An Essay on The Hobbit
...factor of fear or even a phobia. Second, there must be an external factor of perceived danger in a circumstance for a courageous deed to be possible (Anonymous).” Without these two factors a deed cannot be considered courageous, but in addition to this is the fact that if something is done in vain it is even worthy to have been done. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must have a tragic flaw, must accept responsibility for his actions while showing a willingness and capacity to suffer, must be caught in a series of tragic circumstances and realise what his flaw is. Although Bilbo is not a tragic hero, he does possess all of these qualities. He knows that he is small and worthless to everyone else (he is after all a hobbit), he accepts responsibility for his actions when called upon and is caught in a very serious attempt to free the northern world from evil. His capacity to suffer is most simply shown through his willingness and eagerness to put on the ring, which in time will become the greatest burden he will ever take on. He is willing throughout the story to do what is right and suffer for his friends even with the odds against him. A real hero act when it is necessary, not thinking of what the potential rewards and benefits from doing the deed are and does not act for bragging rights. This here is exactly what Bilbo does over and over again. He knows that if he does not act on the many despairing situations; innocent people will be killed, evil will continue to recklessly dominate the world and he will never see his home back in the Shire again. This courage is not the heroic kind, seen in today’s many movies or televisions shows, but the genuine kind, displayed by a true hero, who realizes their faults, decides to move on and continues to do good in spite of his faults to make a difference for those around him. On Bilbo’s adventure, he is faced with countless numbers of enemies and temptations, but none of which compare to the lustfulness of treasure the characters feel nagging on their hearts. Around almost every bend, the characters are forced to deal with this temptation and are always finding a new and greater enchantment to fall for. If it was not for this major theme Tolkien introduced, this adventure may have never even happened. The whole purpose for the quest was to kill the dragon who had stolen the dwarves’ treasure, and to take back what was theirs. Instead of forgetting the treasure and continuing on with their lives, the dwarves passed on the myth of their hoarded wealth from generation to generation for hundreds of years. Bilbo set out on the adventure, not as a chance to discover himself, but to take part in a territorial robbery as a burglar, which started many years before he was born. Promised a one fourteenth share of whatever treasure they acquire on the way, he decides to be greedy in the dragon’s lair, taking the Arkenstone of Thrain, which was clearly stated by Thorin as ‘his’. He was willing to take consequences for taking something very precious, when any normal person in their regular state of mind would have willingly given up the stone, for his friend’s sake. In this rare instance, his mind has played a cruel trick on him, turning him against the will of his leader and fellow comrade. Although making this mistake makes, poor Bilbo looks guilty and disrespectful; this kind of greed is shown by all the characters. Dwarves in general are regarded by Tolkien to have greed for gold and lust for silver, and during the course of the novel, this point is well backed up. The dwarves show no interest in things that matter to other individuals and they certainly do not have cares for foreign issues that do not involve them one hundred percent. They are so caught up in the thought of riches, when getting to the Lonely Mountain, they do not try to kill the dragon (for they have no plan on how to), they get Bilbo their thief to go and steal it all away for them. They are more concerned for their treasure, than they are for their dear friend’s life; which in turn has serious consequences. With Bilbo left with no other option than to go and steal the dwarves’ treasure for them, he goes in and in his lustful wishes, walks undiscerningly into the dragon’s lair and is confronted by “the book’s chief villain, a sharply drawn character, a monster and a force of nature all in one (Rateliff),” Smaug. He is so awestruck by the mounds of treasure, he is nearly burned alive after throwing insults in the face of the evil dragon, leaving Smaug enough time to discover that Bilbo is invisible and in the cavern. Once Smaug discovers that in his flight, Bilbo took a silver goblet, he decides to go outside the mountain to try to kill the company, which leads him to find out the riverfolk helped the fourteen companions in their quest. In his greed brought on rage, he flies to the river town to get back at them for their scheme against him. He destroys their city and kills many of the innocent townspeople, simply because one small cup was stolen from him and his hoard had decreased. Unfortunately for him, in his rage he was shot out of the air by Bard, which just adds to the misery and grief that greed had created for him. No matter how hard he tried, he could not have escaped his death, simply because many years before, he had fallen for the temptation of wealth and could not rid his desire for it. Tolkien’s political and social ideas are best shown through the symbolism that is demonstrated by the epic battle between good and evil forces. In this novel, he clearly explains to the reader what he thinks of the evil forces (orcs, goblins and dragons), how they act and what the logic behind it is. He tells us that orcs “are cruel, wicked and bad-hearted...it is not unlikely that they created some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large amounts of people... (Tolkien 60)” If we are able to keep in mind the reality that Tolkien fought in World War Two we should be ...