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Similarities Between The Hobbit And The Sword In The Stone

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Final Essay
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” writes J.R.R. Tolkien. Within Tolkien’s famous novel The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, thirteen dwarves, and a wizard named Gandalf embark on a journey to reclaim the dwarves’ long-forgotten gold. Although the story seems to be completely original and made of fresh ideas, it is actually influenced by previous literature, like other common novels. Many legends of King Arthur, with unknown authors, influenced J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Several points and ideas in the Arthurian story “The Sword in the Stone” are also reflected in The Hobbit. One theme in this story is that one shouldn’t have a bias towards who can do something and who cannot. For instance, in The Hobbit, the dwarves believe that Bilbo can’t be a good burglar and help them with their task because he is a hobbit. When Bilbo had attempted to steal something that could’ve saved them, Bombur said, “‘Silly time to practice pinching and go pocket-picking,’” (Tolkien 41) although Bilbo …show more content…

In both of these stories, it begins with all parties being merry. In the first tale, it is the dwarves who are merry, because they are giddy at the thought of regaining their gold. In the Arthurian tale, they are joyous because it is Christmastime. In both fantasy tales, the hero is always expected to defeat the largest foe. In The Hobbit, the hero's trouble is that no one wanted to defeat Smaug. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” the problem is that none of the knights wanted to stand up and face the Green Knight. One last similarity is that because of being chivalrous, nothing horrible happened to the hero in the end. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” Gawain faced three testing temptations, but still fulfilled his promise. In The Hobbit, Bilbo shows chivalry by bringing the Arkenstone to Bard and the Elvenking as his plan. Thus, The Hobbit and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” are

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