Rousseau's Social Contract in The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Rousseau's Social
Contract speaks to the idea that before people lived in societies, they were
fundamentally motivated by the essential impulse to preserve themselves. The urge
materialized in physical desires and people instinctively acted on these very
desires in order to satisfy their impulse, in order to preserve life. Rousseau argued that a social contract
can be reached when individuals forfeit their own desires, for those of the
populous. He writes, "each of us places his person and all his power in
common under the supreme direction of the general will; and as one we receive
each member as an indivisible part of the whole."1
This idea
of individuals blindly, instinctively acting in ways to defend their lives, is
evident in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and is illustrated
particularly well in the prologue of the film, The Fellowship of the Ring. The
opening scene speaks to how the races of Elves, Dwarves, and Men, created the
"Great Rings" which held "the strength and will to govern each
race." However, in Mordor, Sauron forged a master ring, designed to rule
over all others, into the ring he "poured his cruelty, his malice, and his
will to dominate all life. One ring to rule them all." The creatures of
Middle Earth, Elves, Dwarves, and Man, band together, as Rousseau described, in
a mutual effort to destroy Sauron and his master ring. However when given the
chance to "destroy evil forever," Isildur, mankind, is unable to do
so, corrupted by the power of the ring, he takes the ring for himself, thus
satisfying his own individual desires.
The rest of
the trilogy illustrates the mutual agreements of all races in Middle Earth to
abandon their own individual desires, banding together to destroy evil, saving
the world as they know it. Such compromises are apparent numerous times
throughout the trilogy; most notably during the Council of Elrond in Rivendell,
the city of the Elves. In this scene, seen below, the desires of the Dwarves,
Elves, Men, Hobbits, and Wizards, come to a head in a huge argument, and
ultimately the creation of the "Fellowship of the Ring," an unlikely
crew manifested to forfeit their egos, and instinctive urges for
self-preservation, in order to destroy evil.
Even the
Ents, giant, usually peaceful, talking trees take up the cause:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opykS-JrXhc
… the dead
aid the fight as well:
This mutual
sacrifice of the desires of numerous differing races in the Lord of the Rings
speaks to the ideas Rousseau discusses regarding Social Contracts, as everyone
unites in one singular force, "under the supreme direction of the general
will," in order to defeat evil. I think Merry describes the situation
best, "The fires of Isengard will spread, and the forests of Tuckborough
and Buckland will burn. And all that was once great and good in this world will
be destroyed. There won't be a Shire." In other words, if everyone does
not join the battle for Middle Earth, than each race will fall individually.
Without the Social Contract, all would be over.
Footnotes:
1."Rousseau, On the Social Contract." Rousseau, On the Social Contract. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2012.
Videos:
Council of Elrond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyQlj6dIzAw
Ents March: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opykS-JrXhc
Army of Dead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r622O7Kh4B4
You tie Lord of the Rings and Rousseau together quite seamlessly in this post. I think I've actually read somewhere that JRR Tolkien had influences such as Rousseau's social contract when writing the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Nonetheless, an interesting comparison. I always find it interesting how easily philosophies such as Rousseau's can be applied to works of fiction. We talked about the dirty hands problem with Batman earlier in the semester as well.
ReplyDeleteBut as far as your post goes, I like that you point out just how necessary the social contract is to uphold the good of Middle Earth. Just as is the case in Lord of the Rings, we need to uphold the social contract in order to maintain the good of our world and society.