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‘Little Red Cap’ is a subversion of Little Red Riding Hood amongst the collection of poems in ‘The World wife’ it presents us with a story of ‘innocent…childhoods end’. Through a close reading of this poem it is evident that, you can see beyond the literal sexual and autobiographical theme and into an in-depth portrayal of women and their achievements throughout history.

Duffy uses the issue of women as the central theme in her poem. She shows women gaining independence from adolescence, leaving home and exploring the world and facing dangers of varying degrees. They are often mistreated, misunderstood and treated unequally. ‘At childhood’s end’ is the first line in the poem this suggest the transformation of a girl from the outset. Childhood has been deserted: there is no sense of nostalgia. By doing this, Duffy shows that women are not as weak as they are often portrayed to be, by holding onto emotions and the past. Duffy, in this autobiographical poem, rids herself of the stereotypical attributes that portray her as a woman. The word ‘end’ shows the conclusion of childhood; regardless of being ready for it, this makes the audience feel sympathy for Red Cap, as they watch her childhood be ripped from her so early in the poem.

As ‘Little Red Cap’ moves along her journey into adulthood, Duffy describes that the ‘houses petered out’, This hints at the notion that, women have traditionally stayed in the houses and performed maternal duties, but here Duffy shows that women are metaphorically reaching out for power, to ‘the playing fields’ where the men traditionally work, alluding to a feminist perspective of equality with men. Alternatively, this could be seen as ‘Little Red Cap’ leaving the protection of childhood and going int...

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...les men through use of euphemism not violence.

By the conclusion of the poem Duffy’s goal has finally been achieved: ‘Out of the forest I come with my flowers, singing, all alone.’ Women’s coming out of the “forest” has been an extensive journey, but by the end, they come out ‘singing’, women have found their voice, which was so cruelly eaten by the wolf in stanza 5. They are heard when they speak, and their opinions matter in society, moreover ‘Little Red Cap’ comes out all alone, alluding to the feminist perspective of Duffy, that women are capable of being secluded, they can stand and survive on their own. In essence in this last verse Duffy rejoices women’s independence, a motif threaded through ‘the World’s Wife’ in other poems such as ‘Pygmalion’s bride’ who escaped from the statue she was confined in, to roam freely away from the influence of predatory men.