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The Women In T. R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings

Decent Essays

The book is a classic, the whole series is a classic. There’s common theme of heroes set in a land before technology, where swords were used to decide conflicts. There’s the air of impending doom, yet the heroic armies still ride out to defeat the antagonist. Yet, the misogynistic undertones are a tad alarming. Males are dominant throughout the whole book, but females are mentioned, only sparsely though. The main female character, Eowyn (still not a character) was poorly written in regards to female warrior-status and feminism in general. This is proven with, ¨´Eowyn, do you not love me?´ Then the heart of Eowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her.¨ (Tolkien 243) This quote tells of the steward of Gondor professing his love for Eowyn. Barely two chapters ago, Eowyn was ´in love´ with Aragorn, and now she‘s head over heels for Faramir. Tolkien has internalized that woman have to fall in love, and the only practical point of Eowyn was for her to be in a small unrequited love triangle. Then this love change makes her lay down her sword, ¨I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.¨ (Tolkien 243) Eowyn helped slay the head dark Rider. Plus, all throughout the book Tolkien describes her as beautiful and stunning. This internalized misogyny causes the author to give her an …show more content…

Then it transfers so well onto the big screen, although I prefer the Hobbit movies to Lord of the Ring. I read the Hobbit and the first two Lord of the Ring books over the summer, so this was a treat to get to read the last one for school. It‘s a good read if you like fictional worlds and swords and battles. The english is strange at some parts, but yet again this was written decades

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