The master of English fantasy was not fanatical about the master of English drama. The fact is, J.R.R.Tolkien wasn’t keen on Shakespeare.
As as schoolboy Tolkien was disappointed with Macbeth. When the witches predicted that Macbeth would be king “until Birnham Wood come to him” Tolkien was looking forward to the forest rising up and moving to Dunsinane. Soldiers marching along with branches in front of them was a huge let down. The creator of Middle Earth got Shakespeare back by creating the Ents and having Fangorn forest get up and move against the villainous wizard Saruman.
Tolkien may have been unenthusiastic about Shakespeare, but I think there’s one play he would have liked more than any other, and that’s The Tempest. The drama takes place on a fantasy island. There’s a wizard and some villany and there’s a curious monster — Caliban.
I’m not suggesting that the beastly Caliban inspired Middle Earth’s little monster Gollum. Nevertheless, Caliban and Gollum are interesting parallel studies in evil.
The Monster Man
The figure of the beastly human reverberates through literature, from villains who transform into vampires and wolves, to those shape shifters who sin and so slip into the scaly skins of dragons, serpents, lizards and leviathans. The Gothic creations of…