THE CAVE AND THE LIGHT SERIES

The theoretical constructions later known as the theory of forms have been formulated by scholars based on Plato’s dialogues, including The Republic, in which the Allegory of the Cave and Analogy of the Sun are presented. Theoretically, this article draws mostly from Plato’s philosophy, particularly his view on epistemology and the role of sunlight. Including the latter in the analysis is required because in this chapter Gandalf sheds light on important details that received less attention in The Hobbit, including Gollum’s personal history and his decision to live underground: the role of the cave is further explained in this chapter, permitting a deeper analysis. The following analysis focuses mainly on two significant chapters: the aforementioned “Riddles in the Dark” from The Hobbit and “The Shadow of the Past” from The Lord of the Rings. The Allegory of the Cave and the Analogy of the Sun are closely connected in Plato’s theory, and this paper also brings them together: the workings of the cave are centred around the motif of light and the tensions between the sun, shadows, and darkness – the world that isand the world that seems. Alongside the cave, the recurrent motif of light has an important role in the analysis: in Plato’s philosophy sunlight holds great epistemic significance, and this also can be said to apply to Tolkien’s fictional universe. Gollum’s cave can be interpreted as a symbol that represents the twofold nature of Tolkien’s fictional universe: it consists of the abstract world of ideas and the physical world of perception, with the division between them influencing the entire universe both metaphysically and epistemically.

This article examines the literal and symbolical meanings of Gollum’s cave with respect to Plato’s theory of Forms, and his famous Allegory of the Cave in particular.

THE CAVE AND THE LIGHT SERIES

Their encounter sets in motion a series of events that is significant not only to the future of Middle-earth but to the characters themselves.

Wandering in the dark, he comes across Gollum and unwillingly gambles for his own life in a game of riddles with him. Bilbo, who is recruited on a quest with 13 dwarves and Gandalf the wizard, gets lost in the mountains after his company is ambushed by goblins. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit or There and Back Again, first published in 1937. Gollum, who is said to be “as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face” (Tolkien, Hobbit 63), has dwelt for years in solitude by a subterranean lake until suddenly joined by Bilbo, the protagonist of J.R.R. In this blackness that so distresses Bilbo Baggins as he is separated from his companions deep in the tunnels of the Misty Mountains lives another creature with large, gleaming eyes well accustomed to life without sunlight. There are strange things living in the pools and lakes in the hearts of mountains: fish whose fathers swam in, goodness only knows how many years ago, and never swam out again, while their eyes grew bigger and bigger and bigger from trying to see in the blackness also there are other things more slimy than fish. Keywords: Literature and philosophy theory of forms knowledge in fiction Plato J.R.R. The questions pondered in this article rise from the overall problems of the metaphysical structure of Tolkien’s fantasy universe as well as its epistemic laws as represented by the symbol of the cave. This article is centred around the cave-thematic, but also takes into account the motifs of light, seeing, and blindness that are very common in Tolkien’s fiction: the preliminary assumption is that light and darkness have great epistemic value in Tolkien’s fiction not only symbolically but literally, and Plato’s Analogy of the Sun will be used to illustrate and justify this reading. The analysis focuses on the characters of Gollum and Bilbo and considers the moments of entering and leaving the subterranean cave as a transition between different metaphysical and epistemic positions. The Allegory of the Cave will be examined alongside the Analogy of the Sun in a manner that takes into account both their literal and analogous aspects, and The Republic will be seen not only as a theoretical work of philosophy but as an eloquent literary dialogue as well. Plato’s metaphysical and epistemological views, known as the theory of forms, provide the theoretical foundation for the analysis in which the literal and figurative meanings of the cave motif are of primary interest. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave that appears in The Republic.

Tolkien’s “Riddles in the Dark”Ībstract: This article presents a parallel reading of the chapter “Riddles in the Dark” from J.R.R. Peer-Reviewed Article Katariina Kärkelä Enlightening the Cave: Gollum’s Cave as a Threshold between Worlds in J.R.R. Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research, Volume 6, Issue 1, pages 99–109.

The cave and the light