The colour red has many different meanings ranging all the way from violence to love. Colour is an extremely useful tool to tell stories even without words and for example, you could easily associate a green book with health and well-being. If you look at many stories such as Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood, the colour red has negative connotations including danger and temptation.
Originally written in Danish by Hans Christian Andersen, The Red Shoes, a story of vanity and punishment, was published in 1845. In the tale, there is a little orphan girl named Karen goes to church but instead of wearing respectful plain black shoes, her vanity leaves her wearing red shoes. She meets an old soldier with a red beard who compliments her beautiful shoes and mentions that the shoes won’t come off when you dance so once church had finished, Karen begins to dance and to her, the shoes even feel like they’re in control of the dancing. The rich adoptive mother of Karen dies as a result of falling ill but Karen does not attend her funeral. Because of her actions, Karen is unfortunately met with a sword-bearing angel who condemns her to dance forever even after death. At that point, her frantic movement leads her to getting her feet chopped off by the town executioner. At the end of the story, she visits the church two weeks in a row hoping that she receives mercy from God but the shoes, which are always one step ahead, block her way. For the third Sunday, she decides not to go to church. She stays at home and prays before the angel, who now bears roses instead of a sword, gives Karen her desired mercy but her heart overfills with peace and joy which results in the heart bursting and her soul flying off to Heaven.
The tale has moral stories of not giving into temptation and trying your best to be redeemed. As the girl gives in to her temptation of being selfish and wearing attention-grabbing red shoes, she is punished for prioritising some footwear over the respect of other churchgoers and her own adoptive mother. From this, children can learn to avoid giving into temptation but since at the end of the story the little girl finally understands and begs for forgiveness, children are also encouraged to think about ways of finding redemption.
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Referencing
[1] Vilhelm Pedersen. (N/A). Red Shoes. [image]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IIlustration_by_Vilhelm_Pedersen,_for_Hans_Christian_Andersen%27s_%22Red_Shoes%22.jpg [Access date: 03/10/2020]
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