Tolkien and the Monsters

[Bêthberry]

The more I look at Shelob, the more I see her as Sauron's equal in evil -- she is just another form of evil. And now I am going to take a flier: Shelob is the manifestation of feminine (note: not female) evil, and Sauron of masculine. Shelob is the complete perversion of femininity and the 'ideals' of the feminine (as embodied by Arwen?): she consumes and feeds and gluts rather than nourishes. Sauron is the perversion of masculinity and the 'ideals' of the masculine (as embodied by Aragorn?): he seeks dominion and control rather than inspiring love through his willingness to sacrifice himself.

Oh, I don't think this is a flier at all, Fordim. There is a reason why so many of the descriptions of Shelob refer to her gender--constantly and continuously is the pronoun 'she' repeated, even, of course, in her very name, Shelob. The female glutton whose appetites are so deadly and whose body is so foul and putrid. Even the orcs' mockery of "Her ladyship" is significant.

However, the text sets her up against Galadriel, rather than Arwen, don't you think? It is Galadriel's star glass which Sam recalls and which lights his and Frodo's way, the light of the pure feminine figure.