The Role of Women in The Lord of the Rings - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 09-10-2004, 04:32 AM

Let's not forget the stereotypical aspect of beauty that shows up in Tolkien's female characters! Goldberry, Arwen, Galadriel, Éowyn - their looks are important to the way they are seen by the men surrounding them, while male appearance is less frequently mentioned.

I'm trying to recall women in LotR who are not described as beautiful - Ioreth, who is only mentioned in her function as healer and known to us through her (incessant!) speech; Mrs. Maggot; as a matter of fact, I don't think we're told if Rosie is good-looking! But those all share the characteristic of being "real" women, the ones that are married and have 13 children, or are involved in the daily tasks of the world close to home for the hobbits and humans.

On the other hand, female ugliness is named only in the case of Shelob, as far as I recall.

Sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder - Treebeard calls Fimbrethil lovely, though I would imagine we might not see that eye to eye with him.

Perhaps there are more examples, but none occur to me right now...

[*Estelyn ponders the similarity of those priorities to those of today's society and hums "Summertime" - "Your daddy's rich, and your mama's good-looking..." ]

09-10-2004, 04:32 AM	#6
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Let's not forget the stereotypical aspect of beauty that shows up in Tolkien's female characters! Goldberry, Arwen, Galadriel, Éowyn - their looks are important to the way they are seen by the men surrounding them, while male appearance is less frequently mentioned. I'm trying to recall women in LotR who are not described as beautiful - Ioreth, who is only mentioned in her function as healer and known to us through her (incessant!) speech; Mrs. Maggot; as a matter of fact, I don't think we're told if Rosie is good-looking! But those all share the characteristic of being "real" women, the ones that are married and have 13 children, or are involved in the daily tasks of the world close to home for the hobbits and humans. On the other hand, female ugliness is named only in the case of Shelob, as far as I recall. Sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder - Treebeard calls Fimbrethil lovely, though I would imagine we might not see that eye to eye with him. Perhaps there are more examples, but none occur to me right now... [*Estelyn ponders the similarity of those priorities to those of today's society and hums "Summertime" - "Your daddy's rich, and your mama's good-looking..." ] __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'