Welcome back, Lush!!
greyhavener--
I said that!!
You seem to find this "traditional" role a problematic one. I am less certain about this. I think that Tolkien had a fairly untraditional take on these roles--he saw them as valuable. Bethberry wrote:
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I think one of Tolkien's outstanding achievements in LOTR is to make goodness an active, attractive virtue
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and I think the same holds true of the virtues of home and stability. The characters long for them constantly, and the importance of characters is not necessarily determined by, say, their prowess in battle. Some of you have described this as the fulfillment of "male needs," but I think it is also important that the men would like to participate in a more "feminine" world--and that Aragorn, as I pointed out, does. And of course this is of benefit to the women as well as the men.
I am not an expert in epic myths, but from what I do know of them it seems that much less energy is usually expended in praise of peace, and much more of a character's importance is based on overt participation in war. Think of how often LotR characters wish they were
not in the midst of great deeds!
As far as subterfuge goes (although I would phrase it less strongly--hidden truth, or deceptive appearance, perhaps), however, I would say that this is a major theme of the work and that almost everyone participates in it. Eowyn hides her identity and Arwen conceals her magic in the banner, but Aragorn is also traveling around under cover, Frodo wears an coat of mithril under his clothes, Saruman masquerades as good and wise, Ents don't reveal their true names, Gandalf conceals his ring, hobbits generally are described as being more than they appear, and so forth. I don't see it as particularly linked to gender.
--Belin Ibaimendi
[ July 25, 2002: Message edited by: Belin ]
[ July 25, 2002: Message edited by: Belin ]