'I am learning a lot about Sam Gamgee on this journey. First he was a conspirator, now he's a jester. He'll end up by becoming a wizard – or a warrior!'
'I hope not,' said Sam. 'I don't want to be neither!'
FR 1.xii.208But maybe both?
[Sam] felt that he had from now on only two choices: to forbear the Ring, though it would torment him; or to claim it, and challenge the Power that sat in its dark hold beyond the valley of shadows. Already the Ring tempted him, gnawing at his will and reason. Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dûr. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be.
RK 6.i.901
Two passages nearly seven hundred pages apart tell us about the working of the Ring on the mind. Do the 'wild fantasies' now arising in Sam's mind reveal the role he imagined for himself as a boy when he was listening to Mr Bilbo telling, say, the tale of Gil-Galad, just as Boromir's fantasies about becoming king of Gondor reflect his childhood desire for the Stewards to ascend the throne (FR 2.x398; TT 4.v.670)? The pull of the Ring's power allows us to imagine the fulfillment of desires we already had somewhere within us, even if we had set them aside as childish things.
Nice. You might bring in that later conversation, where Sam asks Frodo if he thinks they are characters in tales, and Frodo calls him "Samwise the Brave." I wonder what your thoughts are about how Tolkien parcels out his descriptions of the Ring's effects between Frodo and Sam?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I do wish you would give your name.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, my name is David Joslin. Our shared friend Kelly Orazi let me know about your website.
ReplyDeletePS. Two self-corrections: Frodo calls Sam "Samwise the stouthearted," and this quote falls between the two you cite (TT, Bk 4, chpt. 8.)
Thank you, David. Nice to meet you. Please say hello to Kelly for me when you see her.
DeleteI know the passage you mention, and I considered working it in. I decided, however, to focus more narrowly on the close correspondence between the two passages I used. But, thinking about it, I would say that Sam's reaction to Frodo indicates that he still has the same attitude as he had in the first passage -- uncomfortable with the very idea, perhaps in more than one way, embarrassed by what Frodo says and embarrassed by how he (may have) felt as a boy.
Your other question is also a good one. People respond to the pull of the Ring in different ways, as Sam's fantasy makes perfectly clear. Frodo is a little subtler. The idea of dominance has more appeal for him.
a nameless man (or woman) asks an interesting question...
ReplyDeleteVery pleased to meet you, Tom. Thank you for your response. Until you had pointed it out in your post, I had not grasped how personal and individual the evil of the Ring is to those it touches. And so had not appreciated just how horrible it is.
ReplyDeleteDavid
The Ring works by asking you, "what do you want?" I've heard that somewhere else, too...
ReplyDeleteI believe Mr Morden grew up to be the Mouth of Sauron.
DeleteAnd Bombadil asks "who are you"