The Faces of Evil in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Abstract

In fiction, especially in fantasy, it is inevitable that the readers search real world references for the story as a means of justification and comprehension. However, this is not always the most proper way to follow, or to put it differently, it is surely not the only way in which his works can be read. On the one hand Tolkien expresses his dislike for allegorical reading, on the other hand he admits that his tales are rooted in reality and he wants them to fit into our cultural world as the great epic, the mythology of England (Carpenter 97). Consequently, understanding Tolkien must start out his biography. In accordance with this, the present paper proceeds from the life of the author, before focusing more closely on The Lord of the Rings, with the particular intent to examine the character of Sauron and the workings of evil as a power in the sequence.Bscanglisztik