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</div><!--[BEFORE-ARTICLE]--><span class="marker before-article"></span><section id="ref1" data-level="1"><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref665176"></span>ogre</strong>, a hideous <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/giant-mythology" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">giant</a> represented in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/fairy-tale" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">fairy tales</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/folklore-academic-discipline" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">folklore</a> as feeding on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-being" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">human beings</a>. The word gained popularity from its use in the late 17th century by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Perrault" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">Charles Perrault</a>, the author of <em>Contes de ma mère l’oye</em> (<em><span id="ref1321371"></span>Tales of Mother Goose</em>). Since then, ogres have appeared in many works, including “Tom Thumb”; “<span id="ref1321372"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hansel-and-Gretel-fairy-tale-by-Grimm-brothers" class="md-crosslink">Hansel and Gretel</a>,” where the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/witchcraft" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">witch</a> is a type of ogre because she intends to eat the children; and “<span id="ref1321373"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Little-Red-Riding-Hood" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">Little Red Riding Hood</a>,” where the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/wolf" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">wolf</a> resembles an ogre. The <span id="ref1321374"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cyclops-Greek-mythology" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">Cyclops</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth" class="md-crosslink autoxref" data-show-preview="true">myth</a> and heroic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">literature</a> who devours humans is a form of ogre.</p><!--[P1]--><span class="marker p1"></span><!--[AM1]--><span class="marker AM1 am-inline"></span><div class="one-good-fact-module">
</div><!--[MOD1]--><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The idea of the ogre can also be seen, more broadly, in a metaphoric sense in literature. The seducer who devours his or her victims in a sexual sense is a kind of ogre, as is a political tyrant or <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/dictator-ruler" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">dictator</a> who controls and exploits others and in a sense swallows them up. The dictator causes lives to be consumed through <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="promulgating" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/promulgating" data-type="MW">promulgating</a> wars and acts of brutality such as those perpetrated by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nazi-Party" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true">Nazi</a> regime. The association of ogres with Nazis was made in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-Tournier" class="md-crosslink autoxref" data-show-preview="true">Michel Tournier’s</a> novel <em><span id="ref1321370"></span>Le Roi des aulnes</em> (1970; <em>The Ogre</em>). Other modern works dealing with ogres are <em>L’Ogre</em> (1973) by Jacques Chessex and Nacer Khemir’s <em>L’Ogresse</em> (1975), a collection of Tunisian tales.</p><!--[P2]--><span class="marker p2"></span><!--[AM2]--><span class="marker AM2 am-inline"></span><!--[MOD2]--><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span><span class="md-signature">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/editor/rene-ostberg/12853185">René Ostberg</a>.</span><!--[END-OF-CONTENT]--><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><!--[AFTER-ARTICLE]--><span class="marker after-article"></span></div>
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