The Cape/ The Colour Red
When the girl reaches the age when she turns into a woman, her hair is one of her most powerful tools for attracting the opposite gender. With covering (or cutting) her hair, she sends a message she is not available yet (or anymore).
When she gets a hood from her grandmother, we can say the life forces are passing from older (going) to younger (coming) generation. The red color is, of course, the color of life and blood. It can be easily associated with menstrual blood.
The red color of the hood is an invention of Charles Perrault and we should know in the 17th century decent woman would never wear a red hood because red was the color of sin. Only ladies with really bad reputation wore red dresses and Perrault’s insinuations were obvious.
The Forest
In many fairy tales the main character (the protagonist) must go in the forest. It seems trees are an endless source of inspiration in folklore. There are many speculations why the forest is so important but we can also stick to the obvious: most of the people in medieval or pre-medieval times lived near forests.
People’s existence was closely related to wood from practically forever, but forests also represent unknown, although very serious, danger.
In psychoanalysis a forest symbolizes unconsciousness. Leonard Lutwack goes even further and he labels it as untamed feminine sexuality. Why? The forest is a very fertile place, but it is also wild, uncultivated, and unpredictable.
It is not a coincidence so many popular heroes and heroines (Red Cap, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks) must get lost in the woods just to come back as more responsible (and we can say domesticated) persons.
Important character transformations within folklore always take place in the forest.
A Feminist’s View on the Story
20th century brought another interpretation of this probably most interpreted fairy tale of all. Feminists see a clear case of rape in The Little Red Riding Hood. It is a story about rape.
The aggressive and active male is preying on passive heroine and her granny. He is in the end defeated by another aggressive and active male. Case closed.
Well, not so fast. Feminists have some good points but we should not forget we are really talking only about two versions of Red Riding Hood here. Both were written at specific times by specific members of society with their own beliefs about roles of genders and passive heroine and powerless old lady fit well in their view of the world in the 17th or 19th centuries.