It is clear that Tolkien could not have had this basic meaning of allegory in mind. It is indeed astonishing to realize that we cannot even think a single thought without the use of allegory, a mysterious fact that subjects all perceptions of reality to the level of metaphysics, whereby the literalness of matter is always transcended by the allegory of meaning. A word, if spoken, is a noise that points our mind’s eye to the thing the noise signifies if written, it is a series of shapes that point our mind’s eye to the thing the series of shapes signify. A word is a label that signifies a thing. In this sense, every word we use is an allegory. Linguistically, allegory derives from the Greek word allegoria, itself a combination of two Greek words: allos, meaning “other,” and agoria, meaning “speaking.” At its most basic level, therefore, an allegory is anything that speaks of another thing. Perhaps, at this juncture, it would be helpful if we took a moment to discuss the various meanings of allegory. In one sense, The Lord of the Rings is an allegory in another sense, it is not. As such, we can safely assume that he is using the word allegory in two distinct senses. He was a philologist and professor of language and literature at Oxford University. Is he confused, or is he simply guilty of employing the same word to denote two different things? Is The Lord of the Rings an allegory in one sense of the word and not an allegory in another?Ĭlearly Tolkien is not confused about the meaning of allegory. It seems, therefore, that Tolkien contradicts himself, describing his work as an allegory in one place and denying that it is an allegory in another. The real theme for me is about something much more permanent and difficult: Death and Immortality.” 3 Replying to a letter in which he was asked whether The Lord of the Rings was an allegory of atomic power, he replied that it was “not an allegory of Atomic power, but of Power (exerted for Domination).” Having confessed the allegory of power, he asserted that this was not the most important allegory in the story: “I do not think that even Power or Domination is the real center of my story. . . . The mystery deepens when we realize that Tolkien refers to The Lord of the Rings on another occasion as being an allegory. And yet it can’t be as simple as that because Tolkien also insists that it is “religious and Catholic,” prefixing the assertion with “of course,” as if to state that the religious and Catholic dimension is obvious. Is it “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work,” as Tolkien claimed in a letter to his Jesuit friend, Father Robert Murray, in December 1953, or is it, as he claimed in the foreword to the second edition of The Lord of the Rings, devoid of any intentional meaning or “message”? If Tolkien dislikes allegory in all its manifestations and if he insists that it is “neither allegorical nor topical,” how can it be Catholic? If there is no literal reference to Christ or the Church and no allegorical level of meaning, the work cannot be Catholic. T here is a mystery at the heart of The Lord of the Rings that continues to baffle and confuse the critics. I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. It is neither allegorical nor topical. . . . 1Īs for any inner meaning or “message,” it has in the intention of the author none. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like “religion,” to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. “ A F UNDAMENTALLY R ELIGIOUS AND C ATHOLIC W ORK” >įor Stephen Brady: hobbit, friend, and traveling companionĬhapter 1: “A Fundamentally Religious and Catholic Work”Ĭhapter 3: Middle-Earth and the Middle AgesĬhapter 5: Who Meant Frodo to Have the Ring? Printed and bound in the United States of America. Published in the United States by Saint Benedict Press, LLC Unless otherwise stated, the Scripture excerpts in Frodo’s Journey are from the Douay Rheims Bible.Ĭataloging-in-Publication data on file with the Library of Congress.ĮBook edition: 978-1-61890-730-1 ePub ISBN 978-1-61890-730-1 -> With the exception of short excerpts used in articles and critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, printed or electronic, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Discovering the Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the RingsĪll rights reserved.
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