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Originally Posted by Essex
the line "I am almost in its power". To me this is not a statement of Will. This is a statement of the ring's CONTROL over him as he neared the Crack of Doom. He did not will evil onto him. The Ring controls people into desiring it.
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the problem I have with this is that it implies that evil is powerful enough to overwhelm the individual, so that at some point the individual lolses control & has no will. for me this is contradicted by Frodo's realisation on Amon Hen that he is 'neither the Voice nor the Eye'. He exists at some point
between them, able to make a moral choice. To state as (?) did on another thread that if Gandalf had taken the Ring he would have become simply
more good than he is & would have imposed that 'goodness' on others is to miss the point. It is saying that 'Evil' is simply misapplied Good - ie, that there is no moral difference between the two & that Good & Evil are simply subjective value judgements based on effects.
For Tolkien (as I read him) the two are mutually exclusive things, between which the individual makes a choice. I think Jackson's position is not
quite either of those - simply some people are evil by nature & others are good by nature, but may make mistakes & do evil things in a wrong attempt to do good - hence Boromir & Faramir (till he changes his mind).
Tolkien clearly believes that evil is a(n im)'moral' choice but an choice made by a free being. If Frodo is overwhelmed by a more powerful external force then Tolkien is saying nothing that a thousand other writers haven't also said. But i don't think he is . I think he's saying that the battle is more an internal one than an external one. Frodo
consents to what he knows is evil - the Ring & everything it symbolises - & that is his 'failure' - & the fact that we also, in his position, would surrender does not make what he does acceptable. Frodo knows this. And, as I understand it, this is the Christian position, in that Christianity teaches that we
cannot achieve salvation through our own acts. If evil is simply an external force then theoretically we
could save ourselves by becoming 'stronger'. On the other hand, if evil is an innate aspect of our essence then our salvation must be out of our hands, & we are dependent on an external source of salvation.
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Originally Posted by SpM
If it was an external force, then he could still feel guilty over nor having the strength of will to resist it.
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He could - but his his feelings of guilt would not be valid. They would be false, & so invalidate his need to go into exile. He would be going simply to 'get better' - which is the sense I get from the movie. This is why the movie doesn't move me in the way the book does. Frodo's guilt is real, true guilt, because he did surrender to what he knew was Evil. Otherwise he mightas well have been a machine - & the point of the story is that he is
not a machine.