Le dynamisme du v.voir dans la structuration des protagonistes dans Le Petit Chaperon rouge de Charles Perrault

Since the preceding studies on Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood are predominantly psychoanalytic, the current work aims to be distinctive by presenting a semiotic interpretation of the tale. Its objective is to demonstrate that the four protagonists—Little Red Riding Hood, the Mother, the Grandmother, and the Wolf—constitute a structural, i.e., differential, relationship. The nucleus of this relationship lies in the act of seeing, a verb that, in this brief text, conspicuously recurs (9 instances). An initial grouping of characters is evident: on one side, the Wolf and the Mother represent the “living”; on the other, there are the “dead”, namely the Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. What distinguishes the two groups is the act of being seen. Characters who expose themselves, for instance by undressing, meet a tragic fate, whereas those who successfully conceal their identity survive. This underscores that in the universe of this tale, appearance is vital: to dispense with this appearance is to perish; to live, it is forbidden to be seen. Another grouping is conceivable. The Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood prove capable of seeing, of exploring the world. In contrast, the Mother and the Grandmother, symbolically lacking the ability to see, are somewhat blind. Furthermore, the two groups are sexualized: unlike the distinctly unisex blind characters, those capable of seeing are endowed with bisexuality. This reveals that in the universe of this tale, being bisexual allows one to “see,” to know, to discover, while unisexuality is closely linked to blindness, even ignorance. The visualization of these two structures through a semiotic square lead to the conclusion that among the four protagonists, the Wolf stands out due to his superior position: he is a bisexual being who lives on and sees everything without revealing himself. Could this not be a god?