Chapter 10: The Choices of Master Samwise
So why does Sam succeed against Shelob when none ever has, as the Orcs inform us? The answer maybe gets straight to the heart of Tolkien's entire Hobbit-centric series--for despite all his grandiose and sprawling mythologies and the great acts of elves and dwarves and wizards and dark lords and demi-gods and men, all mapped out with appendixes and concordances, remember that this is nonetheless a Hobbit-focused tale, and it's worth asking just why that is.
As for this Hobbit's victory over Shelob: the first factor is the shear fact that Shelob severely underestimated Sam--she would in all likelihood have been all on guard against a genuine Elf-warrior, or Strider-like Ranger, or some other Orc chieftan, but Sam she scarcely considers worth her attention. Only when he proves a pest does she deign to crush his "impudence" under her tremendous weight--which is precisely her undoing, impaling herself more savagely than Sam ever could have contrived to do on his own. This utter disregard for Hobbits will also prove Sauron's undoing, as he remains so fixated upon the troop movement of men and elves that he does not even bother to note the doddering halflings wandering right under his nose.
That sense of doddering duty that proves a decisive asset is a key part of the English self-identity, I think: Napoleon and Hitler alike dismissed England as a mere "nation of shopkeepers," and both paid dearly for their mistake. One gets a sense that the English prefer it that way, that even when they had a world-spanning empire they liked to constantly be overshadowed by their flashier rivals--the French, the Russians, the Germans and Italians--such that they could then all the more easily sneak away with the victory from right under their noses. Tolkien is, of course, a thorough-going product of his country.
But there is another aspect to Tolkien's thought that influences Sam's improbable victory here, the religious one, which, given the Professor's own devout Catholicism and his role in converting CS Lewis to Christianity, is one that we have not spent enough time thinking about--and that is the fact that within Christian theology, heavy emphasis is placed on the small and lowly things of this world that are favored of the Lord: David is considered the least of the sons of Jesse, but God warns the Prophet Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart"; according to Isaiah, the Messiah grows "like a root out of dry ground...there is no beauty that we should desire him"; Christ himself is a carpenter, who chooses fishermen to be his Apostles; and St. Paul to the Corinthians declares that God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Hobbits, then, can be read as a sort of Christian archetype, the weak things of the world that the Gods express themselves through in order to humble the proud, all so that God's own power may be made manifest. The vanquishing of Shelob is but the first expression of that ethos, before the main event with Sauron.
Except, of course, it won't be the Hobbits themselves that defeat Sauron, will it--at least not exactly, which complicates the picture immeasurably in really interesting ways, all of which we shall surely get into more depth with in Return of the King. Until then, so ends The Two Towers. To quote Whitman, I stop somewhere waiting for you.
Ben's Thoughts (3/29/16)
It's funny that Sam's battle with Shelob is over almost as soon as it's begun, and the chapter after that point is quickly divided into three main sections: Sam's dilemma; Sam's experience with the Ring and its power after he puts it on; and the conversation between the orcs. The latter is by far the most interesting, in my opinion, as we delve deeper into the Ring and its power over the hobbits in Book VI, but the others bear mentioning.
First, as Jacob pointed out, Shelob is her own undoing. It's telling
that Shelob's body is described as her "precious flesh," because
appetites and lust is what defined the monster in the last chapter as
well. Shelob seeks to crush Sam with her body, her flesh, and at the
same time her flesh is her own undoing. It's a subtle but scathing
rebuke of hedonistic pursuits. (More has been said elsewhere about how
Tolkien chose to clothe this theme in gendered terms; it is somewhat
unquieting that this bloated, ghastly evil is described as female, but
perhaps it's merely thematic; male Sauron, female Shelob.)
On to Sam's choices. After he realizes that he made the "wrong" choice
later in the chapter, Sam castigates himself by stating that his choice
was informed by his lack of hope. An accurate, if depressing sentiment,
in my opinion. Sam revealed in previous chapters that he didn't actually
have much hope that the Quest would succeed; he was just seeing it
through to the end with his master. Here, that lack of hope spills over
onto his assessment of the situation: Frodo is cold and non-responsive,
without breath or pulse; by all standards he is dead. However, Sam is no
stranger to supernatural forces. With a little more hope in him, would
he have realized that there was a chance that Frodo wasn't dead, but
just poisoned? In any case, Tolkien has Sam conveniently lose his head
and leave Frodo lying there in the middle of the path for anyone to
find, instead of moving him to the side or among some rocks and covering
him with his cloak. (Of course, if he had done that, the orcs wouldn't
have found Frodo, and Sam wouldn't have realized that Frodo was still
alive. So it's all for the best.) It's interesting just how casually Sam
takes the Ring, but then immediately feels the weight and burden upon
him. "Somewhere, an Eye was searching for him," the text relates, and it
makes the reader wonder whether Sauron can feel the Ring being used by
another. Sam's innate power is so minuscule, however, so even if Sauron
knew the Ring was being used, surely he couldn't sense where it was
taking place.
And finally, the orcs. There's a lot to process in this dialogue. A
couple of things stood out to me this time. First, either the orcs have
extremely long institutional memories, or they're immortal, like the
elves. Shagrat and Gorbag are talking about "old times" and the "Great
Siege" as if they occurred yesterday, not (literally) thousands of years
in the past. I suppose it makes sense that the orcs, made as twisted
mockeries or perhaps an offshoot from the elves, would have long lives. I
guess I never really considered it before. Second, we revisit the theme
of discontent in Sauron's ranks. Shagrat makes it clear that he
believes he has spies for the higher-ups among his own people; talk
about a police state. And Shagrat and Gorbag have a healthy mutual
distrust (that will blossom into violence) for each other, their own
men, the Nazgul, and even Sauron himself ("the Biggest Boss" as they
call him). They're anxious to take the first opportunity they can get to
bolt away from the Enemy's control and set up shop on their own far
away from any "Bosses." Part of this discontent of course comes from the
aforementioned police state and hypermilitarized society the orcs seems
to be steeped in (Tolkien, as a veteran, no doubt parroted the orcs'
military lingo off of what he heard in the military himself). And part
of it comes from the fact that the orcs are all too aware that they are
just expendable drones who could be shoved into the meat grinder at any
time. They're unsettled by the magical means of communication that pass
information they are not privy to (see their conversation about how "the
messages go through quicker than anything could fly") and realize
they're in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation. If the
"good guys" win, they know they're just as screwed as if Sauron ends up
triumphing. What a life. I love the insight into how the bad guys
operate. This is more nuanced, I feel, than the petty squabbling we saw
between the Isengard and Mordor orcs in the last book.
To sum up, this is a great chapter that provides a killer cliffhanger
and excellent setup for the next book. I remember being stunned when I
read this for the first time as a kid. The explosive last few chapters
made up, in my opinion, for the plodding pace of the rest of Book IV.
I'm not as excited, however, to revisit Jackson's "Two Towers" film. It
has been, historically, my least favorite of the three. Bring on the
hyena-wargs and the never-ending Helm's Deep battle scenes.
This is somewhat of a monumental moment for us all -- Ben, Jacob and myself have completed the Two Towers and have blogged on two of three of the books! Quite an accomplishment, if I may say so! Why, I think even Samwise Gamgee would be rightfully impressed.
The chapter is good and provides a necessary conclusion to the cliffhanger in Shelob's lair. As Ben notes, this chapter, and the previous, is where Sam finally becomes more than a blubbering fool. As the orcs note, Sam succeeded in needling Shelob, which no warrior (great or small) had ever done before.
While Sam's dilemma and taking the Ring is good prose, the chapter really becomes interesting when Sam starts to listen into the orcs. The conversation immediately gives an insight into orc culture: they just want to be free and set up shop somewhere else . Orcs clearly hate working for Sauron, but they know that the people on the other side of the gate would treat orcs even worse. The orcs, if they even have a choice, ally themselves with the power that at least could give them some more "space."
Of course, the revelation that Frodo is not dead is the real shocker. I still remember that moment when I learned he was not dead, and it is a powerful moment. Now, on reread, since I know the plot, that revelation had less impact. Rather, I enjoyed paying more attention to Shagrat's and Gorbag's conversation as to a window into Mordor culture. It's clear that the orcs aren't blind automatons of evil. They have desires and hopes and opinions like everyone else in Middle Earth. And ambition. Both Gorbag and Shagrat want a piece of the assumed reward for finding the hobbit.
And, as I remember, the orcs' ambition and irritable nature is yet another provincial windfall that allows Frodo to ultimately succeed in his quest. That is to say, evil proves its own undoing.
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