Questions for Cirith Ungol (Oct. 30, Nov. 4)

LOTR, The Two Towers, Book IV

1. Why does Frodo show no concern for surviving the quest? Is this a character flaw, for which Sam compensates?

2. How is it significant that Gondor is ruled by a steward? Why is 10,000 years insufficient in Gondor to make a steward into a king (as Denethor puts it)? Is Denethor a good steward?

3. How does it make a difference to Frodo and Sam to realize that they are part of a “great tale.”

4. Is Frodo right in saying that Gollum is not “altogether wicked”? How close does Gollum come to being reformed? (p. 411) Is he fated to fall back into wickedness? If so, can he be held responsible? Is Sam responsible for Gollum’s relapse?

5. What “other voice” is speaking through Frodo and Sam in Cirith Ungol? (p. 418, 430)

6. Why is Shelob cowed at last by the combination of light and Elvish words? (431)

7. Did Sam err morally in leaving Frodo? (Contrast Sam’s treatment of Frodo’s “corpse” with Aragorn’s treatment of Boromir.)

Silmarillion: Beren and Luthien

1. Compare the eucatastrophes associated with Beren and Luthien, Earendil, and Frodo and Sam. What are the common elements?

2. Why does Luthien’s song have such power? (Consider its effect on Beren, Morgoth, Mandos.) Is this an instance of Elvish “enchantment” (in Tolkien’s sense)? Is it an image of the power of fantasy, poetry?

3. Melian foretells the future of Beren and Thingol, and yet counsels Thingol to “take heed”. (p. 167) Could Thingol have escaped his fate? Why does Melian eventually withhold her counsel from Thingol? (Compare to Galadriel’s mirror.)

4. Finrod Felgund sees the Oath of Feanor at work in Thingol’s demand for a Silmaril. What does he mean when he says that “he that even names them in desire moves a great power from slumber”? What is the “great power”? The Valar? Morgoth? The hatred of the sons of Feanor? Something else?

5. Why does Finrod lose the contest of songs with Sauron?

6. Huan tells Beren that Luthien “with you must challenge the fate that lies before you -- hopeless, yet not certain.” (p. 179) What does this mean? How does one challenge one’s fate? How can something be hopeless yet failure not be certain?

7. How was Morgoth overcome? Why did the Silmarils become so heavy?

8. Why is Luthien’s song before Mandos one of the “sorrow of the Eldar and the grief of Men”? Why do the Elves sorrow and Men grieve, and not vice versa? If Luthien had appealed for all of Middle-Earth, as Earendil eventually did, would the appeal have been successful?

9. Why is Luthien given the choices she is? Why doesn’t Mandos simply restore the status quo?

Shippey, pp. 147-155, 161-221, 254-256.

1. In what way do the Hobbits (especially Merry and Pippin) exemplify a peculiarly modern, even English, form of bravery? Is this a higher form of courage than that displayed by Aragorn or Faramir, or merely a different form? What are its strengths and limitations?

2. In Book IV, chapter 3, we’re told that Sam “never had any real hope in the affair from the beginning.” Is that really true? Why does the narrator say that “being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope as long as despair could be postponed.” Isn’t the lack of hope already a state of despair? How can despair be “postponed”? What does “cheerfulness” mean here? Is Frodo’s attitude the same, or significantly different?

3. Why does Middle Earth lack all the trappings of religion -- clergy, churches, altars, sacrifices, rituals? What, in such a context, can Gandalf mean by referring to suicide as “heathen”? What commmon problem did both Tolkien and the Beowulf poet face? Compare Tolkien’s approach to this problem with that of the Beowulf poet.

4. Why do the Men in Tolkien’s stories lack any concrete beliefs about an afterlife? Consider Aragorn’s death scene.

5. Do you find Shippey’s theory about the relationship between Tolkien’s Frodo and the Froda (Frothi) of Norse legend plausible? If so, what light does the legendary Froda cast on Tolkien’s Frodo?

6. According to Shippey, Elvish poetry is supposed to be able to convey meaning by its sound alone. Is this related to Barfield’s theory of the ancient semantic unity?

7. Shippey writes, “Unlike the Christian myth, Tolkien’s myth contains a deep love ffor and attachment to the beauty of Middle-Earth itself.” Is this true? Consider Fangorn’s lament, Haldor’s comment about the refuge for the Elves in the West: “But if there are mallorn-trees beyond the Great Sea, none have reported it.” Is there a real tension between this theme and Tolkien’s Christianity?

8. How significant are the dates in the LOTR (leaving Rivendell on Dec. 25, Sauron’s fall on March 25), especially given the fact that these dates are so opaque to the casual reader?

9. Discuss the role of the blowing of horns in the LOTR. Does it signify defiance, as Shippey suggests? Is Tolkien attempting to blow a horn in writing his myths?

10. Compare the barrow wights and the “foul” corpses in the Dead Marshes. Why do even the enemies of Sauron seem fated to a kind of moral or spiritual corruption after death? Is Sam right in thinking that this appearance is merely “some devilry hatched in the Dark Land”?

11. Contrast Turin’s story with that of Beren and Luthien. Why does Shippey say that the latter story is not a “comedy” in the Dantesque sense?

12. Is Shippey right in criticizing the story of Beren and Luthien as crowded and derivative?

Birzer, pp. 33-36, chapter 4.

1. What does Tolkien mean by saying that the “religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism” in LOTR? Compare this with Tolkien’s approval of the Beowulf poet, who kept his themes “implicit” in his story.

2. Is Sam the true hero of the LOTR?

3. What is the source of Sam’s strength? Why is he able to remember and cherish the Shire in the midst of Mordor?

4. How does the conclusion of the unpublished chapter about Sam and the Shire reflect Tolkien’s ambivalence about our love for this world and our longing for the next? Does Tolkien maintain a balance here, or does the story become incoherent on this point?

5. Is Birzer right in finding a parallel between the Elves and Benedictine monks?

Tolkien, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”

1. Why is it so difficult to analyze myths successfully? (p. 15) Are we in this danger in this class? (Relate to Barfield’s analysis of myth.)

2. Why is Beowulf “more significant than a standard hero”?

3. How does Tolkien defend the Beowulf poet from the charge of confusing paganism and Christianity? How is this defense relevant to Tolkien’s own project? (p. 20)

4. Why does the Beowulf poet suppress both Christianity and the old gods? (p. 22) Again, what light does this shed on Tolkien?

5. Is the theme of the LOTR, like that of Beowulf, man on earth? Does this explain the ambiguity in the LOTR about the afterlife?

6. Why was the Beowulf poet able to “feel poetically” the tragedy of universal ruin to a greater degree than the pagans had themselves? (23)

7. Note Tolkien’s approval of the Beowulf poet’s creation of the impression of historical depth. (p. 27)

8. Do the characteristics of old English poetry show up at all in Tolkien’s own verse? (p. 30)

9. Why does Tolkien call Beowulf an “elegy”? (p. 31) Are there elegiac elements in the LOTR?

10. A myth “stands amid but above the petty wars of princes, and surpasses the dates and limits of historical periods, however important.” (p. 33) How is this illustrated in Tolkien’s work?