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초록

Greed in Hobbit by J.R.R. TolkienYon Gyong Kwon Associate Professor Soongsil University Seoul, KoreaThis article explores the motif of greed in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit. As Jane Chance observes, we have in the work a sort of ‘continuum of greed’, epecially in the latter part of the story. The present study explores this particular motif in more detail, tracing the manifestation of greed in major characters. The study first surveys more extreme cases in the sliding scale of greed: paragons of greed such as Smaug the dragon and the lord of the Laketown on the one hand, and Beorn, Gandalf and Bard, all characters who are relatively free from such greed, on the other. Then the study examines in detail how Thorin, the chief of the dwarves, succumbs to the lethal grip of greed before he is saved by the unexpected turn of events. The final section focuses on Bilbo, the protagonist of the story. This typical Hobbit is as much sensitive to the practical need of everyday life such as food, drink and comfort as he is free from the kind of blind greed displayed by Smaug, Thorin or other monsters of greed. The aim of the study throughout is not to provide a critical analysis of the theme from certain interpretive grid but to reproduce as thorough as possible how the deadly power of greed operates in the major characters of the work, thereby providing a raw materials for further critical engagements with this amusing yet important work.

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