You're right, Sharon and Burrahobbit, Smeagol would no more be able to forget the ring than Frodo was ... unless he was able to move on to a place of more complete healing as Frodo did.
I would make a distinction between the lure of the ring, and longing for the ring. By the lure of the ring I meant the active psychic assault that almost zombified Frodo during the last leg of the journey-- I think the Ring needed to exist to do that. The longing for the Ring would be an aftereffect in the sufferer's mind, a psychic wound or void caused by the Ring's influence, temptations, whisperings of despair. The longing for the Ring would survive the ring's destruction in both Frodo and Smeagol.
Take for example Sam's vision of heroic gardening, that's an active lure by the ring, put into Sam's mind to tempt him. Any nostalgia Sam might feel later for the garden of his dreams would be an aftereffect, longing. (I doubt he did, because he was barely touched.)
In Frodo's and Smeagol's case, they would miss the psychic presence of the living ring-- Smeagol even more than Frodo; the Ring was his only companion for most of his life. Frodo would know he should fight to suppress that longing. Smeagol would not fight it-- there's no sign he resisted unless you count the line in the Hobbit about the ring 'galling' him until he put it away-- perhaps some hobbit instinct of soul-preservation was at work.
So if Smeagol would not fight that longing, and I agree he would not, why wouldn't he just linger as a shade on Mt. Doom, weeping 'My Precious, O my Precious' forever? He might, but I hate the idea. For one thing, I so love the way he talks. Think of the scene in Ithilien,
Quote:
'... fried fish and chips, served by S. Gamgee. You couldn't say no to that.'
'Yes, yes we could. Spoiling nice fish, scorching it. Give me fish now and keep nassty chips!'
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--How can you not wish for some entity to help Smeagol? He has the sense to love Frodo, which is more than one can say for most of the Shire's hobbits. (Of course, none of them strangled their best friends, so they have less to prove.) I'm perfectly happy to consign Saruman to shade-dom forever, he was wise, he had every advantage in Arda, and he succumbed all by himself without being ambushed by an artifact of ultimate evil. Smeagol's fea, however, I hate to see lost.
No, I don't think the Smeagol-fea would leave the place he lost the Ring of his own conscious accord, but as he's just died, the gift to mortals must somehow come into play. When the Fea is freed, how does it know what to do, where to go? Is there some sort of summons, or is some memory of where to go unlocked?
Smeagol would have to choose between the longing and the gift of Illuvatar/Eru to mortals, but at least the active influence of the Ring would be gone. He'd suffer under the longing but not that active lure. I think he'd have a chance. I think he'd go. I think he'd find himself by the riverbank. I think he'd meet his Grandmother there.