OK, I'll be the one to say it:
Quote:
I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer and love all things that grow and are not barren.' And again she looked at Faramir. 'No longer do I desire to be a queen,' she said.
Then Faramir laughed merrily. 'That is well,' he said; 'for I am not a king. Yet I will wed with the White Lady of Rohan, if it be her will. And if she will, then let us cross the River and in happier days let us dwell in fair Ithilien and there make a garden. All things will grow with joy there, if the White Lady comes.'
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I've always foudn that this moment -- and, truth be told, this chapter -- strikes something of a discordant note with me. It's obvioulsy the 'feminine' pairing of the previous more 'masculine' chapter: the 'home front' and those who got left behind as the others marched out to war. The previous chapter celebrated the men who saved the world, this chapter celebrates the women who helpe them along the way. Certainly, that's too simplistic a split, but there's enough truth in it that I think it sticks.
This is the chapter with the 'most' women in a way: Eowyn marries Faramir, and Arwen marries Aragorn and in each case you have a woman who is forsaking her previous identity for the sake of a man. And in each case you have a woman who is becoming lesser in a way. Don't get me wrong, you could do a lot worse than to marry Faramir or Aragorn, and I have no doubt that Eowyn and Arwen are happy and the better for it, but I find it
disenchanting how the women have to give up so much to marry, while the men gain everything they've always wanted (and deserved).
I find this most distressing with Eowyn, insofar as what she gives up is the very character and dynamic presence that has made her so interesting in the story. I think it's safe to say that Eowyn is a favourite with most of the book's readers, and I daresay that what they -- like I -- like about her is her tragic and impassioned outcry against the constraints that are thrown about women in her world...and yet here at the end she gives up that tragic and impassioned outcry and happily adopts that constrained identity. It is just too jarring.
I think the aspect of this moment that I find the most difficult to accept is Eowyn's clear belief that to give up on her desire to be a queen is the equivalent of forsaking any desire to have power other than a very traditionally 'feminine' sort (healing, etc). It's almost as though she is saying that her desire for 'masculine' modes of power and action (agency) are as innappropriate as her desire to become queen -- that her desire to move in a male realm of action is a kind of usurpation of a role that is not hers by rights.
And I still remember quite vividly my thundering shock when Arwen arrives and Aragorn marries her -- I had no idea from the text that they were engaged. In subsequent readings I see that there are clues, but Tolkien's decision to relegate the love story to the Appendix confounds me. It is a rare case in which -- I think -- his art fails.
That's what I find so disappointing in this chapter: I don't mind a more conservative view of women -- I read a lot of very old books and I'm familiar with it, and that alone certainly does not make me react to a story negatively. What does jar with me so much in this chapter is that Tolkien's own view of women is such that even though his story seems to be leading him one way (that is, giving his women characters more space and agency) the narrative goes against that (that is, puts them 'back in their place'). It's almost as though the story began to get away from him somewhat, and he had to 'force' it back into the shape that he found the only one acceptable: an Eowyn who does not give up her martial heroism is something that he could not imagine (even though it would have made perfect sense in the story); an Arwen who is Aragorn's equal in the story is something that can be acknowleged only in the Appendix.
So I'm not 'bashing' Tolkien for his views of women -- I do disagree with them, but it is his story and he can portray them in any way he likes (just as I can reject that portrayal). But I do fault him for the unrealistic characterisation in regard to Eowyn ("Oh, I shall be the Lady in White! Why? Not sure, I just will be!") and the sloppy narrative in regard to Arwen ("Here comes Arwen!" "Who?" "Arargon's one true love!" "Never heard him mention her...").