i read an interesting article about frodo's degree of 'hurt' - and why he couldn't stay in ME
http://home.mn.rr.com/karynmilos/ess...eeplyhurt.html
no, i don't think it was poetic justice - justice where good is rewarded and evil is punished. i don't think gollum had any will of his own from his long exposure to the ring. he couldn't really will to do evil because he no longer had any reference to 'good'. i look at him as a shade of sauron, and both their fates are bound to the fate of the ring.