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It might be interesting here to invoke Tom Shippey's essay, called Orcs, Wraiths, and Wrights-The Nature of Evil in Tolkien's Middle-earth
Though I dont have it with me, it deals with the very issue of the Shagrat and Gorbag episode. Shippey argues that indeed, the orcs are posessed of a moral compass, they are posessed of hopes, dreams and such, but only in a momentary sense
It's been a while since I've read it, but his essay argues that Tolkien is being quite deliberate in his characterisation here. Shippey argues that the episode is designed to elicit an empathetic response, at least initially. Indeed this is the central point-once this response has occured, the orcs subsequently effect the destruction of each other, revealing their base, fundementally animalistic natures-despite their 'humanity'
As I say I dont have the essay with me so I'm going off my (admittadly bad) memory.Shippey makes the point that the episode, rather than a mispaced modern insertion into an otherwise "morally simplistic" fable is designed to expose evil's absurd side-its fake, ultimately baseless morality.
Im not sure I have explained this very well; I dont have much time at the moment, but that is the gist of it
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