| Summary: | 碩士 === 東吳大學 === 英文學系 === 94 === Title of Thesis: Tragic Heroism in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion
Name of Institute: Department of Comparative Literature, Soochow University
Graduate: Yuan Ming Hui
Advisor: Dr. Yuan Hen-hsiang, Dr. Steven Schäufele
Abstract
This thesis discusses the heroic values represented by the themes of tragic heroism in the modern mythology of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. With the publishing of J. R. R Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings in the 1950s, fantasy has become a popular genre and favored by readers in Europe and North America due to Tolkien’s imaginary expanse, Middle-earth as a world enables readers to have an alternative understanding of real history while attempting to provide an imaginary resolution to socio-historical contradictions after the World Wars. One of the reasons why Middle-earth is remarkably believable is that it has an opulent and complex historical structure for ages before and after the events chronicled in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.
The Silmarillion tells the history of the First Age of Middle-earth, with the tragic fall of the beauties of the Elder days, when Elves and Men became an army in order to defeat the Dark Lord’s desire for the treasure, the Silmarils. The Silmarils are three jewels made by Fëanor, they are “Like the diamonds it appeared, and yet was more strong than adamant, so that no violence could mar it or break it…and yet, as they were indeed living things, they rejoiced in light and received and gave it back in hues more marvelous than before” (68). This thesis discusses tragic heroes of the Fall of destiny between Elves and Men according to Aristotle’s definition in Poetics as found in Tolkien’s realm where heroic deeds by tragic heroes provide the Silmarils with the imaginary resolution to real contradictions, which are based on Tolkien’s own experiences in life. From the analysis of the changing holders of Silmarils through different period of Elves’ eras in The Silmarillion, the differences in hamartia and the fate of heroes, we discuss that another kind of heroism—love and concealing the weapon—exist.
Western history toward the type of tragic heroes is most often attributed to Iliad, Odyssey, Beowulf, Elder Edda and Kalevala. Epic text is a long narrative poem, on a grand scale, about the deeds of warriors and heroes (Cuddon, 264). In general, either oral or literary epics, beginning to overlap and influence each other from early in the 13th century, and Virgil’s Aeneid is the principal influence. This is apparent in Dante’s Divina Commedia. Therefore, the tragic heroes and their heroic deeds have been re-created in different types in literary terms. Tolkien uses re-creation of mythology as an obvious sign of his relating to a distinct tradition, this tradition is in both cases historical: this is the mythological-epic-heroic tradition of Greek literature and Nordic literature, this is also Tolkien’s relationship is to the narrative and linguistic tradition of the texts and languages he was occupied with studying (TIM, 82). Tolkien wanted to re-create tragic heroes with strength, flaws and love in literary epic way in a tragic myth—a cry of terror, rage and anguish against a harsh destiny, with suffering and death as the major contents. It is a ‘cry’ about the tragic situation in which the tragic heroes find themselves.
Chapter One discusses the tragic characteristics of the epic heroes in The Silmarillion according to Aristotle’s Poetics and Ke Qing-Ming’s Towards Defining Tragic Heroes. An Aristotelian tragic hero must have four characteristics: goodness, superiority, a tragic flaw, and a realization of both flaw and inevitable demise of himself. Furthermore, in Ke Qing-Ming’s concept, each new era of literature brings new definitions of characteristics of tragic heroes. The heroes of Elder days in The Silmarillion are much more like classic tragic heroes in Homer’s epic; as the story progress, some of the heroes provide complicated characteristics as a reflection to Tolkien’s wartime experiences of inventions of The Silmarillion.
Chapter Two compares how Tolkien portrays the dual effects, the Silmarils have on the suffering and Fall of the Dark Lord, Morgoth, to Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost. On the dark side, the Silmarils signify the desire to use technological charm which causes Morgoth’s massacre and betrayal among the Elves. On the bright side, the Silmarils represent imaginary power related to particular fates of the heroes in The Silmarillion. The discussion in Chapter Two will cover from the first two wars in Ainulindalë to the second battle in Beleriand—from which tragic heroism developed.
Chapter Three observes alternative kinds of heroism that do not altogether the commonly accepted Aristotelian pattern in the persons of Beren and Lúthien. Beren and Lúthien’s completion of the difficult tasks with their love demonstrates how fates interact among Elves and men. In addition, the transformations of new heroes in The Silmarillion are a result of Tolkien’s mythic perspectives and his life experiences in wartime.
Chapter Four expounds how Hurin and his family face the Dark Lord, and how Túrin, son of Hurin, the greatest tragic hero in The Silmarillion. This expansion implies the rationalization of violence as well as the loss of faith in verbal promises and beautiful beings in Middle-earth. Even though the Dark Lord is maimed at the end of the First Age; in Middle-earth, the dark seed of Morgoth, Sauron, was sown.
Chapter Five concludes this thesis with an outlook on the relationship of tragic heroes and the Silmarils in The Silmarillion. The Silmarils provide an imaginary resolution to real conflicts based on the fates of heroes in warfare. This thesis concludes that not only The Silmarillion is full of highly-tragic-heroic deeds but also an important context for The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as its great impact on heroic characters in modern fantasy novels.
Three Silmarils fulfill three functions of fantasy literature suggested by Tolkien: recovery, escape, and consolation of human inner minds of Utopia. Finally, The Silmarillion enables us to have an alternative understanding of real history while attempting to provide an imaginary resolution to socio-historical conflicts in wars.
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