Religion and Love in Tolkien

The title of this post is a borrow from Charles Williams' out-of-print essay Love and Religion in Dante. The Post itself is an attempt to give a synopsis of the essay I have mentioned hoping to write on courtly love and Grace in Tolkien (and, thus, also an exercise in brevity and succinctness for my verbose self) Thesis: Being an avid Medievalist, Tolkien follows the Medieval use of courtly love as symbolic of divine Grace; and in doing so follows a specific formula for the Medieval thought on Grace. Literary Precedent: It is known that Tolkien did a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as well as an essay on the poem, presented at a conference. In that poem Gawain, on his way to the Green Knight's Chapel, stays for a year in the castle of Sir Bercilak, very near to the Green Knight's chapel. Unbeknownst to Gawain, Bercilak is the Green Knight. Bercilak proposes a contest of trade in which he give Gawain what he wins on the hunting field every day and Gawain gives him what he wins hanging around the castle. Three times while Bercilak is hunting his wife tires to seduce Gawain, each time he declines, but just barely (three days running he has to give Bercilak his winnings: a non-erotic embrace, a non-erotic kiss ... And I forget the third). When Gawain finally faces the Green Knight, the knight gives him tree chances to beg for his life like a coward. Each time Gawain refuses and chooses rather to willingly live up to his side of the original deal (blow for blow, when the knight interrupted Arthur's Christmas revelry. Gawain gave his blow then, lopping the knights head clean off ... Which the knight then put right back on and told him to come to his chapel in a year for repayment). Each of Gawain's 3 instances of courage find their source in his 3 instances of purity in respecting the knight's marriage bed by not sleeping with his wife. (It should be explained that the Gawain poet is here being extremely socially critical. He is condemning as fallacious what was coming to be called "courtly love" and "chivalry." By the standards of these Gawain "failed" in courtly love because a knight was supposed to do whatever a lady asked of him, even if it be to commit adultery with her and thus offend what courtly love truly should be). Based in both Tolkien's interest in such tales and the work of Williams (friend of Tolkien) and other showing that for the Medieval mind courtly love was symbolic of Grace, I think it just to investigate Tolkien's instance of courtly love and see how they symbolize Grace. Traditional Thought on Grace: The common statement within the Christian Tradition of the relationship between Grace and Nature is that "Grace Builds on Nature." There are 2 ways in which this statement might be mis-interpreted: 1. By saying that it means that nature stays essentially the same and Grace just builds on top of it. 2. By saying that before Grace builds on Nature it pulls a demolition stage on it; first it completely deconstructs it then reconstructs it so it is no longer in any way like it was, completely unrecognizable as having any connection to what the nature once was. A professor whom I have had in working on my MA (Dr Scott Hahn) has a formula he uses to describe the right way of understanding the way Grace builds on Nature: "Grace Heals, Perfects and Elevates Nature." First it fixes what is broken, but beyond that nature needs Grace even to fulfill its own natural goal or end. Then beyond that Grace imbues nature with a new super-natural end, congruous/fitting with its natural goal but also completely new. I have asked Dr Hahn if he found this particular formulation elsewhere (like Augustine or Aquinas) or if it is his own particular formulation and he has answered that it is his own. Thus it would be ridiculous to try to claim that Tolkien had this formula particularly in mind. BUT examining Tolkien's instances of courtly love to see how they are symbolic of Grace according to Hahn's formula does 2 things: 1. It further supports that Tolkien is indeed using courtly love as symbolic of Grace. 2. The fact that somebody as steeped in the medieval literary tradition as Tolkien would symbolize Grace by courtly love in a manner that so well fits Hahn's formula supports the contention that Hahn's formula accurately summarizes the Traditional understanding of Grace. 2 Backing Observations: 1. "Grace" originally means gift, and Tolkien often (in the Silmarillion) refers to mortality as a gift, with regards to men 2. Only mortals fall in love in the LOTR (when an immortal does fall in love they forsake immortality for the mortal ... And hobbits are obviously mortal as their histories evidence). Tolkiens' Courtly Loves in The Lord of the Rings 1. Grace Heals nature: (Faramir and Eowyn) Faramir and Eowyn find themselves together in the Houses of Healing. They are both wounded individuals, not just physically but personally or psychologically (psyche = soul) because they are both displaced individuals. Eowyn feels like a warrior born into a maiden's body. Even after having done an amazing deed of valor and courage in the face of despair, she feels empty. Likewise, Faramir is an honorable captain of Gondor (the movie Faramir is very different and has a different emphasis than the Faramir of the book). His rightful place is on the front lines at the Gates of Mordor, not back in the infirmary. When these two find each other, they find healing for their displacement. 2. Grace Perfects Nature: Sam and Rosy Of the races in Middle Earth, the Hobbits are the most "natural." The idea of the "perfection" of nature is a "teleological" concept. It involve "perfecting" something by bringing it to the end or goal it was made for. On the natural level the "goal" of sexuality is offspring. Sam and Rosey are the only couple that we see have a child within the scope of the story (The appendices tell of the line that comes from Aragorn and Arwen, but this is not within the scope of the story itself). 3. Grace Elevates Nature: Aragorn and Arwen The onset of "evil" at large is when the 9 Nazgul cross the fords of Isen disguised as riders in black on midsummer's eve. Sauron has been a doing a lot behind the scenes but this is the first "sortie" of the large stage. It is espionage to be sure and for a little holds the "riders in black disguise" for a little, but that is really the calm before the storm. Crossing the fords is like the commitment of the storm. One Year Later, to the date, Arwen arrives with the company from the North to be betrothed to Aragorn. The Hobbits have been waiting around sinc ethe destruction of Sauron. Gondor is beautiful and nice but they would like to finally get back to their families and "regular lives," but they can tell that there is something more coming. There is a feel in the air of something to come that will more truly define the overthrow of Sauron; although with the ring already destroyed they cannot figure out what it could be ... until the company arrives from the north. The commitment of the evil storm on midsummer's eve has been answered by the betrothal of Love on midsummer's eve one year later. These two dates set what are really the "bookends" for the main part of the tale, that is the overcoming of evil by Good. And this is what supernaturalizes courtly love, that it is emblematic of the supernatural battle between evil and Grace. But Good is more than the negation of evil. Good has a positive existence of its own that evil never could. Evil will always be only the negation or perversion of the good. Thus, it is the betrothal that shares the same day with the onset of the evil over come - mid-summer's eve. The marriage itself is on the next day, mid-summer's day. Postscript The "elevation" is also seen in the hierarchical structure. If the evil represented by the riders is not vanquished, neither Faramir and Eowyn nor Sam and Rosey have any hope. Likewise, Sam never would have gotten Rosey had he stayed in the Shire and the Shire stayed secluded (as long as it could, eventually it would have been controlled by evil forces). Sam had to go through Mordor in order to learn the courage to walk those few yards up to the bar and talk to Rosey. (Nothing in the Shire would have lasted, nor can it last without the larger realm of the kingdoms, as represented in the fact that Merry and Pippin remain in the service of their respective kings as their representatives in the Shire.)