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First of all, when I say that the story of Éowyn is the story of Eve, I do not mean that the narrative elements of both stories are the same. Rather, it is the story of Eve which allows Éowyn’s choices and awakenings to be ‘recognizable’ to us without Tolkien spending long pages elaborating on this character. Éowyn resonates with the desire, failing, grief and ultimate realizations attributed to Eve and so we understand in a few words the motivations of her character.
In the same way that the story of Faust being so integral to western culture allows us to understand why Aragorn’s using the palantír would be such an effective strategy without Tolkien elaborating on the thought process of Sauron, it is our understanding of Eve which allows Tolkien to forego a Harlequin romance surrounding Éowyn, Aragorn, and Faramir and still end up with a character who resonates deeply with most women.
There are two elements of Éowyn’s story that prompt me to identify her with Eve. The first is suggested by Queen B. and was elaborated upon by Mossy.
Queen B:
For she does, of course, abandon her post, but not to follow the man she thinks she loves. She follows the man she does love: her surrogate father, and through defending him (in vain: he still buys it) gains, not the death she seeks, but new life, true glory, and .. redemption?
Éowyn commits the worst crime a soldier can commit (desertion) and by means of this crime she saves the battle (kills the WiKi) and wins acclaim as one of the greatest soldiers of Middle Earth.
The doctrine of the “wondrous fault” is central to Christianity. If Eve had not taken the apple, eaten it, given it to Adam and encouraged him to eat it as well, there would have been no opportunity for God to prove his love by sending Jesus to redeem humankind and to conquer death. The Christians among us can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that (in Catholic theology at least), if Eve had been obedient, the result would have been “a lesser good.”
The whole story of redemption hinges on this act of disobedience. Because this story is so central to our culture, I suspect that those who recognized Dernhelm’s identity immediately on the first reading (I did not, btw) began to anticipate an act of redemption as soon as they knew that a woman had committed an act of disobedience.
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The second element which causes me to identify Éowyn with Eve is her last conversation with Aragorn and her first conversation with Faramir. For this I have to refer to the analysis that I attempted to undertake in the TMU thread on TORC: Tolkien’s Moral Universe, in the fourth post about “Unveiling.”
Jnyusa:
What this moral universe requires is not certainty or guarantees of providential help but a willingness to approach weighty decisions unveiled <snip> Being willing to unveil ourselves to ourselves is the farthest our own will can carry us down a moral path. Beyond that, the free will of others, and of God, create the conditions of our existence <snip>When a person unveils, they become visible.
Aragorn:
“ ‘A time may come soon,’ he said, ‘when none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defense of your homes. [They will be invisible] . Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.' ”
Éowyn:
"And she answered: ‘All your words are but to say: you are a woman [not a person] and your part is in the house. But when the men [who have names, as I do not] have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death ' "
[And the serpent said unto the woman: ... for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof ... ye shall be as God ...] Gen 3: 4-5
Éowyn’s frustration with Aragorn is her apparent invisibility to him; and her determination to disobey is a determination to prove her own equality. (Personally, I don’t think there is a feminist tract in the historical record as powerful and plaintiff as Éowyn’s speech in this passage ... ‘you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more.’)
But when she speaks with Faramir for the first time, knowing him as yet not at all:
“He looked at her, and being a man whom pity deeply stirred, it seemed to her that her loveliness amid her grief would pierce his heart. And she looked at him and saw the grave tenderness in his eyes, and yet knew, for she was bred among men of war, that here was one whom no Rider of the Mark would outmatch in battle."
Faramir:
“ ‘What do you wish?’ he said again. ‘If it lies in my power, I will do it.’ “
Éowyn:
“ ‘I would have you command this Warden, and bid him let me go,’ she said; but though her words were still proud [the ‘original sin’], her heart faltered, and for the first time she doubted herself. She guessed that this tall man, both stern and gentle, might think her merely wayward, like a child that has not the firmness of mind to go on with a dull task to the end.”
Éowyn realizes that for the first time she is ‘visible’ to another, as a person capable of judgment and therefore accountable for her deeds. She is newly capable of shame. This is both a great joy and a great confusion - it a great joy because there is no yoke worse than the yoke of invisibility, a great confusion because it brings awareness of both joy and shame, a ‘knowledge of both good and evil.’
[And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked ...] Gen 3: 7
There has been lots of philosophical debate about the meaning of ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ - what knowledge exactly does this represent. I believe that most philosophers have fallen in with the interpretation that it represents reflective consciousness, self-awareness, the gift (or curse) of moral reasoning. Adam and Eve know now how they are seen through the eyes of one another, for they sew fig leaves to cover themselves from one another, even before they are aware that God knows what they have done.
It is this story, among the first of all stories about man and woman, that allows us to understand what Éowyn must have felt when she first realized that Faramir could, in fact, ‘see’ her, after a lifetime of being invisible to everyone else. One sentence, in which Éowyn smiggle-diggles between assertion and doubt, pride and shame, is sufficient for us to understand her at a depth unmatched by all the Danielle Steele novels on the shelf.
Jn
edit: to correct the quote thingie which I can't make to work right nohow