Arda’s ladies have complex identities. Although they play a few crucial roles, they are by no means less influential than men in Arda’s history. Building on this and focusing on Beren and Lúthien’s story, I intend to address the representation of female identity in relation to the course of ‘History’ Tolkien created. To do so, I will investigate the concepts of identity and love in Lúthien’s subjectivity under the paradigms introduced through Judith Butler’s feministic reading of Hegel’s view on love. Butler argues that the object of desire is born through performativity of its representation over time. Accordingly, I will argue that pairs of love/loss and desire/lack lead Lúthien to uncertainty, otherness, and ambivalence. In return, this transforms Lúthien’s journey into a representation of love and a path of desire for recognition. Consequently, this desire forges for her identity a great asset to exercise its power and freedom to define and shape the spirit of her age.
Ali Ghaderi is an independent scholar from Iran. His research interests include high fantasy, continental and analytical philosophy, films/TV shows, contemporary American and British literature, and popular culture.
