Agency within Medievalism
Society has long since existed in a relentless loop of shaping and being shaped by human interaction. The products of human interaction ̶ culture, social organization, and social structure ̶ heavily influence the way normal society is structured and have the power to act against those living within it to restrict or constrain action. This constricting nature set forth by societal norms directly decreases the amount of human agency one can experience while within society and worsens quality of life. In The Hobbit, Tolkien uses Bilbo’s hybrid nature as both a hobbit and an adventurer and subsequent distancing from the rest of hobbit society to reject medieval ideals of acting strictly within societal constraints, exploring the constricting nature of human society and the changes in agency and identity that occur when one steps out of that bubble.
Bilbo undergoes a hybridization throughout The Hobbit that is crucial to his ostracization from hobbit culture, morphing from a simple hobbit into one that is an experienced adventurer. He no longer leads the simple, adventure-free life that is valued by hobbits and this poses the question of where in society Bilbo really fits in. By combining both hobbit and adventurer he becomes fully neither, effectively turning him into the middle section of society’s Venn diagram, bordered off from both worlds he was once a part of. Despite being sectioned off from both societal worlds, labeled as “queer” by the rest of the hobbits and never truly an inhabitant of the world of elves, dwarves, and wizards, Bilbo instead chooses to embrace his new connections to other cultures and coexist with their societies rather than try to forcefully graft himself back into them (Tolkien 275). This is Tolkien’s first show of modernity in that there is no intrinsic, personal pressure to be a part of the established society.
This is in direct contrast with the example set by the faeries in Sir Orfeo. The faeries are hybrids by nature, a supernatural blend of both nature and humanity, grasping at society in the hopes of collecting any residual humanity it might exude. This attempt at self-humanization is shown through the image of the “impe tre” and its connection to the abduction and imprisonment of Orfeo’s queen (“Sir Orfeo” 443). The queen is abducted while she is sleeping in the shade of the impe tre, a tree artificially made through grafting, and is still under it when Orfeo arrives to rescue her. The queen, the epitome of human beauty, refinement, and royalty, is directly attached to this tree in every instance it makes an appearance, perfectly reflecting the nature of the relationship between faeries and human society. Faeries, similar to the tree in its artificial, hybrid nature, grasp at human society through the abduction and hoarding of an incredible amount of humans and objects, directly parallel to the image of the impe tre and its connection to the queen. Faerie society refuses to exist outside the realms of human society, focusing on forcefully grafting onto and imitating it instead through embracing human concepts such as honor, kingliness, and human beauty.
The hybrid nature of the faeries is used to explore the relationship between society and what isn’t human, approaching it with the idea that the faeries are just perversions of the good and civilized and are wrong because they have not accepted that they exist under the rule of society. This is paralleled through Bilbo’s existence as the perversion of the good and civilized hobbit, although Bilbo is used as an example of someone who is not wrong for living outside of the rule of society. Bilbo is treated with a societal distaste similar to that experienced by the faeries, with even his family “not encouraged in their friendship by their elders” (Tolkien 275). He is viewed as wrong by the society surrounding him and, unlike the faeries, he “[does] not mind” (Tolkien 275). Tolkien uses Bilbo’s acceptance of his situation and his disinterest in forcing his way back into societal approval as a means of exploring the idea that one can exist outside of societal barriers and still remain a good and right individual, rejecting the medieval idea of striving to exist and act within the barriers in order to lead the correct type of life.
Changes, of course, come with ostracizing one’s self from society and the major change occurs in the nature of the relationships between those within and those outside of the societal barriers. This change is manifested in Bilbo through the disconnect between his old identity and his new one and the effect that has on the rest of hobbit society. Before he set out in search of adventure, Bilbo had everything that hobbits use to establish status: a cozy, widely envied hobbit-hole, a decent amount of money, beautiful, antique possessions, and a respected reputation. When he returns from his adventure, he still has almost all of the same material possessions, resides in the same hobbit-hole, and looks like the Bilbo everyone knew, but his personality and reputation have evolved so much that a disconnect now exists between the hobbit he was and the hobbit he became. “[H]e had lost his reputation” and “was no longer quite respectable” to the extent that the hobbit elders were even discouraging his own family members from being involved with him (Tolkien 275). This disconnect and loss of respectability creates a conflicting view of Bilbo as both a hobbit and as a member of society, as he exists in the same right, respectable environment, but with an entirely changed attitude and perceived identity, utterly rocking society’s perception of him. He becomes something “queer” and alien and, as a result, loses his connection with the rest of hobbit society and his old self through the loss of his old reputation (Tolkien 275).
Reputation and the respectability that accompanies it is a concept that exists purely to establish societal norms and govern how someone acts within those constraints. Its importance is incredibly medieval, as reputation was essentially one’s résumé and served as a means of distinguishing the respectable from the delinquent. This heavy importance on reputation is echoed throughout Sir Orfeo, specifically in the deal Orfeo makes with the faerie king to reclaim his wife. Orfeo asks for his wife as his prize for his beautiful harping and, when the faerie king initially refuses, Orfeo reminds him “That thou me seyst nowghe / That I schuld have what I wold. / Bot nedys a kyngys word mot hold” (“Sir Orfeo” 453). With his kingly reputation at stake, the faerie king has no choice but to relent in order to preserve his respectability according to himself and the human society he is attempting to imitate. He does not want to give up Orfeo’s queen, even remarking that it would be “[a] foule thing” for her to pass in Orfeo’s company, and his acting in accordance with how reputation and respectability command him to act, even in defiance of personal desire, embodies a medieval submission to reputation that Tolkien refuses to accept (“Sir Orfeo” 448).
While Tolkien acknowledges the extreme importance placed on status and reputation by society, he challenges its intrinsic importance by having Bilbo embody the extremely modern concept of being content with one’s self and not being heavily influenced by other people’s opinions and viewpoints. The elder hobbits’ reaction to Bilbo and his tarnished reputation offer the same societal prompt that Orfeo’s response to the faerie king does, calling for a conformity to societal standards and emphasizing just how vital that conformity is to the societal machine. Tolkien, however, challenges the validity of this statement by showing that conformity is not quite as important to happiness and societal function as it is presented. Bilbo “was quite content” and “did not mind” existing outside of societal barriers, his disconnect offering only happiness and freedom instead of loneliness and inconvenience (Tolkien 275). Bilbo’s existence outside of societal barriers offers a type of human agency and the opportunity to follow personal desire through the removal of reputational constraints and understood societal rules that the faerie king was not able to take advantage of.
This opportunity to follow personal desire allows for the exploration of one’s identity, emphasized by the need to adapt to the new social atmosphere. Even if it is not a conscious act of changing and adapting, the adaptation still occurs, brought on by the question of ‘I was this before and I changed, so what am I now?’. Bilbo experiences this change throughout The Hobbit, drastically changing between his crisis over forgetting his pocket handkerchief when he set out on his quest and his taking his stand on Ravenhill among the elves to defend the Elvenking during the Battle of the Five Armies. He adapts to his new environment, drastically different from the warm hobbit-hole and peaceful garden he had grown accustomed to, gradually becoming a melting pot of hobbit, dwarf, elf, and wizard. This change and acceptance of his new role as a hybrid hobbit/adventurer is embodied by his placing his sword above his mantelpiece. That mantelpiece was the first change in his hobbit nature that was brought upon by the dwarves descending upon him with a quest. In all his excitement and anxiousness over the unexpected visitors he had forgotten to dust the mantelpiece, Gandalf later remarking that he was not at all himself because of it. This was the first void created in Bilbo’s identity by the dwarf quest and it is finally, fittingly filled at the end by Bilbo’s placing his sword above the mantelpiece, effectively morphing his two identities. This physical combination of his hobbit and adventurer lives parallels his inner hybridization and, more importantly, the acceptance of himself that Bilbo experiences through it. Bilbo’s ability to accept his hybrid nature and new self creates his own mixture of understood cultural rules, freeing him from the rigid parameters of hobbit culture that he no longer fits within and giving him the agency to choose what he wants to do and how he wants to live, a path that would not have been available had he rejected his new nature.
Faeries, however, are bound by human laws because of their relentless craving for human nature and, therefore, have significantly less agency and power. Their refusal to embrace their own hybrid nature leads to an innate dissatisfaction, exemplified by the faerie king’s relent of Orfeo’s wife and adherence to kingly honor. The king does not want to give up Orfeo’s wife and has no reason to do so besides adherence to the human principle of honor and the constraint of a king’s word. He had already stolen the queen, why should he not keep her? He binds himself to human society through the acceptance and embracement of the role of a human king and his denying his dual nature, effectively stripping him of any agency to choose to follow the faerie rules.
Bilbo’s acceptance, however, grants him plenty of agency. By refusing to view his new lifestyle as “queer” or unrespectable, he frees himself to make choices that he would have not been able to comfortably make before (Tolkien 275). He is able to freely visit the elves, maintain his friendships with his companions from the Misty Mountain, proudly display his sword over his mantelpiece, and, most importantly, use his ring to escape unwanted visitors (Tolkien 275). The ease and comfort with which Bilbo uses the ring to escape unwanted visitors is the most prominent example of his newfound agency because of its massive contradiction with how a respectable hobbit should act. Hobbits love having guests and being hosts, even if they do not unconditionally favor their visitors, and Bilbo’s active choice to avoid following that role because he knows it will be unpleasant perfectly embodies the change he has experienced since he accepted his new identity as an adventurer hobbit. Unlike the faerie king, Bilbo is able to utilize his hybrid nature and distance from societal norms in order to benefit his happiness and his own identity.
Bilbo had always had an adventurous side emanating from his Took heritage and own personality, visible in his childhood, but he never quite embraced it in his adult life and, therefore, was never quite content with how he was and the life that he was living. He was anxious to go on the dwarf quest, although he was very nervous, but he did ultimately enjoy himself and reach the conclusion of who he really is. Through the constant adaptation he experienced during his time with the dwarves he was ostracized from his old, false identity, allowing him the chance to search himself and find the hobbit he really wished to be. By accepting each part of himself and the duality of his nature he is able to be “quite content” and his life became more enjoyable “than it had been even in the quiet days before the Unexpected Party” (Tolkien 275). Through this statement, Tolkien takes a more modern approach to the ideas of agency and identity and embraces the idea that accepting yourself as you are and not how your role or culture dictates you be can give you substantially more power in choosing how to live your life and the level of happiness you experience while doing so.
By following medieval cultural restraints set forth by society, the faeries doom themselves to be stuck in a world of cultural stasis. By binding themselves to human law and principle and rejecting the duality of their nature they forfeit their agency and opportunity to grow or proceed, as they are stuck in the same, never-evolving laws and traditions of human society. In contrast, Bilbo was able to change and grow to be a new person with a new, happier future and opportunities through the acceptance of his hybrid nature. Tolkien uses Bilbo to challenge the validity of societal norms by presenting him as an example of the opportunities that can be taken advantage of and the happiness that can be gained when one breaks away from the stasis of societal constraints and forges their own path through the acceptance of their identity and true nature.
Works Cited
"Sir Orfeo." Codex Ashmole 61: A Compilation of Popular Middle English Verse. Ed. George
Shuffelton. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2008. Print.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit. London: HarperCollins, 2012. Print.