Puss in Boots: Love, Lust & Treasure

The original Puss-In-Boots was written by Charles Perrault in the late 1600s which tells the story of a young man and his clever and manipulative cat working in his favor in return for a pair of boots. In 1979, Angela Carter released her own retelling of the tale under the same title. While Perrault's version follows the familiar formula of fairy tales of the time, Carter decides to take her version on a more adult path with significant differences in certain characters. A comparison and contrary examination of both texts yield different ideas of both the usage of noun and verb in the themes of lust, love, and treasure. These themes lead the characters to act in accordance to those desires, in some cases, forming their entire character around the premise. In pursuit of these things, we can observe how the characters behave and develop regarding that pursuit. Once these observations have been clearly identified, compared, and contrasted, it can then be observed through the lens of feminist theory. More specifically, we can examine the difference of the modern, or traditional, view of the characters and the woman of desire to that of Carter's post-modern retelling. Ultimately, we can identify and examine, not just the male pursuits of lust, love, and treasure in their respective stories, but also the female contribution in both the modern and post-modern telling. Therein, we can see the improvement of the feminine presence in Carter's version of the story in contrast to that of Perrault's original telling.