Psychological depth in Tolkien's characters

[Lyta_Underhill]

I think TOlkien does a superb job of developing characters who struggle through that final 20% of development of nobility and virtue.

So true! But even within the context of the characters who are struggling with this final 20%, I see humanity within the nobility, so to speak. I have recently re-read the portions of the Two Towers wherein Frodo, Sam and Gollum are travelling towards Cirith Ungol (before the Stairs and Shelob), and the "rarified and noble" character of Frodo resonates so deeply at this point that I, the reader, like Frodo, fall into a keen, almost unendurable despair at the sight of the Morgul host marching West, until Sam awakens him with a tone that Frodo might hear if Sam were in the Shire saying, "Your breakfast is ready." My identification is so close with Frodo at this point that Sam's words snap something and make me exclaim aloud "Thank Eru for SAM!" I don't think that I would have this reaction if the friendship between Faramir and Frodo had not been so finely drawn in my perception; the effect of Frodo's watching the army marching towards Faramir plucks this invisible but firmly drawn thread that links the two in mind and purpose, and I feel a desperate need to warn Faramir and a despair that Faramir and the forces of Gondor will be able to deal with the vast host I am watching on its march from Minas Morgul. At this point, I have become Frodo in my own experience and fallen into the book. Frodo's weakness is my own, although I do not pretend I would ever be able to walk in his hairy footsteps, as he is far more developed in nobility than I ever will be! There is an intense identification with a character who is unquestionably noble but also human, so far as Hobbits are human!

I know this is not everyone's experience, and I think perhaps it depends on your own point of view which character or which author's characters, if any, have this effect on you. But this does not happen with every book I read, and I attribute a fine sensibility to Tolkien for being able to "turn me into Frodo" for a few moments so completely that I can feel the keenness of his need for Sam and his struggle with despair.

OK, I hope y'all haven't minded indulging me in yet another rhapsody on Frodo's character again...just can't help it sometimes, especially when I am re-reading some of my favorite passages. I'm sure there is very little argument that Frodo is well developed, being the main character and all, but even main characters in other works, for all their finely drawn psychological traits, do not engulf me so completely as Frodo does.

I hope this at least marginally fits the topic! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Thanks for your indulgence!

Cheers,
Lyta