Symbolism Of The Dragon In The Hobbit

Dragon has the power of using fire, flying through the sky and the magic power. Due to its ability, a dragon becomes the symbol of power in the western literature. The early dragon in the western world from Beowulf, it symbolizes evil and greed. The dragon shows a war between human and Satan. In the world of The Hobbit, the dragon Smaug draws on that meaning. Even though, J.R.R Tolkien who experienced the world war 1 and the great depression is more focusing on the avaricious aspects of the dragon because of greed’s effect on The Great Depression due to the collapse of capitalism in the early 20th century. In the world of A Game of Throne, the symbol of dragons becomes the ultimate political power. George R.R Martin as a novelist notice that

Developing from the ancient dragon’s idea, he shows readers that the dragons are equal to the political power in this new era. In the beginning of A Game of Throne, G.R.R Martin does not show the dragon directly. He barely mentions the existence of a real dragon. Even though, the King’s fear and thought of murder of Daenerys---the house of the dragon, Jon Snow’s admire to Targaryen and Tyrion’s enthusiasm of the dragon’s bone indirectly show the power of a real dragon. Those people are awe to the real dragon’s power even tough they have not seen a real dragon in hundreds of years. The power of the dragon’s family remains as the most threatening power that scares the king of seven kingdoms. Martin holds the secrets of real dragons until the end of the first book. He reveals those three little dragons after the fire as “for the first time in hundreds of year, the night came alive with the music of dragons” (Martin, #780). Martin finally shows the readers the real existence of dragons. He did not directly show the power of the dragon. However, he used the phrase “first time in hundreds of years” to show the miracle of the birth of the dragon in his fantasy world. Martin changed the greed and evil dragon to the new era’s political tools and creates a new meaning for the dragon as a political power. Martin realizes the capitals equivalents the political power in the real world. As Krieger’s research, “While democracies enjoy higher levels of economic freedom than non-democracies when inequality is low… These circumstances are consistent with theoretical outcomes previously described as “political capitalism” (Krieger, #4 2.2). The Capitals give those rich people the chance to gain their political power. Capitalism becomes a mixture of politics and capitals. Martin