On The Analysis Of The Lord Of The Rings' Archetype

1. The Lord of the Rings and the author J.R.R.TolkienThe word hoard of Northern myth upon which Tolkien drew provides two traditional kinds of hero: the extraordinary man whose mighty deeds give epic sweep to great events (Aragorn) and the common man whose trials lend to his actions a poignancy that draws the reader into the text to experience events with him (Frodo). Aragorn is the epic/romance hero --- a leader, warrior, lover, healer-king; we admire him. Frodo is the little man of fairy tale, the youngest, weakest, unexpectedly valiant little brother, who doubts, fears, and makes mistakes; we recognized ourselves in him. Each of the heroes throws the other into relief. Each undertakes a dangerous journey and undergoes terrible ordeals. The epic hero is in quest of a kingdom and a princess, and he wins both. The fairy-tale hero is an ordinary man on a most unusual quest. He goes not to win but to lose: to throw away the Ring of Power and to lose all that he holds dear. For Frodo's story has not been one of splendid deeds and positive heroism, but the negative virtues of patient endurance and the simple steadfast will to do right.The two motifs cross and recross, each enriching the other. The balance between the two heroes, Aragorn and Frodo --- each carrying a rich medieval heritage, one expressing the passing of the old, the other the emergence of the new --- widens and deepens the meaning of Tolkien's tale and lifts it into the timeless realm that W.B. Yeats called"the artifice of eternity." 2. The archetype of Aragorn and the motifsThe title of the third volume, The Return of the King, refers to Aragorn, or Strider, and his return to claim the throne of Gondor. When the hobbits first encounter Strider in The Fellowship of the Ring, he is a cloaked and mysterious Ranger of the North, a mercenary who patrols the borders of Middle-earth against bandits and evildoers.The giving and receiving of the sword calls up another medieval motif --- the hero and his weapon. Tolkien reworks this motif in fitting it to Aragorn. What gives Aragorn his most clear-cut romance characteristics is the part of the story that treats his love for Arwen. The tradition of romantic love is necessary to the characterization of Aragorn, for all that it is subordinate to the epic side of the narrative and remains very much in the background.Redemption—the ability to renew another's life—is a capacity that few of the Fellowship's members possess. As the rightful King of Gondor, only Aragorn can redeem another by his power, as his words possess the ability to direct, by royal edict, the fate of his subjects. Nevertheless, throughout The Lord of the Rings, the protagonists are faced with opportunities to extend mercy to others, often at the risk of losing sight of the goal of their larger mission. Tolkien suggests that mercy must always be extended to others, regardless of the risks such an offering poses.3. The archetype of Frodo and the motifsIn putting the greater figures'burdens on Frodo's shoulders Tolkien has succeeded in synthesizing the medieval and the modern, creating a character who conforms to mythic patterns and yet evokes the identification and empathy which the modern reader has come to expect from fiction.Frodo's association with the mysterious or orphan child motif is evident, and the linking of that motif with Scyld and Frodi as fertility figures suggests that Tolkien wished to invest Frodo with the mythic significance of a bringer of peace, prosperity, and fruitfulness.It is the thematic basis for Frodo's quest that Tolkien makes Frodo Bilbo's nephew obliquely.Similar epic associations are given to Frodo as well, but they are scaled down to hobbit dimensions and pass all but unnoticed in the narrative.Frodo's role as the main protagonist of The Lord of the Rings changes significantly in the novel's final volume. Frodo no longer leads the quest, but is increasingly led by others and by circumstance. We wonder in what sense Frodo remains the true Ring-bearer if he himself must be borne by others in order to carry on his quest. For a brief time at the opening of Book VI, Frodo does not even possess the Ring. Lying naked in the tower of Cirith Ungol, Frodo appears a lifeless shell with little control of the Ring's movement toward Mount Doom.4. The archetype of Gollum and the motifsThe tragic motif of the medieval romance, the pathos between the hero and the monster, shows in the battle between Frodo and Gollum.Tolkien's central monster-figure is Gollum, the twisted, broken, outcast hobbit whose manlike shape and dragonlike greed combine both the Beowulf kinds of monster in one figure.Gollum is the dark double of Frodo and he represents disruptive force of darkness and inner conflict which shows the reader outside the heroic character. The battle between Frodo and Gollum is central to a reading of The Lord of the Rings as a modern work in the medieval tradition.5. The"Ecucatastrophe"moment and the end of the heroThe consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the food catastrophe, the sudden joyous"turn", Tolkien coins, the"ecocatastrophe". It is originated in the tragic understanding of the humanity and evil.After the quest is completed, Frodo looms in the background of the events in Middle-earth and slips into irrelevance in his home, the Shire. Frodo explains to Sam in the last chapter that he is"wounded"in a way that will never heal. Certainly, Frodo is far from morbid or pitiful. His once-youthful nobility now appears a weathered reticence. More important, Frodo feels wounded because he has completed a grand quest in which the goal—to get rid of something—was distinctly negative. In this, Frodo remains the true hero, for he has succeeded in a task that no one really wanted. The quest is both futile and yet the most important deed of all. Frodo's loss of vigor and identity after such a strange accomplishment propels his desire to sail away to the paradise of the West.