Joy McMurray and Dr. Steve Walker, English
J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings continues to rise in stature in the literary world, but it also sustains a significant cultural impact: it was one of the most widely read and influential novels of our time even before the blockbuster films were released. Authors and critics also acknowledge Tolkien’s work as a major influence on the recently expanded fantasy genre, and it is difficult to find a fantasy novel that does not contain significant elements and assumptions initiated by Tolkien. Thus, between these books and his own books, Tolkien has had and will have a great effect on the minds of several generations. Appropriately, critics have been commenting on various aspects of Tolkien’s works for almost eight decades.
As a young researcher fascinated by Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, I wanted to contribute to the discussion. I strongly suspected that the women in the novel had shaped my vision of what is good and right in womanhood, so I aimed my research towards them. However, as I began to plan a project researching and analyzing the female characters, a review of relevant literature quickly showed me that little had been said about the women in The Lord of the Rings. The few critics who have addressed the female characters in the novel see them as shallowly drawn and unimportant. To them, Galadriel is a flesh-less archetype, Arwen is a shadow of a princess, and Eowyn is a bright spark of female power that is soon stifled by male domination. Since my experience suggested a very different set of images, my ORCA-funded research project was an attempt to address this significant gap and misconception in Tolkien criticism. Using the text rather than an outside agenda as a guide, I first analyzed the female characters’ individual images of womanhood and then examined the resulting portrayal of womanhood in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The research was a two-step process. First I expanded my review of literature, making sure to include the key works on Tolkien, whether or not they addressed the women specifically (most did not). I then researched the text itself, searching for any images of womanhood in the novel. I looked at descriptions of the female characters given by the narrator, descriptions given by other characters, the women’s own action and dialogue, the nature of the women’s influence on other characters, and the other character’s interactions with and memories of the women. Then, using the text as my “truth” and the critics’ comments as a springboard, I wrote a new analysis of the images of womanhood in the novel. The final product—a ninety-page honors thesis—was one of the most fascinating and challenging experiences of my life.
I originally intended to look at all the female characters in the novel, but I soon discovered that that would make the scope of the project too large to be manageable. I decided to leave Goldberry, Rosie, Lobelia, and Shelob for a future project—perhaps a master’s thesis—and kept Galadriel, Arwen, and Eowyn as the focus of this project. I had also planned to research and comment on the social and psychological effects the novel has on readers, but I realized that I was neither qualified nor equipped with the right tools to go beyond literary research and criticism into social science and psychology. My thesis advisor (faculty mentor) helped me narrow the focus of the paper and suggested using imagery as the key method for analyzing the women. Galadriel, Arwen, and Eowyn each have their own chapter in the thesis, followed by a chapter on the combined imagery. I would still like to know why the novel has had such a powerful influence on so many readers, but that question, too, will have to wait for the future.
My resulting analysis was indeed very different from previous critics’ analyses. For Galadriel, I found that, although her appearance is brief, her image is strong and extends through the entire novel. Her image is also complex—it includes images such as tester, shaper, destiny changer (her own and others’), queen, wife, and guardian—but it is an image that is greater than the sum of its archetypes because it is infused with true human pain and sorrow, hope and determination. It is her image that gives strength to Frodo and Sam two books later as they cross through Mordor.
Arwen was the most difficult of the three women to discuss because her physical appearances in the novel are the most limited. The critics have also been particularly harsh to Arwen because they compare her to her ancestor, the more assertive, physically daring Luthien, and find her weak, passive, and unproven (in contrast to Aragorn). However, the text, including “The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen” in the appendix, gives evidence for a different interpretation. Luthien may have risked great danger because she loved Beren, but Arwen accepts great sorrow because she loves Aragorn. Two two women’s situations were different and thus demanded different versions of courage.
Eowyn’s image is the most complex and realistic of all. She must deal with insecurity, a faltering family and nation, repressive gender roles, and unrequited love. Previous critics have seen her choice to become a warrior-woman as a remedy for these problems, but a careful look at the text shows that it was not. Healing, for Eowyn, came only as she learned to love and be loved. The text also indicates that her marriage to Faramir is not a return to repression but an opening of long closed doors.
The culminating image of womanhood contains five elements that all three women share: they are all women who (1) give love and hope and cause healing and growth in others, (2) suffer greatly, (3) make important, self-governing and self-defining choices, (4) are women of influence, even from afar, and (5) are beautiful in many ways. Thus, instead of being weak, stereotypical, or invisible, the women portray images that are separate from but equally significant to those of the male characters. Tolkien’s portrayal of womanhood is varied, beautiful, and insightfully realistic in many ways.