Similar English From The Hobbit and William Shakespeare

                                                                                                                                               By: Robert Tu

Similar Language in The Hobbit and Shakespeare

Regarded as one of the greatest fantasy epics of all time, The Hobbit is a prelude to The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien created an enthralling world with mythical creatures, a fantastical setting, and builds-up to the event of the Battle of the Five Armies. Bilbo also finds the significant One Ring and is Frodo's uncle. Without The Hobbit, the context of the war and object does not make sense in the series. The language used to narrate the story compares to Shakespeare, as comprehending the events can take time to get used to. 

The story starts with a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Hobbits are supposed to live dull lives, but Bilbo gets the opportunity to go on an adventure. He reluctantly agrees to steal back dwarfen treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug with thirteen dwarfs and Gandalf, the wizard. The group immediately gets captured by trolls and escapes by stalling until the day, which petrifies them. Shortly after, the group is held hostage by goblins, and everyone flees except for Bilbo, who was left behind. He finds the One Ring, which turns the wearer invisible and helps him escape in a clever display of wittiness and sympathy. Bilbo is not a warrior, but through the story, he uses his cleverness to get him out of situations. For example, to not get eaten by Gollum, they play a game of riddles. They go back and forth until Bilbo says, "What is in my pocket?" (Tolkien 78). Gollum could not guess what was in Bilbo's pocket eventually helped him escape. I like the part where Bilbo could take Gollum's life when he is invisible but chooses not to.

These are some of the few mini-adventures they go on, but there are more with giant spiders, one where

they disguise themselves as barrels, and there is a chase scene in them with orcs. The story continues when they arrive at Lake Town and venture to the mountain where Smaug lies. Bilbo confronts Smaug and learns of a weak point in his armor before narrowly escaping his wrath. They pass this information on to a master archer who slays the dragon. The greed over treasure then triggers a war over the dwarves, elves, and town residents. The orcs and eagles also appear, and the battle becomes an alliance against the orcs.

Tolkien uses examples of poetry in the songs, riddles, and chants. For example, on pages fourteen and fifteen, the dwarf song has an AABA rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter. This example shows how Tolkien understands poetry and helps with the medieval theme. The rhymes and iambic pentameter also show up in the scene where Bilbo and Gollum exchange riddles and when the spiders capture the group. This aspect of the story is interesting because the book achieves a medieval theme as the setting resembles Eurasia and the "Shakespearean language".

When reading The Hobbit, I noticed parallels in the dialogue which J.R.R Tolkien and William Shakespeare used. A quick Google search told me that Tolkien was inspired by the plays Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream, but not in the way one might think. Tolkien got forced to read those two Shakespearean plays in school (similar to at Uni). He believed that he "missed a big opportunity in Macbeth when a wood did not walk from Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill properly – and Tolkien bet himself, with bitter disappointment and disgust, that he would better this one day,". I found this quote interesting after reading the book because I noticed during the reading that the language was like a Shakespearean play, and Tolkien read the same plays as our class did.

https://fellowshipandfairydust.com/2020/11/14/tolkien-and-shakespeare/ 

Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Hobbit.