One of the interesting things to me is that most of the women Tolkien depicted were in "love" relationships rather than ones of friendship: Rose/Sam, Arwen/Aragorn, Aragorn/Eowyn/Faramir, even Golberry/Tom. Galadriel may have been married, but in my mind she stood essentially alone as an authority figure, rather than as wife or friend.
Woman as friend is absent, whether friend to another woman or to a man. The latter may have to do with Tolkien's views on male/female relations. In 1941, in a letter to his son Michael who sought advice on marriage and the relations of the sexes, Tolkien said the follwing as he reviewed the different type of relationships which could exist between a man and woman:
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:"Friendship" then? In this fallen world the "friendship" that should be possible between all human beings, is virtually impossible between man and woman. The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject. He is as good every bit at catching you through generous romantic or tender motives, as through baser or more animal ones. This "friendship" has often been tried: one side or the other nearly always fails. Later in life, when sex cools down, it may be possible. It may happen between saints. To ordinary folk it can only rarely occur: two minds that may really have a primary mental and spiritual affinity may by accident reside in a male body and a female body, and yet may desire and achieve a "friendship" quite independent of sex. But no one can count on it. The other partner will let him (or her) down, almost certainly by "falling in love". But a young man does not really (as a rule) want "friendship", even if he says he does. There are plenty of young men (as a rule). He wants love: innocent, and yet irresponsible perhaps. Alas! Allas! that ever love was sinne! as Chaucer says.
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There are undoubtedly people who would agree with Tolkien's view that friendship between man and woman is almost impossible. I do not. It may be more difficult certainly, but, in my mind, far from impossible. I do think this perception influenced how Tolkien wrote and felt about women. The sharing of ideas and friendship between Finrod and the wise woman of Morgoth's Ring was probably possible in Tolkien's mind precisely because both characters were older. They did not pose a threat to each other in the way that he felt a younger man or woman might.
Does anyone else have a comment on this idea or a response?
Again, Tolkien was born into a different world than our own, and I am NOT saying he was sexist. His vews are bound to be different as he was the product of a different age.
Indeed, I would argue that a much better comparison would not be with our own "modern" heroines, but with the depictions of women by Tolkien's own contemporaries. And I feel Tolkien did a much better job portraying women than C.S. Lewis.
Lewis' White Witch and the Lady of the Green Kirtle are not positive figures. Edmund is forgiven for his flight to the White Witch and Eustace for his totally crazy behaviour, but Susan's growing interest in nylons and lipstick cause her to be excluded from the family itself. She is the only Pevensie not admitted to Aslan's country at the end. Now, I'm not crazy about nylons and lipstick either--it isn't my thing--but you can't tell me that girls are the only ones as teenagers who feel drawn to do silly things because of the opposite sex!! Yet it is only Susan that Lewis portrays in this manner.
Lewis feels much more comfortable with Lucy because she never matures sexually--she remains a fun-loving little girl. Similarly, the adult Jane in That Hideous Strength needs firm handling by her husband to restore her to her righful role of wife and mother-to-be. And while the Lady of Perelandra, the second Eve, has not yet fallen, she is automtically considered to be the key vulnerable link, capable of corruption, by both the good Ransom and the bad Westin. Even the unmarried, autonomous woman who is head of Experiment House, is a total disaster who must be confined to an asylum by the end of the book.
Tolkien, by contrast with Lewis, does appreciate the mature adult woman. His portrayals of Goldberry, Arwen, and Galadriel, as seen through Frodo's eyes, are both sweet and sensual. Galdriel comes over as a genuine figure of authority as well as spirituality, not a woman of innocence but one of experience in the very best sense. And Eowyn is a complex adult woman, beset by many problems, who strikes out not just because of crossed love, but also from a sense of personal and family loyalty.
So, but this standard, Tolkien has done very well indeed.
sharon, the 7th age hobbit
[ June 30, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]