The Meaning of the Bottle

[1]

We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood however the original 1812 publication by the Grimm brothers is called Little Red Cap. Little Red Cap is sent to visit her Grandmother with cake and a bottle of wine, but have you ever wandered why she was given wine to take to her Grandmother and not a child friendly drink, especially as the target audience is young children? One reading of the wine bottle in Little Red Cap's basket understands it to symbolise virginity. The shape of the wine bottle can be seen as phallic, it is also easily breakable and fragile as the mother warns Little Red Cap "do not leave the path, or you might fall down and break the glass."(Grimms, n.p)

In dream analysis a bottle can also represent repressed feelings, feelings that have been bottled. The only way to release these feelings is to open the bottle and release the trapped spirit.[2] So in this way, the bottle has a deeper meaning and purpose than just being a gift for her Grandmother. 

Jack Zipes, an American academic, holds that "there is a touch of nonconformity and sexual promiscuity in her character. But whatever her reputation and destiny, she has always been used as a warning to children" (Zipes, 1)The red colour of the wine that Little Red Cap takes to her Grandmother can be understood to symbolise passion and lust as it is interpreted that the wolf eating Little Red Cap is symbolic for sex. In this way Zipes identifying promiscuity in the character of Little Red Cap is definitely understandable and therefore strengthens the interpretation of the symbolism of the wine bottle. 

Obviously we can never know for sure what the Grimm brothers intentions were by placing wine in a children's fairy tale, after all, we could be completely over analysing but hopefully I've given you some new ideas to think about. Feel free to engage with my ideas by leaving comments down below. To end this blog post I want to leave this quote with you 

"Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar"[3] - Sigmund Freud 

References:

[1] http://horsenden.ealing.sch.uk/year-groups/year5/year-5-2017-2018/5306-5h-drama-bad-little-red-riding-hood.html. Accessed: 15/03/18

[2] Clarke, M. The Big Dictionary of Dreams. Skyhorse Publishing, 2015. 

[3] https://owlcation.com/humanities/red_riding_hood Accessed:15/03/18

Zipes, J. The Trials & Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood. Routledge, 1993.