FöRFATTARE
Johansson, Tobias

DATUM
2002-08-20

INSTITUTION
Språk och litteratur

SAMMANFATTNING
This essay deals with the universal and ever-present issues of evil and death and how they are portrayed in The Lord of the Rings, the famous trilogy which was written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The aim with Evil and Death in The Lord of the Rings, was to find out whether the characters are one- dimensional, that is, are they only good or vice versa, or are they more complex. The One Ring is also analysed. Another aim was to find out whether the fact that he was a Catholic himself, influenced the story. While the author’s background is thought to be important to the issues depicted, this aspect is also considered in this essay.

Evil and Death in The Lord of the Rings discusses this issues in two main chapters, and also look at how Tolkien’s own experiences colour the story. Furthermore, a closer examination is made of the five major religions of the world in order to find out how evil and death are viewed according to them and see whether what Tolkien writes had support from them too, thus not restricting the story to suit a Christian view of the issues included in it. These religions are then compared with the story in The Lord of the Rings.

The studies of these showed that the characters are indeed quite complex and harbours both good and evil traits. There is only one exception to this, and that is Tom Bombadil as he commonly is called. According to J.R.R. Tolkien this character serves as a moral comment to the reader and to show that there are other things of value than pure materialism. Because of this his origin and role in the trilogy is examined closer. Furthermore, it turned out that different religious views are indeed applicable to various situations and values which occurs in the trilogy.

ISSN 1402-1773 / ISRN LTU-CUPP--02/057--SE / NR 2002:057