I have read everyone's posts on 'The Sea-Bell' with great interest.
Aratlithiel wrote in the first post
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... I've never been able to find a definitive interpretation of it...
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I have to say I'm not fond of 'definitive interpretations' of any of Tolkien's writings on Faerie. While 'The Sea-Bell' is also titled 'Frodo's Dreme' and is cited in the Red Book of Westmarch, it reminds me far more of 'Smith of Wooton Major' and 'Leaf by Niggle', where we are brought into direct contact with the realm of Faerie. They differ from his Middle Earth writings, which have a more historical feel (to me anyway).
The reason for wanting to avoid definite statements about the Tolkien works placed in Faerie is that even though they are very personal to him, he regards Faerie as a real place/idea independent of his own thought, which he discovered rather than invented. (See his essay 'On Fairy Stories' referred to by Child of the 7th Age.) If he could discover it, so can his readers. And each person will see/imagine things in Faerie differently - or even find different things in Faerie than he did.
Also Aratlithiel, you asked if the Sea-Bell represented the Ring. I lean more toward your final assessment, that the shell was Middle Earth. For me, the shell is Frodo's own life as he saw it during the years before he left Middle Earth. When he left the Shire with the Ring, he expected to resume his old life again on his return. It would be his pleasant life in Bag End again, filled with happiness. Reality turned out very differently - he was wounded so deeply that even returning to his beloved Shire could not bring him peace. Other hobbits did not recognize his pain and sacrifice and overlooked him. His hope to be whole again was dead; the shell was silent. There was nothing to do but cast it away.
I also liked LMP's thoughts on 'The Sea-Bell' though they are different from mine. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
And about Doug*Platypus' comment that the hobbits would have died, my understanding is that Frodo was permitted to depart with the Elves because Arwen gave her place in the Undying Lands, which she gave up for Aragorn, to him before he left Gondor. And because he agreed to take on the Quest and the suffering it entailed, he would be accepted into the Undying Lands in her place. That, of course, leaves me wondering if it was necessary for Arwen to do this, as Bilbo and Sam were both allowed into the Undying Lands as fellow Ringbearers.
[ January 20, 2003: Message edited by: Alphaelin ]