Inequality In Lord Of The Rings Gender Roles

J.R.R. Tolkien is the writer of the famous fantasy trilogy of The Lord of the Rings for which he has often been attack with creating stereotypical female characters and a greedy world dominated by men. In Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring we see how a gentle and humble hobbit of the Shire, and eight companions set out on a journey to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring and the dark lord Sauron. Together they form the Fellowship of the Ring, a brotherhood form with members of the various Free People of Middle Earth. We encounter a mystical world filled with wizards, dwarves, elves and a rare race of Middle Earth called “hobbits”. In Tolkien’s world of mystery, the majority of the population is male. The trilogy has only three significant

When I read the Lord of the Rings the consideration of inequality in gender roles did not occur to me, and my understanding of male and female roles was not disrupted. It is not sexists in any way, but it arouses discussions about its views of gender roles. Granted, Tolkien built a male dominated world where nearly every female is a background character, but there are three who have significant roles to play in the plot. Stereotypes are characteristics shaped by society and every culture has its own gender roles. They all have expectations for the ways women and men act and Tolkien was surrounded with the expectation that women had to be the ones with domestic behavior and nurturing occupations. Men, on the other hand, were expected to be the kick ass hero of a damsel in distressed, characterized by their self confidence and bravery. It was just the social standard at the time and we cannot compare to ours. It is true that Lord of the Rings gives the active roles almost exclusively to males, but females had very important duties. He doesn 't denigrate or discriminate against women, but his male characters go to seek conflict and are the ones actively trying to precisely destroy the ring. The three females in the novel are powerful and essential to complete the fellowship’s task in their own way. It may be by fighting with a sword like Eowyn, or by being a giver of very important gifts like Galadriel, or even by being the inspiration behind one man’s fighting like Arwen was to Aragorn. In society we have women who choose nurturing like Arwen does, women who defies everyone so that they can be with their loved ones, demonstrating that women are caring and kind-hearted. We also have Galadriel, an elf lord of great power proving that Tolkien 's women are not always subordinate. For last we meet the brave and rebellious Eowyn who demonstrate that women can fight as hard, and with equal honor as