Of the king beyond the movie"

Ex.1.  Compare the usage vocabulary of the scenario and the author’s text. Find the differences in grammar constructions of the scenario and grammar constructions of the author’s text

1.  IMAGE: A BRIGHT LIGHT suddenly flares ... FRODO squeezes his eyes shut, gasping.

FRODO (frightened)

Where am I? A FAMILIAR VOICE cuts through the swirl of sound.

GANDALF (O.S.) You are in the House of Elrond, and it is ten o’clock in the morning on October the twenty-fourth, if you want to know.

INT. FRODO’S BEDROOM - DAY

FRODO’S eyes flicker OPEN ... He is lying in bed next to an OPEN WINDOW ... DAPPLED sunlight plays on richly carved timbers ... the sound of a nearby waterfall drifts through the VISTA of FIR TREES.

FRODO (weak relief)

Gandalf!

ANGLE ON: GANDALF IS SITTING NEXT TO FRODO’S BED ... softly puffing on his pipe. He smiles at FRODO.

GANDALF Yes, I'm here. And you're lucky to be here too. A few more hours and you would have been beyond our aid. But you have some strength in you, my dear Hobbit.

FRODO sits up, looking at GANDALF questioningly...

CLOSE ON:

FRODO What happened, Gandalf? Why didn't you meet us?

GANDALF I am sorry, Frodo.

GANDALF ... troubled. His eyes drift away.

GANDALF (CONT)

2.  Frodo woke with a splitting headache which was made worse when he realised that nothing that painful could be a dream.

"Where am I - and why is everything so loud," he said before changing to a whisper. Oh, this was a bad one alright.

"You are in the Last Homely House – or the first – or maybe neither, as many homely houses have been built before and after this one. Suffice it to say that it is the house of El Rond and he's been hard at work up until last night trying to save your silly mortal hide".

The voice was that of Gandalf's and Frodo never imagined any voice could be as loud as what he was hearing right now. "Could you show some respect and keep it down. Please. People are busy dying here".

"Oh its not that bad, you could be dead already." Gandalf had turned away from the sideboard he had been standing at and was approaching Frodo with a fluted glass with a green concoction in it. "Here, Drink this, it will help you get over the hang..., I mean, headache that you have. It has been close these past four days and we had to keep you well sedated while we forced the blood toward your brain again. Nasty work that was. We didn't finish until last night. Oh, by the way, don't worry, some women find scars sexy".

I don't know which, Gandalf thought to himself, but I'm sure there must be at least one somewhere. I was delayed.

Ex.2.  Translate into Russian.

Tolkien's Prose Style and its Literary and Rhetorical Effects (quote)

Michael D.C.Drout

While J.R.R.Tolkien's prose style in The Lord of the Rings has been both attacked and defended, its details have seldom been analysed in terms of specific aesthetic effects. This lacuna in Tolkien criticism is certainly understandable, given the perceived necessity of first defending Tolkien's work as a worthy object of serious literary (rather than sociological or pop-cultural) study: critics have spent much effort countering ill-informed and even logically contradictory claims about Tolkien's work, and the discussion of writing style has had to be given short shrift in the effort to make the study of Tolkien academically respectable. But the analytical neglect of Tolkien's prose style has had the unfortunate effect of ceding important ground to Tolkien's detractors, who, with simple, unanalysed quotations, point to some word or turn of phrase and, in essence, sniff that such is not the stuff of good literature. I would even contend that a reaction against Tolkien's non-Modernist prose style is just as influential in the rejection of Tolkien by traditional literary scholars as is Modernist antipathy to the themes of his work, the ostensible political content of The Lord of the Rings, the popularity of the books, or even Tolkien's position outside the literary mainstream of his day (all of which have been well documented and countered by recent critics).

A complete analysis (or justification) of Tolkien's style is beyond the scope of any one essay, but in this paper I hope to make a start at a criticism of some of the passages most obviously unlike traditional Modernist literature: the battle of Éowyn against the Lord of the Nazgûl and Denethor's self-immolation. The style of these passages is not, contra some of Tolkien's most perceptive critics, over-wrought or archaic. Rather, Tolkien produces a tight interweaving of literary references – specifically, links to Shakespeare's King Lear in both style and thematic substance – with grammatical, syntactic, lexical, and even aural effects. His writing thus achieves a stylistic consistency and communicative economy that rivals his Modernist contemporaries. At the same time his treatment of Lear shows his engagement with ideas (in this case, the problem of pride and despair among the powerful) that have long been considered among the great themes of English literature.

We begin our analysis with a subtle literary reference to King Lear that connects triangularly the Lord of the Nazgûl, Denethor, and Shakespeare's mad King. This reference is the Lord of the Nazgûl's threat "Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey" which echoes King Lear's "Come not between the dragon and his wrath" (I, i, 122). The two passages are syntactically identical, relying on the fronting of the verb "come" in order to delete the dummy morpheme "do" (the effect of this grammatical shift will be discussed in detail below). While it is true that the Lear passage and the RK passage do not mean identical things (the Nazgûl is talking about something physical; Lear is more metaphorical), the similarity is significant: the passages can be transformed from one to another with the mere substitution of two nouns, one of these being the substitution of one monster for another (Nazgûl for dragon). This reference, then, connects the Lord of the Nazgûl to Lear and invokes, through the principle of metonymy, the greater, "more echoic" context of the referenced literary tradition,6 creating a set of interconnecting references that can tell readers more about the characters involved than is explicit in the narrative. These links also provide some hints that can be used to understand better the complex interplay of ideas (aesthetic, political, moral, and religious) in The Lord of the Rings.

Now one mere turn of phrase would indeed be a lot to hang a comparison on, but there are additional similarities as well as other information that we can use to show Tolkien's knowledge of and interest in Lear. Both these similarities and the shared themes, moreover, connect Lear not only to the Lord of the Nazgûl, but also to Denethor. Examining, via the materials published by Christopher Tolkien in The History of the Lord of the Rings, the development of this passage and the description of Denethor's suicide suggests that an original connection with Lear in the Éowyn passage went on to shape further the development of the character and actions of Denethor. That is, what was at first a one-time stylistic invocation of King Lear ended up shaping a number of characters, making more complex Tolkien's discussion of kingship, and allowing a further analysis of the moral and religious problems associated not only with the phenomenon that Tolkien, following W.P.Ker and E.V.Gordon, called "northern courage," but also with the problems of kingship (legitimacy, authority, duty toward people) that are important components of The Return of the King.

When Denethor finally descends into madness and attempts to burn himself and Faramir alive, he orders his servants (hitherto blocked by Beregond at the door of the tombs) to bring him a torch: "'Come hither!' [End Page 139] he cried to his servants. 'Come, if you are not all recreant!'" (RK, V, vii, 130). Similarly Lear calls Kent "recreant" after Kent has criticised Lear's treatment of Cordelia (I, i,170). "Recreant" is an unusual word even in such similar contexts. While it appears in Chaucer, Malory, and also in Shakespeare's Henry VI part II, the OED lists no uses after 1897. I have been unable to find it anywhere else in Tolkien's corpus of writings, suggesting that, although it is an anachronistic word, it is not a diagnostically Tolkienian anachronism (such as "pale" used as to describe a jewel or light, "fell" used both as an adjective and a noun, or, perhaps the infamous "eyot"). Thus its use bespeaks a connection with (although it does not prove a definite source in) Lear that is not contradicted by further parallels.

If you want to read the rest of the text use

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/tolkien_studies/v001/1.1drout.html

The enduring popularity of The Lord of the Rings has led to numerous references in popular culture, the founding of many societies by fans of Tolkien's works, and the publication of many books about Tolkien and his works. The Lord of the Rings has inspired and continues to inspire, artwork, music, films and television, video games, and subsequent literature.

Ex.3.  What is the reason of such popularity? Use the words given below in your answer.

Heroic romance

Miraculous

Enchanting

Reality

Validity

Loyalty

Devotion

Siege

Armory

Thought-out

We can feel an enormous background in Tolkien’s works. Specific literature influences "The Lord of the Rings" by European mythologies include the Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf", which influenced the figures of the Rohirrim. Another Anglo-Saxon poem, "The Wanderer", is paraphrased by Aragorn as an example of Rohirric verse. Tolkien may have also borrowed elements from the "Völsunga saga" (the Old Norse basis of the later German Nibelungenlied and Richard Wagner's opera series, Der Ring des Nibelungen, also called the Ring Cycle), specifically a magical golden ring and a broken sword which is reforged. In the "Völsunga saga", these items are respectively Andvarinaut and Gram, and very broadly correspond to the One Ring and Narsil/Andúril.

Shakespeare's Macbeth also influenced Tolkien in a number of ways. The Ent attack on Isengard was inspired by "Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane" in the play; Tolkien felt men carrying boughs were not impressive enough, and thus he used actual tree-like creatures.

Ex.4.  Give the examples of real influence on "The Lord of the Rings" to enlarge the characters list shown in the film.

And of course it is not worth denying great influence of "The Lord of the Ring" on modern culture.

1.  Where can we find this influence now days?

2.  Is one of the reasons of Tolkien phenomenon based on his language and rhetoric?

3.  Do you know any other instances of classical literature influence on modern culture?

Ex.5.  Match the heroes from the movie with real historical persons and explain your choice.

Aragorn Lewis and Clark

Gendalf George Pickett

Faramir Theodore Roosevelt

Frodo and Sam B. Franklin

Meridoc and Peperin Elizabeth I

Gimli and Legolas William Wallace

Sir Edmund Hillary/Tenzing Norgay

William Cecil

Ex.6. Prepare some questions for the interview with the literary characters or actors.

Ex.7.  Guess the characters using Tolkien’s descriptions.

1.  Gandalf described him as «taller than some and fairer than most, with a cleft in his chin perky chap with a bright eye», he had thick, curly brown hair, like most others.

2.  Tolkien gives a description to him: lean, dark and tall with shaggy dark hair "flecked with grey", grey eyes, and a stern pole face. It is also stated that he was the tallest in the Company. He is often grim and sad, with unexpected moments of levity.

3.  He is an honourable, wise and stalwart warrior, favouring the axe as his weapon.

4.  Tolkien describes him as the last of the wizards to appear in Middle-earth, one who "seemed the least, less tall than others, and in looks more ages, grey-clad, and leaning on a staff". Warm and eager was his spirit.

5.  A stranger, clad in green and brown, he is armed with a bow and arrows and one long white knife. He is also lithe and slender with bright keen eyes and ears and is fair of face as all of them are.

Ex.8.  Fill in the blanks with suitable words from the list and translate the text.

Shire, Men, Bilbo, Frodo, Middle-earth, far back, shoes, feet, hair, discovered, forgotten, hospitable, bright colours, good-natured, drinking, bright-eyed.