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"It Had Been His Virtue, and Therefore Also the Cause of His Fall": Seduction as a Mythopoeic Accounting for Evil in Tolkien's Work

2017; Mythopoeic Society; Volume: 35; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

0146-9339

Maria Alberto,

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

IN A MUCH-QUOTED LETTER TO PUBLISHER MILTON WALDMAN, Tolkien admits that driving purpose for much of his fiction lay in creating body of more or less connected legend, ranging from large and cosmogonic, level of romantic fairy-story that would be dedicated England in lieu of mythology that he believed she currently lacked (Letters 144). For Tolkien, a philologist as well as a medievalist, appeal of such an undertaking lay in same place as its greatest challenge: resulting narrative should seem demonstrate its own mythopoeic process while also being a finished product itself. In order satisfactorily emulate a genuine mythology, Tolkien's project would need read as if it were a collection of tales: tales of different ages, varying degrees of symbolism and historicity, and originally told by multiple voices even though ultimately assembled by a single hand. At same time, though, this supposed collection would also require some unifying cultural flavor, as if its constituent pieces belonged some identifiable group. While Tolkien uses many strategies create these impressions throughout his legendarium, (1) one of most notable can be found in his treatment of evil. In same letter Waldman, Tolkien explains his conviction that all stories are ultimately about fall (Letters 147) and that Elves, who are central people of his mythology, must a fall, before their 'history' can become storial (Letters 147). This penchant, however, reflects more than structuralist requirement of mythology, or that necessity of multiple mythical elements which would demand an Evil simply oppose Good (Levi-Strauss 40-41). Instead, Tolkien uses his conception of a cosmogonic Fall raise--and in a way, even answer--a version of what is known colloquially as problem of evil: why evil exists in presence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect deity (Tooley 1.1, par. 5). In spite of these grand stakes, though--or perhaps because of them--one of most crucial means by which Tolkien manages this specific treatment of evil has been regrettably overlooked. Critics have certainly discussed evil in legendarium in a variety of ways, variously maintaining that Tolkien was inspired by romantic doom of Northern sagas, in which mortal hero will die at hand of a stronger evil (Shippey), or that Tolkien creates an omnipresent sense of evil that cannot always be directly encountered (Birzer), or even that he offers a surprisingly fragmented, illegible image of binary tension between good/evil (Battis 921). (2) Despite variety of these approaches, though, little no mention has been made of seduction, which is an understated but recurring motif throughout legendarium. Tolkien makes use of narratives of in a number of ways: most visibly, let his implied mythmakers establish a mythological basis for evil itself, but more subtly, also account for a range of both evildoers and redemptive possibilities. First, there is no Manichaean power in Arda: although Morgoth is source of evil in creation, he is not coequal or coeval with Eru Iluvatar. Second, and more importantly: Tolkien must find a way have his mythmakers express this belief, without implied text devolving into a religious treatise rather than a collection of myth. Although word seduction carries explicit sexual connotations in contemporary discourse, earlier definitions stress other meanings. Etymologically, in fact, is couched in terms of deceit. Drawing from Latin se (away) and ducere guide or lead), early sixteenth-century English usages stress first The action or an act of seducing (a person) err in conduct or belief; allurement (to some course of action) and second, the condition of being led astray (Oxford English Dictionary [OED] 1.a., 1.b.). Other definitions specify persuasion of a soldier or subject to desert his allegiance or service (OED 2), enticement of female child a marriage unsanctioned by her parents (OED 3. …