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Is her responsibility to the House of Eorl and the people of Rohan more important than her survival as a person?
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I suppose I'm a little late on answering your question,
symestreem, but it looks like others have carried on nicely!
Legolas writes:
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Additionally, her responsibility as a citizen of Rohan is not only to the people of Rohan, but to her king. Whether it turned out for better or worse, she disobeyed him.
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As did Merry; it seems the "right thing to do" is not the one that is meant to be. The wise action is not the one that expresses the personal love of Eowyn and Merry towards Theoden. This is one of the beautiful contradictions or ambiguities that gives Tolkien's works that magical quality, a feeling of mythical resonance rather than a straightforward war story. Eowyn and Merry disobeyed their King, but it turned out for the best. We don't see the consequences of their disobedience within the governmental structure of Rohan--as their deeds outweighed their transgressions. This is also true of the more sticky situation of Beregond, who left his post, killed a guard and, for his actions was 'exiled' to Ithilien to serve the one for whom he had undergone the test of moral responsibility. I think that the House of Eorl was a more nebulous and distant charge than the present King Theoden, for whom Eowyn and Merry would lay down their lives.
Perhaps it is the curved and hidden path, the path of the heart, rather than the straight one--the path of the mind, that leads to a greater enlightenment and greater good...I think this question of responsibility transcends the boundary of gender, as I see it reflected in other characters than Eowyn, in the same measure, i.e., Sam's giving up of the straight path into Mordor to rescue Frodo in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, at the risk of the capture of the One Ring, the most dire of possible consequences. Perhaps the "for the love of..." part of
Lady of Light's thread subject is the driving force in my consideration here, rather than being compartmentalized by the gender consideration when applied to Eowyn, it is much larger and applicable to many characters.
Eowyn disobeyed, but she was destined to, because she had a good heart, focused on the love of her uncle Theoden (not merely to die pursuing the path of the chimera of Aragorn in her mind). Merry disobeyed, for the love of Theoden; Sam 'disobeyed' for the love of Frodo; Pippin and Beregond disobeyed for the love of Faramir. I see a very hobbitish trend here!
I think this post has rambled a bit, and I hope it has stayed coherent enough to make sense on this thread! Thanks for your indulgence!
Cheers!
Lyta