Examples Of Greed In The Hobbit

The first act of Bilbo’s heroism is when he makes his first attempt at burglary when he steals from the trolls. Even before Bilbo steals from the trolls he is told by the dwarfs “Now it’s the burglar’s turn.” (33 Tolkien) And by Thorin “You

By putting his life in danger Bilbo shows a true example of heroism. Though the dwarves were still skeptical of his abilities, they were starting to take into consideration of what Gandalf had said about this little hobbit. Continuing their adventure the group is attacked by goblins where they are eventually saved by Gandalf. Throughout the turmoil of the attacking goblins Bilbo gets lost in the caves and finds himself alone in the darkness. It is in this event when Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring. Gollum was a sickly looking creature that had been dwelling in the caves for many years. Bilbo used his wits to outsmart the creature by playing a riddle game with him and eventually made it to safety. Having Bilbo win the riddle game shows that his smart and witty mind aids him in becoming the hero. Bilbo wasn’t some tough strong stereotypical super hero, he used his smarts to outwit his foes and to triumph over evil. Though Bilbo at the time did not know the power of the ring that he had retrieved from Gollum’s lair (the power of invisibility), it was his heroic fate that he found it as it assist him in becoming the hero of the story. Fate has it that Bilbo will become a hero, but Bilbo also has the courage on top of his fate to get the dwarves out of life threatening situations.

Bilbo had the least amount of greed compared to his fellow company: Smaug, the dwarves, and Gollum; each of these characters, throughout the novel, wanted to fulfill their desire for riches. The theme of greed is developed upon from the beginning of the novel. It was initially seen in the dwarves' strong desire to regain the treasure for themselves and in Bilbo's greediness for food. Though Bilbo loves to eat, and to have other comforts, he was able to live without them and never let his desires overcome his sense of duty and right. The dwarves' love of treasure, however, stood in their way and almost defeated them. It was clear that their motivation behind retrieving the gold was greed. They spent years upon years working in the mines and the sound of riches couldn't be ignored by them. Gollum was another example of greed. Bilbo had the ring which Gollum called "his precious" and Gollum wanted it back. The ring had onced belonged to Gollum and had basically destroyed him. Gollum became filled with greed once he had the ring in his possession. Bilbo seemed to be someone who happened to find things. Bilbo was not immune to greed for beautiful things like rings and beautiful

Greed is a common, yet detrimental factor in society today. All around the world people experience this type of attribute, whether it is for power or for the simple concept of desiring more in life. In order to further this prevalent theme, Peter Jackson created the film The Hobbit-Desolation of Smaug, in 2013. In this film, he continued the adventure of Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves and set them off to reclaim their ancient dwarven city guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Throughout the entire movie, the characters face many tough obstacles, those being orcs, elves and most importantly the evil dragon. Those elves actually came to their rescue later on in the movie, proving their loyalty. Those noble elves were Tauriel and Legolas. Also, a major character in the movie was Gandalf, which was the powerful wizard. In the movie, he aided in their adventure by leading them to the proper trail while also providing them with many struggles they may encounter on the way. While all of the characters and setting play a key role in shaping the movie as a whole, the theme of greed is a much greater aspect throughout the film. Peter Jackson implements personification, symbolism, and foreshadowing in his movie in order to point his audience towards the bigger message, greed is the root of all evil.

Ruled by emotions, our overpowering heart makes us human. For Odysseus, he was ruled by arrogance on his journey home after his Trojan War victory. Arrogance is a matter of the mind; the mind deceives humans into thinking that they are greater than the bigger picture of life. So, as punishment for believing himself above the gods, the gods sentence Odysseus to a ten year journey lost at sea among challenges and temptations. Meanwhile, Odysseus’ wife Penelope and son Telemachus suffer at home in the kingdom of Ithaca. In Odysseus’ story, the secondary characters symbolize the traits of human experience, such as greed, lust, love, and hope that will serve to teach Odysseus of his humanity.

The world we live in is full of heroes that are different shapes and sizes that people don't remember who they are a month after they do something. The story The Hobbit may make you think of a half sized person as an no everyday hero, but his actions will touch your heart and make you think that it's really possible to change the world around you no matter what size you are. The half sized person in this story by J.R.R. Tolkien is named Bilbo and his race is known as hobbits. In his distant homeland called the Shire, he was summoned by a wizard named Gandalf who requested he join them on a quest for treasure. This quest was probably the

In the book the Hobbit Bilbo has exhibited many ways in the beginning how he was a hobbit such as, not wanting to go on the adventure with the dwarves and Gandalf or, the fact he did not want the dwarves in his home in the first place as a matter of fact he ask them to leave. So this shows how Bilbo was very hobbit like in the beginning, but how about closer to the middle of this very fascinating book. First of all, Bilbo escaped the goblin all by himself and with a little help from the ring. Bilbo also found his way back to Gandalf and the dwarves once he did escape the goblins. He also took on Gollum even though it could have cost him his life.

Bilbo’s highly unlikely rescues and the acquiring of a magical ring are all a part of Bilbo’s destiny. For instance, Bilbo found a magic ring that belonged to Gollum, an antagonist in the story. The ring was lying next to him when he woke up, and when he felt it, “he put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking; certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment.” The possibility of

Character traits that Tolkien considers positive include traits such as being adventurous and politeness. In the novel the trait adventurous appear as a positive trait as it is a ‘requirement’ in order to even go on an adventure. Bilbo denies adventure due to his normal, peaceful life. However, his Tookish side urges him to accept and accompany the dwarves. Being polite or kind is another positive character trait. Bilbo was upset,

the company even accurately described him as “looking more like a grocer burglar"(18). His overall appearance does display that he is not fit to be a hero, but he is chosen as most underdogs are. Bilbo is expected to play a role in a story that's much more exceptional then he is aware of, just as we are called to fulfill our own roles on Earth. Gandalf even states at the closing of the hobbit "you don't really suppose do you that all your adventures and escapes were managed by pure luck just for your sole benefit?You are a fine person, Mr. Baggins , and I am very fond of you ; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!” (

Generally, Gollum has an evil, greedy nature. Bilbo Baggins even thinks: “Utterly miserable as Gollum sounded, Bilbo could not find much pity in his heart, and he had a feeling that anything Gollum wanted so much could hardly be something good.” (Hobbit 77) This shows that others rightly assumed that the creature was corrupted and evil.

A character identified by the name Thorin experiences greed. Thorin gets corrupted with greed by the great amount of gold, that will soon be regained after defeating the powerful dragon Smaug. Throughout the text Thorin’s greedy side takes over and does not always make the best decisions. Near the end of the novel he decides to rather go into war instead of splitting the deceased dragon’s wealth into shares. Additionally, he would take someone’s life in order to take the Arkenstone back.

This does conflict with the “Took side” of Bilbo… the one that longed to “see the great mountains and hear the pine tress and the waterfalls, and explore the caves…” but the thought of “plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames” snaps him out of this trance and “quickly, he was plain Mr Baggins of Bad-End, Underhill, again” (29). Green makes the brilliant observation that “When a wizard appears at his doorstep to give him what he ‘asked for’ the hobbit is arguably at a crossroads, destined either to wither and die [in is passive life at home] or to break in to new life” (Green, 40). So in order for Bilbo to enact on his journey, he must leave his ‘Baggins’ side behind; and the only way to truly do that is to leave his home, his comfort zone, and go out on an adventure. In the end, he agrees to go be the burglar for Gandalf, Thorin and Co.; “the Took side had won”, though “many a time after the Baggins part regretted what he did now” (32).

Gollum, previously known as Smeagol, is one of the first bearers of the ring of power, and when he comes into the ring’s presence for the first time, the power makes him so corrupt that to get his hands on it he kills his friend Deagol. “‘ Smeagol had been watching him from behind a tree, and as Deagol gloated over the ring, Smeagol came softly up behind. “Give us that, Deagol, my love,” said Smeagol, over his friend’s shoulder. “Why?” said Deagol. “ Because it’s my birthday, my love, and I wants it,” said Smeagol. “I don’t care,” said Deagol. “I have given you a present already, more than I could afford. I found this, and I’m going to keep it.” “Oh, are you indeed, my love,” said Smeagol; and he caught Deagol by the throat and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful. Then he put the ring on his finger’” (Tolkein Pg. 52). This text shows that Gollum, or Smeagol, is corrupt due to the rings power only by being around it. The need for the ring was so great that it pushed him to kill, a devastating act on its own, but he kills his own friend. This proves that with the power of the ring Gollum becomes immensely corrupt. After Gollum first obtains the ring he grows to feel a great hatred

Gollum himself is the epitome of good and evil. Gollum is a forgotten and broken tangle of destructive behavior. His original name was Sméagol and much like the Hobbits, though they do not normally live nearly 600 years. His acquirement of the Ring and his descent into the caves of the mountains allowed him to survive. Frodo forgives