Quote:
Originally Posted by Ibrīnišilpathānezel
Something made Frodo snap at the very end, and as he had never been a person who desired power over others, he either succumbed to the insanity of believing he could be that kind of person, or to the insanity of thinking that only with the Ring could the Shire be saved. Possibly a combination of both. Tolkien always did say that Frodo failed the quest (even though he achieved a kind of moral victory by giving all he had to give in attempting to fulfill it). Succumbing to despair in such a way would, I think, be a significant failure.
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Aye, and there's the rub. Your take on this is a good one, but one founded only (and necessarily) on supposition and (educated/reasonable) guesswork. It fascinates me that Tolkien left this matter so open and 'undecided'. Even the statement of Frodo's "failure" which you cite is taken from the Letters...nowhere in the book does anyone seem to think of Frodo as failing (even Frodo himself seems to feel that he succeeded...at least he never says, "Oops, I blew it. Put on the Ring. My bad").
So while we can (and have) come up with a number of good theories as to what was going on, that is all they will ever be. It seems to me an important aspect of the book that one of the most central moments (if not THE central moment), when Frodo finally succumbs (as distinct from failure) to the Ring and puts it on. Why does he do this? What is he thinking? We aren't told.
And to address
Inziladun's point about Sam's selflessness, I think that while sure he took the Ring for the sake of the quest, when it tried to fool him it did so by playing to his selfish desire to be The Greatest Gardener in Middle Earth (a rival to Galadriel even?). So it's not that Sam is selfish, only that the Ring was playing to that within him which is selfish...which in this case was not stronger than the selfless...
Which brings me back to Frodo...who seemed so entirely selfless throughout that even the Ring couldn't find anything to 'use' against him(?) Making him the only TRULY selfless person in the tale??