Good vs. Evil
The Brothers Grimm in their story, “Little Red Cap,” teach their audience that it is good to obey the rules one is given. For example, the main character, Little Red Cap, was instructed by her mother to bring cake and wine to her grandmother’s house and to not stray from the path. However, she meets the wolf who convinces her otherwise, “As soon as she picked one she saw an even more beautiful one somewhere else and went after it, and so she went deeper and deeper into the woods,” (Grimm 14). This example illustrates the claim that it is good to obey because if she would have listened to her mother and stayed on the path straight to her grandmothers house, the wolf wouldn’t have been able to beat her there to quietly eat her grandmother. Therefore, it’s good to obey ones orders to ensure the safety of oneself and those around them. This version of the tale by the Brothers Grimm was specifically written for an audience of German children in the 19th century. The claim that it is good to obey is very important to the audience because it taught children to listen to their parents so that they would not get in trouble or harm, which was very important during that time period of authoritarian culture in Germany. It’s important because parents would use these stories in order to teach their children lessons in an entertaining manner that would help them understand its importance.
The Brothers Grimm use the bad character in the story to teach the lesson that it is bad to be a sloth. For example, after the wolf had eaten both the grandmother and Little Red Cap, he decided to lie down in bed and take a nap. Grimm tells us that during this nap, “A huntsman happened to be passing by the house just then and thought to himself: ‘How the old woman is snoring! You’d better check to see what’s wrong,’” (15). The wolf was a sloth because he was lazy and fell asleep instead of escaping, where he would not have gotten caught by the huntsman and would have got away with his crime instead of dying for it. It shows that is bad to be sloth like the evil character in this story who was lazy and died because of this sin. It teaches the German children of the 19th century that being a sloth is a sin and can have horrendous consequences. It is important for that audience because in an authoritarian culture, one cannot afford to be a sloth because they always have to be attentive and obedient.

Works Cited

Grimm, Brothers. “Little Red Cap.” The Classic Fairytales. Ed. Maria Tater. New York: Norton, 1999. 13 – 16. Print.