Eowyn and feminism and Tolkien

[davem]

Er, well, right...quite surprised no-one picked up on my deliberate mistake a few posts back..

And if we assume that Aragorn didn't just make up the term 'shield maiden' on the spot then we can also assume that it was not entirely uncommon for women to fight

Obviously, it wasn't Aragorn who used the term shieldmaiden at all, but Eowyn herself:

'Too often have I heard of duty,' she cried. 'But am I not of he House of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a dry-nurse? I have waited on faltering feet long enough. Since they falter no longer, it seems, may I not now spend my life as I will?'

so, er, just pay attention in future guys, ok...

Anyway, now that's cleared up, let's agree to never mention it again....

'kay...as I said, I don't dispute that Eowyn is speaking the truth about the state of of women in Rohan (or that's how a modern reader would interpret it - I don't know whether that's how Tolkien intended it to be understood, but we'll let that pass. What does interest me is Eowyn's plaintive 'may I not now spend my life as I will?', because 'spend' in this context has a double meaning - she may well be asking 'May I not live my life as I will?, but I don't think she is - I think she is asking 'May I not expend my life as I will?

Now, I think she believes what she's saying - that she wants to be like the boys & go to battle & win renown. But its not so simple. Her death wish is obvious to anyone looking at her (Merry for instance) but it may not be plain to her. She probably does fantasise about winning glory on the field, but she sees that 'glory' coming as a result of falling in combat. I honestly don't think she could conceive of not dying on the field. She wanted to die for the cause, yes, but the cause, however genuine, (& however complex - because I agree that the 'enemy' in her mind was not simply Sauron, it was also the restrictive male dominated society she lived in, & she sought liberation from both - & also from her own despair) was her justification for 'spending' her life.

And I have to rush off now - but I did want to bring up Eomer's words to Aragorn:

(Aragorn)When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die? Her malady begins far back before this day, does it not, Eomer?'

(Eomer)'I marvel that you should ask me, lord,' he answered. 'For I hold you blameless in this matter, as in all else; yet I knew not that Eowyn, my sister, was touched by any frost, until she first looked on you.

Implying that Aragorn had awakened some kind of hope of a larger life for her - & then dashed it, & that that had pushed her over the edge. I'm not so sure - I don't think Aragorn did anything that wouldn't have happened anyway. What his appearance & rejection did, to my mind, was tip her over the edge - but it was an edge that she had been getting closer & closer to, & would had happened anyway.