Fairytale Analysis: "Aladdin's Lamp" and "Little Red Riding Hood"

The manifestations of fairytales reflect significance beyond a simple one-dimensional context and as a natural departure from the source tale, their transcendent nature is evinced by their ability to shift, not replace, the tales values, archetypes and contextual paradigms beyond the intentional. This shifting nature predicates the textual integrity of the tale, allowing it a pertinent and germane makeup, built upon its didactic nature. This significance is especially apparent in the appropriations of ‘Aladdin’s Lamp’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.

Aladdin’s Lamp, 1704, was included in Antoine Galland’s translation of Arabian Nights., however, it has a status as a disputed orphan tale, bearing its origins vaguely from an 1115 manuscript and a tale recited to Galland by a scholar, Youhenna Diab . The tale was designed specifically to appeal to both the aristocratic and the plebeian audiences in France, and it reflects the purposes of Galland; it had none of the erotic passages or the complicated poetry common throughout Arabian Nights but, unpopular in the vogue style of the time. There is also change in religious disposition between the original Arabian Nights and the Aladdin showing anti-Semitic tendencies, “… and the Jew though of what he should offer, for Aladdin seemed clever. He decided that the smallest valuation was the best, and pulled out a single coin…” This demonstrations a distinct shift in the religious paradigm and is indicative of the changing contextual opinion of Jews, for in the late 17th century, Louis XIV expelled Jews from France, and Galland, as Louis’ official antiquary, reflected his position in his stories.

In Galland’s Aladdin, certain transcendent values resound in any context. Racism is a hist...

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... The tale uses simple motifs and archetypes, the red symbolising menstrual blood in Grimm’s, part of the maturation process, the huntsman as an ally to LRRH, showing she cannot protect herself , the depiction of LRRH as the hero in Grandmother’s tale, underpinned by her self-reliance, but as the naïve, innocent child in Grimm’s whose gullibility and inexperience presents her as ideal prey for the wily wolf. The wolf epitomizes the archetypal message of text, as a villain and lustful trickster who becomes the shape-shifter when necessary.

The didactic value of fairy tales and their archetypal relevance allow them a certain significance transcendent of the discrete culture and context in which they were composed, in particular, the salient features of Aladdin and Little Red Riding Hood and their variations show exemplary examples of these common fairy tale traits.