Question: “Using the concepts of intertextuality, reader-response theory, and an appreciation of biographical and historical context, how can one be confident in their interpretation of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem?”

Little Red-Cap. Sounds familiar? It’s very similar to a childhood story that you have probably heard of – The Little Red Riding Hood.  We looked at in 3 concepts – Intertextuality, reader-response theory, and an appreciation of biographical and historical context

Intertextuality

Everyone knows the story of The Little Red Riding Hood (TLRRH).  Now let’s compare it to Little Red-Cap (LRC) and find out what similarities they have. The wolf is considered a predator. In both stories, he is described as “What big ears he had!”, “What big eyes he had!” and “What teeth!”. By using these words, we can picture what he looks like – a big scary villain. It makes the character seem more vivid, alive and believable. The wolf is also intrigued by her and befriends her. In TLRRH, he follows her in the woods and tells her how it would be nice to get Granny some flowers along with the food she had. The wolf then tricks her by eating her and her Granny. In the LRC he gives her a drink and leads her deep into the forest, to where his lair was. He then uses her and takes her virginity away.

Reader-response theory

The story of Little Red Cap, commonly known as Little Red Riding Hood all share the same basic plots and morals.  Innocent Little Red talks to the wicked wolf and tells him where she is going.  The wolf gets to Little Red’s grandmother’s house before she does and eats the grandmother using her clothes as a disguise.  When she arrives, the wolf fools Little Red into thinking he’s her grandmother.  The ending of this fairytale varies depending on the story but the moral is clear: don’t talk to strangers.  Many versions of Little Red Riding Hood involve Little Red’s mother telling her not to talk to anyone and stay on the path.  Little Red talks to the wolf and in some stories go off the path to pick flowers.  By doing this, she disregards her mother’s warning and as a result, is eaten (or in some stories almost eaten) by the wolf.  In the Little Red Cap, she is all grown up and feels that she can do what she wants now that she is an adult. This then resulted in her innocence to be taken away. The moral of the story seems to be to not talk to strangers but also if you do, you end up with what you deserve.

Biographical and historical context

In the poem “The Little Red Cap”, Carol Ann Duffy inserted herself as the girl (The Little Red Riding Hood). At the age of 16, Duffy began a relationship with poet Adrian Henri, (who was 39- clearly a older man) and lived with him until 1982 (roughly 10 years which is similar to the poem). Duffy later met poet Jackie Kay, with whom she had a 15-year relationship and also gave birth to a daughter, Ella, whose biological father is fellow poet Peter Benson. Scholars believe that the Grimms heavily edited their stories in order to fit the romantic style and mood of their time. This discovery that fairy tales and folklore were “standardized” by men like the Grimms also happened to be the same timing as the feminist movement, both culturally and literarily. For years, women had taken issue with the tone of many fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood. This then lead to fairy tales becoming a popular source for feminist writers, such as Carol Ann Duffy. Their work uses female voices of authenticity in the folkloric traditions and upending the morals and stereotypes enforced by the “classic” fairy tales collected and written down by men by re-writing those same stories from a contemporary feminist perspective.