Summary: Gollum leads the
hobbits into the tunnel, which is the lair of the giant spider Shelob, and
leaves them in the darkness. Sam remind Frodo of Galadriel's gift to them: a
phial that contains light from the elven star. The light drives Shelob back,
but only temporarily; eventually, she attacks the hobbits again, and stings and
wraps Frodo in her web. As Sam frantically attempts to call out a warning to
Frodo, Gollum jumps him from behind. They struggle. Because he underestimates
the "fat, stupid hobbit," Sam drives off Gollum. Still, however, Gollum does
damage: Sam is so enraged at the creature's treachery that he is overwhelmed by
the desire for vengeance. He draws his sword and runs after Gollum, only to
realize that he has left helpless Frodo behind.
Analysis: Tolkien's symbolic use of light and
darkness is particularly strong in this chapter. Into the foul gloom of
Shelob's Lair, where "[n]ight always had been, and always would be, and night
was all," the hobbits shine the light from the Phial of Galadriel. Light,� of
course, functions here as a symbol of hope (".and hope grew in Frodo's mind.").
Notably, the light from the phial does not fully drive away the darkness; for
instance, it confuses and drives back Shelob, but only temporarily. The real
effect of Galadriel's miraculous light is not to vanquish utterly Frodo and
Sam's foes, but to give them the courage to face them-which, of course, is how
hope can work in the world. Hope does not magically erase our problems, but it
can give us strength to confront them. Readers may be instructed by contrasting
Galadriel's phial with the Ring as described in the next chapter: "Certainly
the Ring had grown greatly in power as it approached the places of its forging;
but one thing it did not confer, and that was courage." Evil cannot confer
courage. Good can and does.
Like the Watcher outside
the gates of Moria, Shelob is a symbol of an old, evil power whose interests
are quite apart from the political and military affairs of Middle-earth. Sauron
uses Shelob for his purposes, the narrator tells us, but we know that Sauron
does not master Shelob; indeed, in the next chapter, the text leaves open the
question of whether Shelob nursed her wounds and returned to strength some time
after Sam attacked her. The narrative description of Shelob as "an evil thing
in spider-form" reinforces the idea, prevalent throughout The Lord of the
Rings, that evil is a formidable foe, capable of taking many forms, not all
of which are as readily recognizable as a monstrous spider. Although some
critics have made much of the fact that Tolkien had a clear memory of being
frightened by a spider as a child, Shelob therefore works as a symbol on a far
deeper level than that of an exorcism of the author's juvenile nightmares.
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