Tolkien, Shakespeare, Trees, and The Lord of the Rings

Abstract

J. R. R. Tolkien maintained an ambivalent attitude toward William Shakespeare throughout his life. As Tom Shippey succinctly affirms, Tolkien read Shakespeare’s works with both interest and disapproval. Shakespeare’s plays, however, show a keen awareness of the symbolism, role, and even biology of trees, which could have subconsciously permeated Tolkien’s imagination. This paper suggests that although Tolkien may not have consciously borrowed material from Shakespeare, it is possible that Shakespeare’s arboreal sensibility—a trait the two shared—unconsciously affected Tolkien’s literary representations of trees, copses, woods, and forests in his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, after his extensive study of Shakespeare.