LOL, Maril! God forbid I should accuse anyone of sophistry – the plank in my own eye and all that. I was merely suggesting an alternative to your (if I may) somewhat black-and-white interpretation. The Ring, neither sentient nor completely inanimate. Frodo, a pawn in a vast spiritual struggle, yes – but also with free will.
Frodo against himself, eh? I agree there’s an element of that there. But I think I see it differently than you do. Because according to what I think you’re driving at, don’t we have to judge Frodo the loser? He failed. He succumbed to evil and temptation of his own free will and just sorta lucked out because he had earlier balanced the karmic scale by sparing Gollum.
Or… is the Frodo vs. Frodo conflict more of a “take this cup from me” sort of conflict – a wish for temporal self-preservation vs. sacrifice of himself for the greater good. I’d opt for the latter interpretation. Because Frodo really
did sacrifice himself, in the end. His will was completely obliterated (even if only for a few moments) when he drove himself up that slope to the Crack, and he became a slave to the Ring. Here I am reminded of one of Tolkien’s
Letters, where he speculates about what might have happened to Frodo had Gollum not taken the Ring down into the fire:
Quote:
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In any case a confrontation of Frodo and Sauron would soon have taken place, if the Ring was intact. Its result was inevitable. Frodo would have been utterly overthrown: crushed to dust, or preserved in torment as a gibbering slave. Sauron would not have feared the Ring! It was his own and under his will. Even from afar he had an effect upon it, to make it work for its return to himself.
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That is what he risked, and (briefly) endured, on faith that his sacrifice would allow the powers of Good to somehow prevail.
That faith is an unstated but fundamental assumption underlying the Ringbearer’s quest in the first place. Both Elrond and Gandalf advocate the mission despite the fact that neither expects Frodo to be able to simply cast the Ring into the Fire.
Quote:
Elrond:
I can foresee very little of your road; and how your task is to be achieved I do not know.
Gandalf (in answer to Frodo’s question, why me?):
You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.
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Note even Elrond’s phrasing: “We must send the Ring to the Fire.” Not send the Ring
into the Fire, just
to the Fire. Seems like maybe the best they were hoping for was that Frodo could just get it there – and then that something unforeseen (and unforeseeable) would happen.
If Frodo’s quest is merely for victory over his darker nature, then why is he such an unremarkable hero? An important theme, reiterated again and again, is that no one,
no one can resist the Ring. In fact, the stronger the person, the more quickly he is likely to fall. Frodo’s conflict and victory aren’t about the triumph of the will, they’re about the triumph of sacrifice.