Loved the light vs. dark comparison of Galadriel and Shelob which seems to be a common occurrence in the novels, one of the more prominent ones is of Gandalf. It is great to me that Tolkien decided to give us two different female characters who, as you put it, play an important role in the fate of the ring.
Your post about Shelob's character is fascinating. The way that you contrasted the characters of Galadriel and Shelob using the dark and light as a representation of good and evil was interesting. Your view of Shelob's weakness being her eyes, susceptible to the light of Galadriel's phial is something that I'm glad you included in this post. These two characters are on different sides of the spectrum and Galadriel having the one thing that could weaken Shelob is really good on Tolkien's framework with the characters.
Great post! Your source placing the two female characters on opposite sides of the dark/light and evil/good spectrums while yet mirroring each other intrigues me. If they are still mirrors of each other, then there is a commonality between them somehow. It could be that they are both incredibly ancient creatures, or that they both have complex pasts, or maybe, they both have good and evil within them. This makes me think of that moment where Galadriel refuses the ring from Frodo while taking on a terrifying and yet beautiful appearance. Could Shelob sometimes be as beautiful as she is terrifying? We may never know, but if they are mirrors, and knowing Tolkien, there must be some complicated similarity.
This is an illuminating interpretation of Shelob, whose antithesis to Galadriel had certainly escaped my perception until now. Your argument is absolutely sound, though, and I think its corollaries may better explain Tolkien's characterization of Shelob, especially her subversive role in the narrative. Prior to her defeat, for example, Tolkien writes, "The beams of it [Galadriel's glass] entered into her [Shelob's] wounded head and scored it with unbearable pain, and the dreadful infection of light spread from eye to eye" (730). This sentence alone is fodder for much thought, but Tolkien's associating infection with light (rather than shadow) must be somewhere near the crux of any such analysis. Your interpretation of Shelob's femininity offers, in turn, a fantastic aperture to such! I also wonder what nuance this duality may suggest when considering Shelob's "[thrusting] herself upon" Sam's "bitter spike" (in essence, her self-inflicted defeat), but I will leave that topic for another day. Great work!
Nice post, Kat! And I think Jay's response is quite on point too. I love the way that you've juxtaposed an elf and a spider in such an interesting (and researched) way. And why ought the elves and spiders be on opposite ends of a spectrum? I think there's an idea at play that the elves are great, fantastic beings (which I have gripes with), and maybe this juxtaposition it meant to support that. I especially appreciated your close look at the Phial, a small but monumental detail in the quest to Mordor. (Also, the Light and Dark binary is also something that Honey has touched on in one of her Substacks, so it's fun to see it being explored by another peer in a new context!) Thanks for the thought-provoking newsletter!
Great post Kat! That article you mention is really interesting; I never thought of the relationship between spiders and Elves or Galadriel and Shelob in that way as antithesis, but from the way you broke down the role of the Phial in the story and your other points it makes total sense. Something else I think is interesting about Shelob is that I believe she is first female character to be described as a mother - it reminds me of Grendel's mother in Beowulf. Tolkien doesn't seem to present the best image of motherhood by making the first instance of it antagonistic, in contrast to female characters allied to the protagonists portrayed as hostesses or the lone shield-maiden we'll see in Return of the King.
Loved the light vs. dark comparison of Galadriel and Shelob which seems to be a common occurrence in the novels, one of the more prominent ones is of Gandalf. It is great to me that Tolkien decided to give us two different female characters who, as you put it, play an important role in the fate of the ring.
Your post about Shelob's character is fascinating. The way that you contrasted the characters of Galadriel and Shelob using the dark and light as a representation of good and evil was interesting. Your view of Shelob's weakness being her eyes, susceptible to the light of Galadriel's phial is something that I'm glad you included in this post. These two characters are on different sides of the spectrum and Galadriel having the one thing that could weaken Shelob is really good on Tolkien's framework with the characters.
Great post! Your source placing the two female characters on opposite sides of the dark/light and evil/good spectrums while yet mirroring each other intrigues me. If they are still mirrors of each other, then there is a commonality between them somehow. It could be that they are both incredibly ancient creatures, or that they both have complex pasts, or maybe, they both have good and evil within them. This makes me think of that moment where Galadriel refuses the ring from Frodo while taking on a terrifying and yet beautiful appearance. Could Shelob sometimes be as beautiful as she is terrifying? We may never know, but if they are mirrors, and knowing Tolkien, there must be some complicated similarity.
This is an illuminating interpretation of Shelob, whose antithesis to Galadriel had certainly escaped my perception until now. Your argument is absolutely sound, though, and I think its corollaries may better explain Tolkien's characterization of Shelob, especially her subversive role in the narrative. Prior to her defeat, for example, Tolkien writes, "The beams of it [Galadriel's glass] entered into her [Shelob's] wounded head and scored it with unbearable pain, and the dreadful infection of light spread from eye to eye" (730). This sentence alone is fodder for much thought, but Tolkien's associating infection with light (rather than shadow) must be somewhere near the crux of any such analysis. Your interpretation of Shelob's femininity offers, in turn, a fantastic aperture to such! I also wonder what nuance this duality may suggest when considering Shelob's "[thrusting] herself upon" Sam's "bitter spike" (in essence, her self-inflicted defeat), but I will leave that topic for another day. Great work!
Nice post, Kat! And I think Jay's response is quite on point too. I love the way that you've juxtaposed an elf and a spider in such an interesting (and researched) way. And why ought the elves and spiders be on opposite ends of a spectrum? I think there's an idea at play that the elves are great, fantastic beings (which I have gripes with), and maybe this juxtaposition it meant to support that. I especially appreciated your close look at the Phial, a small but monumental detail in the quest to Mordor. (Also, the Light and Dark binary is also something that Honey has touched on in one of her Substacks, so it's fun to see it being explored by another peer in a new context!) Thanks for the thought-provoking newsletter!
Great post Kat! That article you mention is really interesting; I never thought of the relationship between spiders and Elves or Galadriel and Shelob in that way as antithesis, but from the way you broke down the role of the Phial in the story and your other points it makes total sense. Something else I think is interesting about Shelob is that I believe she is first female character to be described as a mother - it reminds me of Grendel's mother in Beowulf. Tolkien doesn't seem to present the best image of motherhood by making the first instance of it antagonistic, in contrast to female characters allied to the protagonists portrayed as hostesses or the lone shield-maiden we'll see in Return of the King.