their victim's perception of who is attacking whom. When the proxy Little Red Riding Hood attacks the wolf, she really attacks her grandmother, sparing the real werewolf the trouble and traumatizing the poor girl to boot. It's a distinctly evil trick that casts blame on the intended victim themselves and contributes to Carter's image of the heartless werewolf who plays games with his prey instead of killing them quickly. A werewolf who is also a rapist. Clearly, Carter likes corrupting classic folk tales to make them even more R-rated than they were originally.
In "The Werewolf," I was under the impression that the grandmother WAS the werewolf. Did I miss something?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't remember any of the wolves raping any of the girls-- in "The Company of Wolves," the girl chooses to offer herself to the werewolf, but she isn't raped. "Sweet and sound she sleeps in granny's bed, between the paws of the tender wolf" (153). The closing sentence indicated to me that the girl was content with choosing a more visceral, bestial lifestyle, as a sort of sexual liberation.
I don't think it's fair to say Carter is "corrupting" classic folk tales-- that raises difficult questions to answer. Which version is the "classic?" Is the intent even to make them more R-rated (R-rated? Try X-rated!)? I think Carter is using very clever postmodern techniques in various retellings to look at the role gender has in these fairytales, and also to examine the relationship between beast/human instincts and desires. Specifically, Carter makes the werewolf in "The Werewolf" a female to make the point that men are not the only ones in society attacking women and forcing them into gender-stereotypes-- female-on-female conflict often occurs as a result of jealousy as well (as in "The Snow Child."
In the original Red Riding Hood, I would argue that the protagonist is given far less of a voice than what Carter has given her. In that story, rape IS alluded to, if not always told outright. The red hood is a fairly obvious symbol (especially in Carter's story), but instead of virginity being taken from the girl, Carter liberates her sexuality by letting her choose to stay with the wolf.