Characteristics Of Fairy Tales In The Werewolf By Angela Carter

History of Fairy Tales

When people think of fairy tales, the image that comes to mind is a children 's story with magical beings and lands. Often these stories seem very plausible and actually something that happened in the not so distant past. In 1812, the Grimm Brothers published a collection of stories which contained 86 stories which became the foundation of what we call as fairy tales today. Aside from the fantasy elements, there are many other recurring traits found in fairy tales. Often the protagonist were the downtrodden, the innocent, and mostly young characters. What made them standout was their status: sometimes an orphaned child, generally very bright, and adorably naive. They also have the clear distinction between good and evil and ends with the

In the Grimm’s version of the story, little red riding hood has a cute image. A girl who is off to bring her grandmother some home baked pastries. With this being her first trip alone, it brings the naive girl and the sly wolf together making the reader hopeful that someone will save the foolish young girl from this dangerous wolf. However in “The Werewolf” we are told from the beginning “do not leave the path because of the bears, the wild boar the starving wolves. Here, take your father’s hunting knife; you know how to use it.” (Carter 210). From these words the reader learns that not only is this not the first time little red riding hoods has gone to grandmother 's house, she is also very capable of defending herself from dangerous animals. The destruction of the innocence and the weakness of the young girl changes the fear directly from the young girl to the safety of the hungry wolf. With such drastic changes, not only is Carter able to switch the roles of the characters, she is also able to incorporate gothic features into the