In class we were talking about Strider being a different kind of hero than Frodo. It seems to me that Strider was breed to be a hero that may be why he feels obligated to go and do the things that he has to. Just a thought.
I do have a question about the women in heroic poetry that was discussed. Why are women to be feared? It seems that in the history books women couldn't do anything but tend to the house and raise the kids. They couldn't own land or work outside the home, so why are they feared?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
a weblog where the students of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville contemplate all things "Lord of the Rings," both modern and medieval
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(122)
-
▼
February
(46)
- Age?
- Fangorn
- Tolkien's thoughts
- The Ents going to war
- Gollum
- Thoughts on Sauron, Saruman, and evil
- Staying vs Running Away: Honor
- The Reach of the Novels
- Some Questions
- Racism of Middle Earth
- Unification of Cultures: The Chase of all Chases
- 'Remembering' Gandalf
- Boromir's Saving Grace
- Father vs. Son
- An Orc's Thought
- Gandalf and his bag of tricks
- prose eda christianity
- Coming Late to the Conversation: Is Sauron the Goo...
- Valhalla and Valinor
- Led Zeppelin and LOTR
- Travelers
- Elves in Exile?
- Power in Small Size?
- Spoof of Fellowship
- Gandalf with a Lightsaber
- Is Sauron the Good Guy?
- Fair Fight
- Where have I been?
- Gandalf...what's up with the attitude?
- poem in a poem?!
- About the Movies
- Class
- the fight with Grendel's mum
- The Voyage of Ibn Fadlan
- Is this a running heroic or fantasy theme?
- Dwarves
- Foreshadowing
- Beowulf and God
- Sam's Potato Rap
- Getting Frodo safely to Rivendale
- Strider
- Beowulf the movie
- Link
- Similarities between LOTR and Beowulf
- Heroes?
- Grendel
-
▼
February
(46)
Most Recent Comments
8 comments:
I think that Strider feels obligated to help destroy the ring because man is blamed for not destroying it when they had the chance before. He does seem like a hero, but he has many faults in the fact that he is scared of the ring and heroes shouldn't show fear.
I think the fact that Strider is a hero and he seeems more like a real person than your typical 'hero' makes us as readers want to read more about him. I also think that it makes him a more realistic person because I really can't imagine Beowulf as a real person, can you?
I think Strider shouldn't feel obligated to go just because someone in his family did something wrong. But I think that they should all go to destroy the ring instead of passing the deed off to someone else because if they all don't go they are going to be taken over by evil.
I think that Strider does have an obligation to the journey in destroying the ring, not only for man, but to reach his destiny in regaining the thrown. Strider seems like a great leader and always is ready for something to happen.
The simple notion that Aragorn is reluctant to take the throne of Gondor is precisely because he cares about middle earth. He is constantly living under the shadow of his predecessor, Isildur, who failed when he took the ring for himself. Aragorn does not want to fall into darkness as the old line of kings once did. I think this intrinsically makes him a great hero because it reflects on his humble, yet cautiously resolute character. I think most people can relate to Aragorn's character because many of us struggle with aspects in our lives over which we have no control. In Aragorn's case he cannot control that he is of Elendil's bloodline, but he can choose to take that path or not. Thematically, I think Tolkien embodied in Aragorn the dichotomy between freewill and destiny.
Why are women feared by the patriach? Hmm... Specifically the role of the mother in this case is the one to fear- who's giving birth to these monsters- but we're not worried about Grendal's dad coming along to get revenge- why? Maybe the male role is already taken by Beowulf who fights mom- could Beowulf thus be Grendal's dad? (Not literally) But the hero/villian relationship usually parallels the father/son (Cronos/Zeus, Vadar/Luke) Heros create their monsters- or do monsters create their heros? Either way, its a strange family.
Women who simply tend the house, raise the kids, and don't question their roles are not feared. It's the women who step outside their presumed roles and stand up as independent women who pose a threat to a patriarchy. These strong women are feared and hated by men who seek to maintain the male dominance of a patriarchy.
Women are cursed and despised by men because this causes a sense of inferiority to build in women's minds, which then makes it easier for men to subdue women to serve the cultural roles set in place for them.
The world has always been a patriarchy, so it makes sense that women have been feared and despised throughout the history of literature.
I don't remember the part of the book that the other comments mention but in general I think that medieval men would have feared the power that women held over them. A woman is the key to reproduction, sexual pleasure, and can make the strongest man bow to her every whim. I believe that one culture (again I can't remember the exact one) thought that women were evil because of their sexual and loose ways even though the men were not blamed for the same things. Men blame women for immoral sexual activities throughout history. Even in the Bible the woman that was brought before Jesus for adultry was alone and the man was not mentioned.
Post a Comment