Was Melkor Bipolar?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Sarumian

I don't think we can diagnose Melkor with a human disease. Tolkien tried to give us an idea of what happens to a soul once great but heavily damaged.

Originally Posted by Sarumian

My idea was that the way he succumbed to his own dark side is more alike to developing an addiction, it was not as if he fell ill.

I agree with your first statement here-- --that diagnosis with a human disease is not applicable. I meant to reply generally to Ren the Unclean's thread idea of applying modern medical diagnoses to a work which is morally-based and that got tied in with your allusion. It's really tempting to apply modern notions of psychology to texts, but I think it tends to shift the focus of the work away from its compelling questions of the nature of wrong-doing. I don't have my Silm at hand, but I will try to come back when I do to explain in more detail why I think this notion does not do credit to Tolkien's depiction of Melkor's failing.

However, since you have expanded on your post, Sarumian, I would point out that modern medical diagnosis regards addiction as a disease. It is not an illness caused by viruses or bacteria, but is thought of as a psychiatric disorder. It is an illness under those terms.

Is it possible we are arguing the same side of the discussion but getting mixed up with terminology?