For simplicity, I'm reporting the dialogue as if it were a script.
However, in the event, Saruman is not shy appearing before many different eyes - he appears as "an old man, swathed in a great cloak, the colour of which was not easy to tell, for it changed if they moved their eyes or if he stirred. His face was long, with a high forehead, he had deep darkling eyes, hard to fathom, though the look they now bore was grave and benevolent, and a little weary" (LotR, III.10 at 578). It is his voice that ultimately holds the peril. And when Gandalf's voice proves stronger, forcing Saruman to turn back when he would leave them, even this last chosen mask fails; "[h]is face was lined and shrunken" as he comes slowly back to the iron rail (id. at 583).
And Rowling's boggart cycles through many forms, each dismissed in turn with laughter by the targeted student, going faster and faster -- "Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then — crack! — became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before — crack! — becoming a single, bloody eyeball" -- until it is thoroughly confused and finally banished by the group's laughter (PoA, ch 7 at 138).
And this brings us on to a second, perhaps more significant, point of connection. Because, of course, the power of Saruman's voice is likewise finally shattered by laughter. In a final gambit, Saruman has turned his full attention and persuasiveness to Gandalf. The onlookers recognize these two wizards are "[o]f loftier mould [...]: reverend and wise. It was inevitable that they should make alliance" (LotR, III.10 at 582). Even Théoden fears betrayal. And yet --
Gimli: I will come. I wish to see him and learn if he really looks like you.(Tolkien, LotR, III.10 at 576-77).
Gandalf: And how will you learn that, Master Dwarf? Saruman could look like me in your eyes, if it suited his purpose. And are you yet wise enough to detect all his counterfeits? Well, we shall see, perhaps. He may be shy of showing himself before many different eyes together. [...]
Hermione: [A boggart is] a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most.(Rowling, HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 7 at 133-34).
Lupin: [...] So the boggart sitting in the darkness within [the wardrobe] has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. [...]This means that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?
Harry: Er — because there are so many of us, it won’t know what shape it should be?
Lupin: Precisely. It’s always best to have company when you’re dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake — tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.
However, in the event, Saruman is not shy appearing before many different eyes - he appears as "an old man, swathed in a great cloak, the colour of which was not easy to tell, for it changed if they moved their eyes or if he stirred. His face was long, with a high forehead, he had deep darkling eyes, hard to fathom, though the look they now bore was grave and benevolent, and a little weary" (LotR, III.10 at 578). It is his voice that ultimately holds the peril. And when Gandalf's voice proves stronger, forcing Saruman to turn back when he would leave them, even this last chosen mask fails; "[h]is face was lined and shrunken" as he comes slowly back to the iron rail (id. at 583).
And Rowling's boggart cycles through many forms, each dismissed in turn with laughter by the targeted student, going faster and faster -- "Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then — crack! — became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before — crack! — becoming a single, bloody eyeball" -- until it is thoroughly confused and finally banished by the group's laughter (PoA, ch 7 at 138).
And this brings us on to a second, perhaps more significant, point of connection. Because, of course, the power of Saruman's voice is likewise finally shattered by laughter. In a final gambit, Saruman has turned his full attention and persuasiveness to Gandalf. The onlookers recognize these two wizards are "[o]f loftier mould [...]: reverend and wise. It was inevitable that they should make alliance" (LotR, III.10 at 582). Even Théoden fears betrayal. And yet --
Then Gandalf laughed. The fantasy vanished like a puff of smoke.(id.).
Works Consulted
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Scholastic Inc., 2001.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. 50th Anniversary One-Volume Edition, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2005.
3 comments:
Nice, Lee. I suddenly realized that 'Then Gandalf laughed' is one of those three word sentences Tolkien punctuates things with, like 'And Morgoth came', or, and perhaps more to the point in this context, 'Then he came'.
Someone needs to do a study of these phrases.
Ooh, that *does* sound cool.
P.S. While I don't plan to undertake the proposed study, I'll report back on LotR III.11, "The Palantír."
Excluding the dialogue, I spotted two two-word sentences and five three-word sentences in the chapter:
p. 588: Gandalf laughed.
p. 590: Merry yawned.
p. 592: The hobbit shuddered. His eyes closed. [this is Pippin, obviously]
p. 595: It was gone. [Nazgûl]
p. 596: Aragorn followed him. [Gandalf]
p. 596: Pippin was recovering.
There are also quite a few four-word sentences. At one point, I even found myself trying to fit the text to "California Dreamin'"....
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