OK, let me be clear, its not Frodo's inability to destroy the Ring that constitutes a 'moral failure. that was obviously impossible. His moral failure comes in claiming the Ring. Basically, he decides 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
This is effectively Saruman's sin - he decides Sauron cannot be beaten, so he changes sides. My own feeling is that it is this which enables his subsequent ability to understand & offer forgiveness to him. Without Frodo's own moral failure at the Sammath Naur, Saruman's final chance of redemption would have been lost. Tolkien seems almost to be saying that we have to go through experiences ourselves, be put through what other's go through, in order to truly understand them.
In short, Frodo knows what Saruman has been through, He knows he failed in exactly the way Saruman did. He knows that even one of the great can fall. Of course, this realisation will also help Frodo to eventually forgive himself. A lot of people seem to think that Frodo's state at the end is one of acceptance - like in the movie, where we see on Frodo's face a smile of calm, regretful 'acceptance'. But for me Frodo is still struggling & suffering. Frodo's story is left incomplete & we can only speculate on where he will end up. His struggle is in a way just beginning when he departs for the West.
As for my reviews - well you're partly responsible for the delay - you posted such a good review of Tolkien in the Land of Heroes that I've ordered that & I'm expecting delivery. I've also been re-reading, or skimming a couple of volumes -- including Tolkien's Legendarium, which someone, Bethberry? said they would be interested in. As an aside, I've met one of the writer's of one of the essays in the collection, Charles Noad - who proof read some/all? of the volumes of HoME. We had a conversation at last year's Oxonmoot, about such things as why Elves don't make up stories, & whether the One Ring is really just like the Elven Rings, only more so, where he wanders around with his camera as the Tolkien Society's official photographer, in his black leather jacket, with grey hair & beard, looking like Gandalf dressed as Aragorn.[
I will get around to the reviews asap.
|