Home Random Page


CATEGORIES:

BiologyChemistryConstructionCultureEcologyEconomyElectronicsFinanceGeographyHistoryInformaticsLawMathematicsMechanicsMedicineOtherPedagogyPhilosophyPhysicsPolicyPsychologySociologySportTourism






KEY literary technique

Antitheses

"No careful reader of Tolkien's fiction can fail to be aware of the polarities that give it form and fiction,"[1] writes Verlyn Flieger. Tolkien's extensive use of duality and parallelism, contrast and opposition is found throughout the novel, in hope and despair, knowledge and enlightenment, death and immortality, fate and free will. One famous example is the often criticized polarity between Evil and Good in Tolkien. Orcs, the most maligned of races, are a corruption of the mystically exalted race of the Elves. Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery, home of the Lord of the Nazgûl, the most corrupted Kings of Men, directly opposes Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard and the capital of Gondor, the last visible remnant of the ancient kingdom of Men in the Third Age.

 

Theantitheses, though pronounced and prolific, are sometimes seen to be too polarizing, but they have also been argued to be at the heart of the structure of the entire story. Tolkien's technique has been seen to "confer literality on what would in the primary world be called metaphor and then to illustrate [in his secondary world] the process by which the literal becomes metaphoric."[1]

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 - 1973)

"You can make the Ring into an allegory of our own time, if you like: an allegory of the inevitable fate that waits for all attempts to defeat evil power by power" J. R. R. Tolkien

 

J. R. R. Tolkien was professor of Anglo-saxon and English language and literature from 1925-59 at Oxford University. Tolkien is most famous for his books The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings, which entails the three volumes entitled The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King (1954-55), and The Silmarillion (1977), all of which are set in the mythological world of Middle-earth. Tolkien was a devout Catholic who both remembered and experienced times when religious freedom was not completely guaranteed in the United Kingdom. Faith, for Tolkien, as his literary biographer Joseph Pearce reports, “was not an opinion to which one subscribed, but a reality to which one submitted.” In fact, Tolkien’s faith is as central in his Middle-earth books as his concern to preserve freedom. Before becoming the distinguished professor, Tolkien served in the British army during the First World War. Tolkien’s first-hand experiences in World War I instilled in him an immense preoccupation with, if not a generalized anxiety about, the rise of totalitarianism.

 

KEY FACTS

 

full title The Lord of the Rings

 

titles of the volumes The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King

 

author · J.R.R. Tolkien

 

type of work · Novel

 

genre · Epic; heroic quest; folktale; fantasy; myth

 

language · English, with occasional words and phrases from various languages of Middle-earth that Tolkien invented



 

time and place written · 1937–1949; Oxford, England

 

date of first publication · 1955

 

narration and point of view · The whole of The Lord of the Rings is told by an anonymous, third-person narrator. The narration is omniscient, which means the narrator not only relates the characters’ thoughts and feelings, but also comments on them.

 

tone · The tone of The Lord of the Rings is in the epic tradition throughout, reinforcing a sense of myth.

setting (time) · The third age of Middle-earth

 

setting (place) · Middle-earth, various locales in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, including Minas Tirith, the Paths of the Dead, Osgiliath, Cirith Ungol, Mount Doom, the Shire, and the shore of the Great Sea

 

protagonist · Frodo Baggins

 

antagonist Sauron, The Dark Lord

 

fabula the battle for Middle-earth between its diverse inhabitants, including humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits, and wizards, and the dark forces of Sauron.

 

major conflict · The major conflict is between the good and the evil represented in the struggle between "angelic" powers of Frodo and companions and dark forces of Sauron. Shortly the conflict can be defined as natural vs. unnatural or supernatural.

 

minor conflicts the Fellowship and the forces of Gondor battle the forces of Mordor, led by Sauron and the Lord of the Nazgûl. Frodo, meanwhile, struggles with the increasing torment of the Ring’s burden, prompting Sam to take up a large part of the responsibility for the quest.

 

rising action · The war for Middle-earth is largely fought on traditional battlefields between two opposing armies, but the real battle is fought within the hearts of its inhabitants. Symbolizing this internal struggle is Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring of power, which can be accomplished only if he is able to withstand the great temptation the ring represents.

 

climax · The climax of the book occurs at Mount Doom, as Frodo debates whether to let the ring fall into the fires that created it, thereby destroying it, or to keep the ring for himself.

 

falling action · The falling action is long and drawn out and includes Sam and Frodo’s rescue from the lava-drenched plains of Mordor, Frodo’s convalescence, the coronation of Aragorn, the hobbits’ return to the Shire, and the departure of Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf with the elves.

 

themes · The ambiguity of evil; the importance of redemption; the priority of friendship, the temptations of power, the origins of evil, the failure of good intentions and righteous causes. industrialized warfare, the king vs. the steward; the limits of fellowship; the Shire as a fantasy of home

 

motifs · Mordor; the temptation of the ring; journeys

 

symbols · The Ring; Minas Tirith; the Great Eye of Sauron, Water; Mount Doom

 

foreshadowing

· Bilbo’s restlessness and his reluctance to give up the ring foreshadow the awesome challenge the ring will pose for Frodo.

· Frodo’s vision in Galadriel’s mirror and Pippin’s vision in the seeing stone predict the fate of Middle-earth should the fellowship fail in its mission.

· Isildur’s failure to drop the ring into Mount Doom anticipates Frodo’s own reluctance.

· Boromir’s attempt to snatch the ring from Frodo anticipates Gollum’s repeated attempts to steal the ring, as well as those of Boromir’s brother, Faramir.

· When Frodo jumps into the water to rescue Sam at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, the action anticipates the flashback at the beginning of The Return of the King, which shows Sméagol’s friend’s dive for the ring of power.

QUIZ

 



Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1085


<== previous page | next page ==>
Read the analytical essay by Greg Harvey and get ready to answer the questions. | Who possesses the ring of power at the start of the trilogy?
doclecture.net - lectures - 2014-2024 year. Copyright infringement or personal data (0.006 sec.)