But if The Ring dominates Frodo's mind & Will then 'Sin'/evil is external, not internal, & we go for the Manichean view. Evil is an objectively existing force which can dominate & manipulate the individual against the individual's will, even if the individual does not consent. But this is not traditional Christian teaching, as I uderstand it. This would, in fact, mean that Frodo, or any of us could 'lose our soul' against our will, simply because we suffered too much for too long, & were broken by it. We could be 'damned' simply because we're not superhuman. Doesn't Christianity teach that we have to consent to an act before it can be called a sin? Surely from the Manichean perspective it would be a case of 'I am the Ring's', but Frodo says 'The Ring is mine'. He claims it as his own, as Feanor claimed the Silmarils (& later as did Morgoth). This kind of claim is posessiveness. Frodo can still say 'I' - so he's still 'in there'. If Frodo's 'sin', that for which he requires to be 'forgiven' only follows the destruction of the Ring, how would 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us' apply to the events at the Sammath Naur? He isn't 'giving in' to a piece of jewellery, but to something which the Ring is a physical 'locus' for. I think that is a very 'Elvish' thing - magic, the Machine, control & coercion - for understandable reasons, while in a state physically & pyschologically for which we can only feel absolute sympathy, but he fails because he's too Elvish. If we look back over his story we can see this clinging to the past & avoidance of even thinking about the future. Sam wants to marry, have children & is ultimately fulfilled by that. Frodo has no such desire. He's almost a Galahad figure on an anti Grail Quest, & they both leave the world at the end of it, because they're both born only to undertake that quest. I may have got a bit carried away & overstated my case, but I can't shake the feeling that on some level Frodo knew what he was doing when he claimed the Ring, knew what the Ring was - as far as anyone could, & that on some level he assented to it, & that though he felt at peace immediately after its destruction, the realisation of what he'd assented to, & the resultant guilt began to eat away at him. I think he blamed himself for all the things he saw himself failing at - saving the Shire, saving Gollum, & not only failing to destroy the Ring, but actually trying to save it. If we absolve Frodo of any guilt & present him as helpless victim, merely a kind of automaton, then the shock of the events at the Sammath Naur are lost -'Frodo' is not present, & its just Sam, Gollum & the Ring manipulating the puppet Frodo's body. I can't think of that scene without a Frodo who is conscious & aware & assenting, to some degree. It seems too much of a cop out to 'excuse' what Frodo did by saying he wasn't really there.
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