Basic introduction to the plot that everyone knows, identify the two versions you will focus on. As a child you believe that the folktales you read are just folktales, but in reality they mean much more. One can compare the Perrault and Grimm versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” from a Marxist perspective by analyzing the implementations of class struggle, hegemony, and ideology related to their different time periods. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Perrault's "Little Red Riding Hood" was published at the end of the 17th century, intended for the audience of the French high aristocracy (bourgeoisie). Given that Perrault himself was part of French aristocratic society, he would have been less inclined to challenge the rule of the then important French aristocracy and instead to promote it. During the late 17th century, with the rise of French salon culture, Enlightenment ideologies were on the rise with the looming threat of new political, economic, and social ideas. These new ideas referred to the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the peasant classes and the end of bourgeois ideology and hegemony. The class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the peasantry was beginning to take hold, with the peasantry wanting the ability to advance in society, while the bourgeoisie wanted to maintain its hegemonic control by convincing the peasantry that this structure was best for everyone. Perrault's version of “Little Red Riding Hood” accentuates his defense of the importance of hegemony by influencing bourgeois ideology with the suppression of class conflict. Little Red Riding Hood represents the protagonist in the guise of the bourgeois, while the wolf is the antagonistic farmer who desires a lifestyle that he cannot have. Little Red Riding Hood's name comes from her Little Red Riding Hood. The color red is known in many Western cultures to indicate a person's wealth and status. Therefore, the bold color of a red item of clothing would only belong to a member of the bourgeoisie because a peasant could hardly afford such ornaments. Peasants dressed uniformly in dull-colored clothing made to last for numerous years. After the farmer wolf meets Little Red Riding Hood in the woods and convinces her to take the long road to her grandmother's house, where she distracts herself, the wolf arrives at the grandmother. The wolf in particular "ate her in an instant, because more than three days had passed since the last time he had eaten". The bourgeoisie lived a life of excess, while the peasants lived a life of uncertainty resulting in constant tension between the two classes. The fact that the Wolf eats the grandmother and wears her clothes represents his lust for the materialistic aspects associated with bourgeois life. When he later asks Little Red Riding Hood to "take off her clothes and get into bed" with him and she obeys and is then eaten, representing the loss of the rule of the bourgeoisie. Perrault is implying that if a peasant could get what the bourgeoisie has, their economic, political and social control would be broken. In the 19th century, the German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their collections of traditional folklore, including “Little Red Riding Hood,” which was their interpretation of Perrault's “Little Red Riding Hood.” They transcribed and published the folk tales whose tradition was still alive in the Länder of the German Confederation", wanting to "preserve them from oblivion before their decline became irreparable". The story of “Little Red Riding Hood” underwent several changes and publications before the final version was published in 1857. This final publication occurred after the arrival of theCommunist manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel in 1848. It was published in the period when revolutions began to appear in various parts of Europe where working class people wanted to replace the ruling bourgeois societies. The Brothers Grimm's fairy tales were aimed at the new growing market of middle-class families from the industrializing and urbanizing states of the German Confederation. These middle class families who wanted to teach their children traditional stories that often contained a lesson. The Brothers Grimm themselves originally came from a middle class or bourgeois family and in “Little Red Riding Hood” they promote the need for people to remain confined to their social status. Similarly, in Perrault's version, there is the protagonist and antagonist relationship represented by the class struggle, however there is a deeper relationship between ideology and hegemony between the bourgeoisie and the peasant. The protagonist Little Red Riding Hood and her family belong to the landowning middle class, while the Wolf is the farmer. The red of the cap represents her desire not to conform to her middle class status and instead be ambitious in climbing the social ladder from the middle class lifestyle. This desire will then be exploited by the peasant wolf who has similar ideas. The mother tells Little Red Riding Hood not to "leave the path" when she goes to her sick grandmothers with "a slice of cake and a bottle of wine". While going to her grandmother, Little Red Riding Hood meets the wolf and is tricked into deviating from the path. While Little Red Riding Hood is distracted by picking flowers for her grandmother, she wanders “farther and farther into the woods” when she encounters “even more beautiful” flowers (Grimm). As a result, without realizing it, he gave the Wolf more time to eat the grandmother. Little Red Riding Hood's flower picking is her attempt to look outside her lower middle class middle class to find new opportunities to advance her social status to that of the upper middle class. The wolf could be a representation of the farmer's faith in the empty promises provided by capitalism, the empty promise of being able to advance in society that does not actually happen. The path symbolizes her mistake of not conforming to where she belongs, of being led astray. If you try to move up in social class, you risk contributing to social disorder, which can lead to disaster or in this case the wolf killing your grandmother. Again, after the wolf ate the grandmother, "she took his clothes, put them on, and put her cap on his head" and "went to her bed" and waited for Little Red Riding Hood to appear to eat her too. The hunter then "was passing by" and notices the wolf he was hunting and opens its belly with a pair of scissors. Free both the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. Then they filled the wolf's body with "large heavy stones" so that "when he awoke and tried to escape... he fell dead." Farmer Lupo ends up killed for trying to obtain the benefits available to the middle class. When he kills the wolf, he fuels the cycle of complacency. The hunter has internalized the sense of hegemony because he does not question his low social status like the Wolf, which fuels the continuation of the class struggle. Little Red Riding Hood and the hunter are aware at the end of the story that the place where they are is the one where they will remain; the dominant upper-bourgeois society is the best option. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Although there are several major differences between the Perrault and Grimm versions of "Little Red Riding Hood," both can.. 2019.