In the Lay of Leithian, there are three beings who are described as having desire for Lúthien: Beren, Curufin, and Morgoth. Interestingly, this desire is expressed similarly across the three characters, for each falls first under Lúthien’s enchantment or entrapment before their desire for her is awoken: Beren is “enchanted dumb, yet filled with fire / of such a wonder and desire” (lines 545-6) and “bound and fettered” (line 548) by her magic; Curufin is “enchained” (line 2404) by the sight of her before he regards her “with hot desire” (line 2473); and all of Angband falls under Lúthien’s “theme of sleep and slumbering” (line 3979) before “[i]n [Morgoth’s] eyes the fire to flame was fanned, / and forth he stretched his brazen hand” (lines 4044-5). Yet as the tale progresses, only Beren’s desire for Lúthien seems most like love and admiration. Curufin and Morgoth’s desire seem twisted and disturbing. I argue that this dichotomy is a result of the interplay between the characters’ intentions towards Lúthien and the manifestation of those intentions through the content, the manner, and the syntactic construction of their spoken dialogue such that Beren’s transparent speech highlights his goodwill, while Curufin and Morgoth deliberately manipulate their speech to conceal their ill intentions.
Both Curufin and Morgoth express a desire to possess Lúthien against her will. Curufin falsely promises Lúthen that he and his brother will aid in her rescue of Beren from Tol-in-Gaurhoth (lines 2454-63) if she returns with them to Nargothrond. Instead, he and his brother escort her back to Nargothrond to keep her “in bond” (line 2493) in order to prevent her from rescuing Beren and to allow Curufin to pursue her (though he is foiled by Huan (lines 2530-3)). Morgoth tries to “‘take’” (line 4043) her by force, but Lúthien escapes him (line 4046). Beren, in contrast, is against both actions: he criticizes Thingol’s price for Lúthien’s hand and for his treatment of his daughter as a good to be sold in a transaction (“‘For little price do elven-kings / their daughters sell’” (lines 1164-5)), and he begs Lúthien not to follow him to Angband, as he does not want to bring her harm (“‘but never to that outer fear, / that darkest mansion of all dread, / shall thy most blissful light be led’” (lines 2979-81)). In rebuffing Thingol’s transactional view of his daughter, Beren acknowledges Lúthien’s agency as an individual and not an object, and because he views her as an individual, his desire to not see her harmed thus appears to be motivated by respect and not from a wish to deprive her of her agency like Curufin and Morgoth intend to do.
The ill intentions that Curufin and Morgoth have for Lúthien are made more potent by the indirect manner in which Curufin and Morgoth convey them. Curufin’s indirect manner stems from two sources: first, Curufin uses his brother Celegorm as his mouthpiece when speaking with her: “and other whispered counsels [Curufin] spake, / and showed [Celegorm] what answer he should make [to Lúthien]” (lines 2452-3). Then, Curufin bids Celegorm to lie to her in order to persuade her to come with them to Nargothrond (lines 2454-63). Through such deception, Curufin further separates his intentions to lock Lúthien away and his spoken promises to offer her shelter and aid. Morgoth’s indirect manner stems mainly from concealment behind metaphor. Morgoth describes Lúthien as a flower used by “‘amorous gods [...] / honey-sweet to kiss, and cast then bruised, / their fragrance loosing, under feet’” (lines 4030-2), which abstracts away the (potentially sexual) violence Morgoth wishes to do her and thus helps Morgoth seem removed from such violent acts. This metaphor also brings Morgoth’s speech closer to that of Curufin’s, for it mirrors Curufin’s own vague allusion to killing Felagund if he were to return to Nargothrond with a Silmaril (“‘[...] and if [Felagund] bear / a Silmaril--I need declare / no more in words’” (lines 2332-4)). Beren, on the other hand, does not attempt to hide his intentions from Lúthien. For example, in his bid to not bring Lúthien into harm, he tells her as such (lines 2979-81). Thus, the matching of his words to his intentions highlights the goodness of Beren’s intentions, while Curufin and Morgoth’s ill intentions are reflected in their deliberate obfuscation.
Finally, Curufin and Morgoth use the same snarled syntactical structures in their manner of speech, which further aids in masking their true intentions. As an illustrative example, Curufin expresses the following to Celegorm regarding Felagund:
‘At least thy profit it would be to know whether dead he is or free; to gather thy men and thy array. “I go to hunt” then thou wilt say, and men will think that Narog’s good ever thou heedest. But in the wood
Curufin breaks from the typical subject-verb-object structure in English sentences; instead, he places the subject after the object (or the verb phrase in general), as in lines 2324 and 2327. He also employs passive voice, such as in line 2329. These techniques allow Curufin to hide the subject of his sentences and thus conceal the actors that would gain from (and would be culpable in) performing the acts that Curufin suggests.
In his metaphorical description of violence against Lúthien, Morgoth performs a similar tactic:
‘[...] In slothful gardens many a flower
like thee the amorous gods are used
honey-sweet to kiss, and cast then bruised,
their fragrance loosing, under feet.’ (lines 4029-32)
In this sentence, “‘flower’” is the object. The subject is the “‘amorous gods,’” who perform actions against the flower, such as kissing it or bruising it. But this sentence is also constructed in passive voice, as evident in “‘are used,’” such that “‘amorous gods’” seems like the object on which actions are performed when the sentence actually means the opposite. Through this construction, Morgoth conceals his role as the instigator of violence. Thus by employing these syntactic twistings, both Curufin and Morgoth are able to superficially distance themselves (and their culpability) from their wrongful actions.
Beren, however, does not twist his sentences as such. For example, Beren’s first speech of substance to Lúthien mainly employs simple sentences in standard syntactic constructions:
‘Where art thou gone? The day is bare,
the sunlight dark, and cold the air!
Tinúviel, where went thy feet?
O wayward star! O maiden sweet!
O flower of Elfland all too fair
for mortal heart! The woods are bare!
The woods are bare!’ he rose and cried. (lines 774-80)
The subjects of each sentence are easily identified and lack concealment. Such construction more firmly supports how Beren’s intentions and his spoken words are clearly and directly linked. Beren also employs direct questions (e.g., “‘Where art thou gone?’”), appositive phrases (e.g., “‘O wayward star!’”), and epithets (e.g., “‘Tinúviel’”) that highlight how Beren is trying to talk to Lúthien rather than around Lúthien like Morgoth and Curufin do. Through the clarity of his syntax and his almost reverent exclamations, Beren’s love for Lúthien becomes most evident.
In all, though the initial descriptions of the desire that Beren, Curufin, and Morgoth have for Lúthien are similar, the sharp contrast between Beren’s love and Curufin and Morgoth’s desires is mirrored in their respective dialogue with Lúthien. Beren’s speech is clear and precise, which both conveys and highlights the purity of his love, but the speech of Curufin and Morgoth is twisted and obfuscated, which only emphasizes their ill intentions. — GMH
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