An Archetypal Interpretation Of The Cave Images In The Lord Of The Rings

As an integral part of English literature, the British fantasy literature has a long history and a lavish collection. The Lord of the Rings series written by J.R.R Tolkien is undisputedly one of the most representative fantasy literary works in the world. The trilogy of The Lord of the Rings and its prelude The Hobbitwas published during 1937 and 1955, under the background of expanding industrial civilization and during the period of World War I and World War II. Tolkien has witnessed the expansion of desire and the degeneration of human nature. To better express the outcome of expanding desire and the fall of human nature, he employed plenty of images with various symbolic meanings in his works. Through the cave motif in The Lord of the Rings series, Tolkien has presented life as a circle of construction, destruction and reconstruction.The first part concentrates on the cave images which represent the constructive force of life. The first one is the hobbit-hole--Bag End in Shire, which symbolizes a paradise reflecting the innocent stage of human nature. The second one is the goblin cave in the Misty Mountains, which is the symbol of the first confrontation with human’s shadow and desire.The second part discusses the cave images that represent the destructive force of life. The first one is two dwarf caves possessed by two monsters symbolizing the destructive desire from inside and outside--the Mines of Moria occupied by Balrog and the dwarf cave in the Lonely Mountain entrenched by Dragon Smaug. The second one is Torech Ungol---the giant spider Shelob’s lair, which is the symbol of the deadly corruption beyond salvation.The third part focuses on the cave images that represent the reconstructive force of life. The first one is the Paths of the Dead which reflects human’s redemption. The second one is Shire, which is the symbol of recovering and also forms the circle of life by taking the first chapter into consideration.Although Tolkien denied that there is any symbolic meaning in his works, when the readers read through The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s life experience, they can easily find many images full of symbolic meanings. The cave images in The Lord of the Rings series clearly help deepening the expression of themes and the disclosure of contextual connotations.