Potter 1

Bryan Potter

Ms. Storer

Eng 3H: American Literature Block 5

1/24/20

Keeping the poor: poor

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an American Suffragist elegantly stated, “I am weary seeing our

laboring classes so wretchedly housed, fed, and clothed, while thousands of dollars are wasted

every year over unsightly statues. If these great men must have outdoor memorials, let them be in

the form of handsome blocks of buildings for the poor.”. The film, The Hobbit: The Desolation

of Smaug by Peter Jackson attempts to portray this disparity between the classes where the rich

horde their money, and those in power firmly place the impoverished in the lower rungs of

society with no hope of upward social movement. This inequality comes in light of Smaug the

dragon, a terribly powerful beast, taking Erebor: the home of the dwarves. The dwarves, under

the leadership of Thorin Oakenshield, have already started their quest to take back the mountain

of extreme riches and are nearing the prize until they are captured by wood elves. They escape,

and contact men from Laketown who eventually send the company on their way to the mountain

where they enter to meet Smaug once again. Along with Smaug there is a greater evil that

hungers for more power than even him. This being of great wickedness is named the

necromancer and leads the legions of orcs trying to decimate the dwarves. In The Hobbit: The

Desolation of Smaug, the social problems deriving from the dwarves want to take back their

homeland and the subsequent negative reaction from the greedy elite in middle earth are clearly

shown through the disdain from the wood elves towards the dwarves’ endeavor, the pride of the

dragon, and the orcs’ determination to halt the dwarves under the influence of the necromancer.
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The disdain shown towards the dwarves’ quest by the wood elf king shows the social

tensions between the classes. As the king interrogates Thorin, he refers to the journey as “a more

prosaic motive, attempted burglary” (Jackson 00:50:22-00:50:25). The Elvin king mocks the

dwarves’ mission as an attempted burglary instead of a noble quest. Thranduil, the king, says that

the taking back of the mountain is burglary because it is now rightly the dragon’s. Even though

Smaug murdered thousands of dwarves and robbed their plunder, the king respects the dragon

more than the lowly dwarves simply due to the fact that he owns more than they do. Noticing

some form of gain from this the king decides to take advantage of the dwarves’ desperate

situation. “I offer you my help, I will let you go if you but return what is mine.” (Jackson

00:51:03-00:51:14). The king, faking honor, decides to “assist” the company of 13 on their

journey in return for white gems that he states are his when they clearly are not. Though he first

states that it is a burglary of the dragon’s paraphernalia, he quickly realizes the gain through his

greed and changes the burglary to be of elvish property. The king uses his economic and social

power to attempt to steal valuables and puts it under the guise of assistance. Unfortunately, to

obtain these gems, the dragon must be slain.

The prideful reaction of the dragon upon hearing that the dwarves had come back to take

their homeland shows the social tensions between the classes in middle earth. “There you are,

thief in the shadows.” (Jackson 02:18:30-02:18:37). Here, Smaug knows that Bilbo, one of the

thirteen, is lurking somewhere near him and finally finds him by triggering the One Ring’s

“flashback”. Calling Bilbo a thief emphasizes Smaug’s perception that his greedy takeover of

Erebor was justified because he is a powerful being. This shows Smaug’s disconnect from those

who are less fortunate as he feels no sympathy for the poor, bringing about this social tension.

With his power comes no minds for those under him. After the dwarves try to eradicate Smaug
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with a statue of molten gold, he enters into a blind rage and says, “those slivering cowards, with

their longbows, and black arrows” (Jackson 02:51:55-02:52:08). Smaug is referring to the men

of Laketown as cowards and decides to “pay them a visit”. Smaug knows that through his

immense wealth and power, that the dwarves have nothing that can take him down. He perceives

their quest as laughable due to their insane weakness. He then connects this to the poor people of

Laketown and decides to destroy them just for the sole reason that he can. He wants to show that

those who are less fortunate should have no reason to believe that they can overcome

powerlessness. The dwarves’ attempt to overstep their boundaries angers the dragon immensely,

conveying an insane amount of tension from both parties.

The orcs’ determination to stop the dwarves shows their negative reaction as the elite of

middle earth trying to keep the dwarves out of power. As the film begins, the necromancer

addresses the commanding orc: “War is coming. Death will come to all.”(Jackson 0:14:50-

0:15:04). This comes after Azog, the commanding orc, demands that he is granted the head of

the leader of the dwarf company, Thorin. The necromancer then assures him that all will die in

the coming war. Not only is the necromancer obliterating the dwarves hope of gaining power, he

is also taking other elites out of power in a display of immense greed. The necromancer utilizes

the mass number of fanatical orcs in his arsenal to achieve this goal. The blind devotion they

express conveys their determination to decimate all for the sake of the necromancer, which

displays tension not only between the dwarves but with others in power as well. This plan is also

revealed through the orcs themselves. As the Elvin king interrogates a captured orc, the orc says,

“The dwarf runt will never be king. You know nothing. Your world will burn.” (Jackson

1:17:25-1:17:43). The orc is referring to his mission to stop the dwarves and take the mountain

on behalf of the necromancer. This is established as Gandalf says, “His mind is set upon that
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mountain.” (Jackson 1:11:53-1:11:58). The orc verifies the need of the necromancer to take

down the dwarves as they pose an obstacle to his plan of world domination. Though they are few

in number, the dwarves present a massive threat as they are allied with other the dwarves of the

Iron Hills. A new king under the mountain disrupts the necromancer’s advance to supreme

power. This brings about a balance of power in middle earth unwanted by the elites, especially

the necromancer and his armies. The added character who strives for world domination explains

who the powerful and the powerless are in this society.

There is a clear idea of who has the power in the society with the tensions between the

powerful and the powerless leading to the culmination of the ruling class taking out its anger on

the lower class. The elves’ contempt for the dwarves’ quest, Smaug’s egotism from his power,

and the orcs’ resolve to carry out the necromancer’s will conveys the social tensions stemming

from the dwarves’ want to reclaim their homeland and the elites’ pessimistic response. If society

becomes to polarized with one end being extremely poor and the other being extremely rich, the

poor will start to see their blight and will try to take over as a means to become equal just as

Marxism says that a revolution happen to lift up the proletariat. This is a problem plaguing a

capitalist society like the United States today and could end up in widespread protest or even

socialist revolution.
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Work Cited

Jackson, Peter, director. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The Hobbit: The Desolation of

Smaug, Warner Bros., 2013.