The Gift of Death and The Envy of Life

Continuing with the comparison to the Catholic canon from our discussion of the Ainulindale, Akallabeth mirrors the fall of man described in Genesis 3.  This is fairly obvious with the prohibition of sailing to the west, the rejection of that prohibition, and the outcome of death because of failing to listen to the Valar, but there are some distinct differences that highlight the questions of why we die and why we would fall into evil if we live on paradise.Again, since Tolkien was trying to replicate the existing Christian myth in his own sub-creation, the differences must highlight truths instead of confusing them.    

Akallabeth, like Genesis, claims that Iluvatar gave the Numenoreans death, but unlike is Biblical counterpart, this happens before the fall.  The first description gives death a negative connotation,"But they did not thus escape from the doom of death that Iluvatar had set upon all mankind, and they were mortal still." Later on the same page, though, the narrator calls it, "the gift of death" denoting that death itself is positive in some way, especially since it occurs pre-fall.   

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve seem to know about the concept of death since the Snake tempts them by saying they will not die but instead become like God, but it is unclear whether or not they have the ability to die in Eden. Death is not mentioned until God lists the punishment for Adam where the idea of returning to dust is in conjunction with working the fields. This line also seems to imply that Adam was mortal beforehand, but now he must do hard work until he dies. The one line which contradicts this reading is verse 22 where God claims, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." This implies that Adam would have lived forever had he not fallen, but the Hebrew word translated as "forever" is le'olam, which can also be translated as "a long time". This would be consistent with the Akallabeth reading of man living a long time but never getting sick.  

The question of the fall becomes more interesting as Genesis and Akallabeth seem to diverge after this; In Genesis, Adam and Eve do not question the prohibition of the tree until tempted by the snake whereas in Akallabeth, the Numenoreans ask the Messengers themselves why they should not fear death before Sauron appears.  We had discussed in class that Sauron is more akin to a demon or devil worshipper than Lucifer himself, whereas Morgoth is the Lucifer stand-in for the Numenor and Middle-Earth.  Even though Sauron acts as the tempter, before he arrives we are told Morgoth had already "cast his shadow on the world". This fits well with the broader idea of temptation being a constant force and not necessarily a one-off event as represented in Genesis 3.  Perhaps Adam and Eve were always tempted and acted so quickly by the Snake's temptation because they had thought about this before. This would be tthe same level of escalation for the Numenoreans who we see questioning the Valar and then only taking action to sail west once Sauron arrives.

So the question still remains as to why? To answer this, we should characterize death more thoroughly. 

1. Even though death is a gift from Iluvatar, the Numenoreans do not see it that way.  They envy the Valar who do not die, and it is this comparison that makes them question.

2. The reason the Numenoreans envy the Valar for not dying is because they think by dying they are going in with "blind trust" and "knowing not what lies before us".  It is the fear of not knowing. 

These two things seem to make light of the possibilities of why one would fall from paradise.  First and foremost the unequal treatment strikes one as being unjust instead of diverse.  For this comparison I thought of Cain and Abel's story in Genesis 4 rather than Genesis 3. Because God had praised Abel's gift and not Cain's this jealousy led to Cain murdering Abel. This idea of envy leading to murder is a consistent theme which we see in Feanor's story of the Silmarils as well as the story of the ring, particularly Gollum's story.  You could almost read Cain and Abel as an alternative fall story as it isn't until Cain kills is he sent out from the land, another sinking of Numenor.   

All of this is backed by the idea of the envy coming from a lack of understanding and a wanting of information. In Eden, Adam and Eve wanted knowledge to be like God, the Numenoreans wanted knowledge to be like the Valar, and Cain wanted to be like his brother Abel. This particular envy is the envy to be something other than oneself, the envy of being another. It's wasn't just wanting to know, but wanting to be.  It is against the harmony of creation, and if anything, it is the clearest example of what the discord of creation looks like. I was struggling to figure out exactly what discord looked like, but this idea of envying the being of another seems to somewhat fit.  

The Akallabeth notes, "But for all this, death did not depart from the land, rather it came sooner and more often".  

It is not that death was the issue, as death was an essential part of mortal being, but an agonizing death. But the Numenoreans and those in Eden did not understand this. 

I'm not sure if it fully answers the question we left hanging at the end of class, but this idea of envying the essence of another and wanting to become that, to deny your own creation, seems to be on some track given Tolkien's myth and Genesis.

-Gabby Bayness