I rather think that Tolkien never deliberately tried to imply anything
Freudian. But then, who does? I'm not a huge fan of psychoanalytical criticism
as a general rule, but sometimes a cigar is not just a cigar. And
sometimes a ravening, lustful female monster is not just a monster. (I
always enjoy the Freudian reading of the final bombing sequence of Star Wars -
especially the dialogue).
Perhaps Melkor decided to create only boy-monsters after dealing with Ungoliant
because he thought they would be easier to control, or influence. Of course, he
didn't create Ungoliant entirely. Maybe we could read it as saying that Melkor
could create masculine monsters entirely from within himself, or from inanimate
material, but could only create feminine monsters from something that was
already intrinsically female? The implications, I guess, would be that the
feminine is more frightening because it is even more alien, to both the other
villains and to the heroes. Perhaps this could be why the glass from Galadriel
(who was a girl last time I looked) was more effective in frightening away
Shelob than it was in the Cracks of Doom.
This would be a neat internal logic reason for why there are so few female
villains in M-e (both from a story perspective and a critical/text
perspective).
Thanks for inspiring some more wild speculation, Curious. Your posts always
make me think harder, which is a real gift (and not in a pragmatic sense, but
in a generous and spiritual sense
;-)
