Re-reading the Lord of the Rings, Chapter 51
This chapter is very symbolic. With Merry, Éowyn and Faramir lie three sick who represent the highest virtue of their respective people, as are faithfulness, valour and duty, again according to the division of the soul into lust (in a more original sense), heed and care as described in my remarks on Minas Tirith, and the King heals them, which is of course straight from the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John.
Actually, there are serious religious implications here, arising from the fact that Tolkien doesn't distinguish between the perceptive nature of the three parts of the soul and the willful nature of the three parts of the soul, for Tolkien suggests that people, whose character is dominated by lust could be ruled by quaintness, based on experiences with people, whose perception is limited to the sphere of lust, but whose character is dominated by either heed or care, and if that was so, then Christianity would be universal - but it is not so.
Plato knew this, his description of the bad horse bears signs of sympathy for the crook that go beyond the cuteness of all things small and childlike, he tacitly respects lust as the force that gets things done, pretty much like free-market advocates in the United States.
However, what is a mitigation for some people, is a poison for others. It all depends on whom it is administered. Where there is no shame (or piety), skillfully causing dilemmas guarantees the greater balance, where there is shame (or piety), failing to give an example breeds confusion and depravity.
But back to Faramir, Éowyn and Merry. When Faramir awakes, he gladly picks up his new duty, when Éowyn awakes, she poses, after an unguarded exclamation of joy, hard to please and when Merry awakes he says - and this is the punchline the whole novel has been written for -
Actually, there are serious religious implications here, arising from the fact that Tolkien doesn't distinguish between the perceptive nature of the three parts of the soul and the willful nature of the three parts of the soul, for Tolkien suggests that people, whose character is dominated by lust could be ruled by quaintness, based on experiences with people, whose perception is limited to the sphere of lust, but whose character is dominated by either heed or care, and if that was so, then Christianity would be universal - but it is not so.
Plato knew this, his description of the bad horse bears signs of sympathy for the crook that go beyond the cuteness of all things small and childlike, he tacitly respects lust as the force that gets things done, pretty much like free-market advocates in the United States.
However, what is a mitigation for some people, is a poison for others. It all depends on whom it is administered. Where there is no shame (or piety), skillfully causing dilemmas guarantees the greater balance, where there is shame (or piety), failing to give an example breeds confusion and depravity.
But back to Faramir, Éowyn and Merry. When Faramir awakes, he gladly picks up his new duty, when Éowyn awakes, she poses, after an unguarded exclamation of joy, hard to please and when Merry awakes he says - and this is the punchline the whole novel has been written for -
I am hungry. What is the time?And then he gives a nice account on how enriching it is to be cared for by one's betters.
Eingetragen Am/um
11:19
