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Modtheow
Lorien
Feb 9 2012, 5:08am
Views: 322
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Here is how I can make sense of it: Middle-earth is diverse (that gives us the realism) but not so diverse that we lose the "aesthetic clarity" that allows us to desire Good and "undesire" Evil.
Rosebury acknowledges the diversity in the depiction of the Good peoples of Middle-earth, though he doesn't emphasize the same level of diversity in the depiction of Evil beings, sticking mainly to Sauron and his imitator Saruman, and mentioning Shelob. "Diversity" makes best sense to me when it is seen as a positive value or act -- the acceptance of or tolerance of diversity. The Good show tolerance of people's differences. The Ents, for example, accept the halflings and put them in their verses, though in the past they weren't so accepting of the Entwives' differences (and look where that got them). The positive value exists in different proportions among different characters, which seems realistic and which avoids the representation of the good as simplistic or cartoonish. Among the evil, diversity is seen as a negative value, something to be destroyed/consumed/ subsumed. As squire points out, Rosebury doesn't discuss evil beings like Old Man Willow or the Barrow-wight, though I suppose they could be seen as versions of Shelob, attempting to literally consume or to destroy other beings not like themselves.
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