The classic fairy tale character Little Red Riding Hood is
the epitome of obedience and innocence. Angela Carter replaces this
stereotypical Little Red with a wise young heroine who manages to tame the wolf
and find herself along the way. The final moments of “The Company of Wolves”
depict the young girl refusing to be afraid of the wolf and giving herself over
to him freely. This ending supports Carter’s idea that in order to survive,
women cannot succumb unwillingly to the “wolf”, but rather choose to give
themselves by being in command of themselves and their bodies.
Upon arrival
to her grandmother’s house, the young girl immediately senses danger: the young
huntsman blocks the only exit and the only sign of her grandmother is a “tuft
of white hair that had caught in the bark of an unburned log” (Carter 75) in
the fireplace. The girl knows she is in “danger of death” (75), but “since her
fear did her no good, she ceased to be afraid” (83). The young girl has been
raised since birth by the village, her grandmother, and her parents to believe
that the werewolf is something to be feared, the “night and the forest… with
darkness tangled in its hair” (63). The girl decides to question the village’s
beliefs and she stops being afraid of the wolf, representing unknown passions
and forbidden desires, and decides to explore him, despite the warnings her
grandmother’s bones clatter from underneath the bed.
She begins
to undress herself willingly, switching her role in the story from prey to
seductress. She takes off all of her clothes and throws them into the fire.
Carter uses fire in this particular scene as a symbol of rejuvenation. The girl
has burned her clothes, destroying them permanently, unconcerned about the cold
or lack of spare clothing. The wolves surrounding the house howl a
prothalamion, or a song in celebration of marriage, as her transformation
completes: the girl has been reborn as a sexual creature. “Clothed only in her
untouched integument of flesh” (90) and aware of her body, the creature she
becomes is a sexually liberated woman, a creature just as frightening to the
village as the werewolf. She takes further control of the situation by burning
the werewolf’s shirt then offering herself to him, kissing him freely.
The
werewolf is “carnivore incarnate” (98) and the young girl is aware that “only immaculate
flesh appeases him” (98). She doesn’t flinch when the wolf claims he is going
to eat her because she knows now that she “is nobody’s meat” (97): she will
give him the flesh he desires, but on her own terms and in her own way. She
knows she will not be harmed because she has taken full control of her body and
uses her sexuality and desire to defend herself. “See! Sweet and sound she
sleeps in granny’s bed, between the paws of the tender wolf” because instead of
relying on religion or another man to save her, she has relied on herself.
Through
the final scene of this retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, Angela Carter
expresses her feelings about women and sexuality. She appears to be saying
women should not hold fear towards the “wolf”, who stands for sexuality and
lust. One’s own sexuality is not something that should be ran away from, as
society pressures women to believe, but embraced. The women who live
subservient lives under the rule of their husbands are the ones who meet a
timely end in Carter’s story and the young girl is the only one to survive an
encounter with the wolf, because she was able to claim her body and her
sexuality as her own.
Carter, Angela. “The Company of Wolves.” The Bloody Chamber:
And Other Stories. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1990. Web. 28 February 2014.
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