I think, actually, that part of the problem was that his own personal stake in what was to be done became far too important. What was his goal? To defeat Morgoth? The Valar also wanted to defeat Morgoth, but he wouldn’t work with them or try to understand their efforts. Or perhaps his goal was to regain the Silmarils, or to avenge his father, but he went about it in a way that seemed likely to achieve nothing more than the glory of Feanor. This quote particularly struck me:
Quote:
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Feanor, in his wrath against the Enemy, would not halt, but pressed on behind the remnant of the Orcs, thinking so to come at Morgoth himself; and he laughed aloud as he wielded his sword, rejoicing that he had dared the wrath of the Valar and the evils of the road, that he might see the hour of his vengeance. Nothing did he know of Angband or the great strength of defence that Morgoth had so swiftly prepared; but even had he known it would not have deterred him, for he was fey, consumed by the flame of his own wrath.
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He’s very careless about whether he actually wins this battle. He’s just enjoying the prospect of vengeance, which is to say, proving that he is greater than Morgoth, and possibly thwacking him around as much as possible because he
can.
In fact, the Valar had told him right off that he couldn’t win, but he wanted to prove them wrong, too. (He suggests that he thinks he can outdo them when he says "we will go further than Orome, endure longer than Tulkas"—not to mention the implications of "No other race shall oust us!") What we have here is a very brash, somewhat childish character whose pride makes him behave in ways that are, quite frankly, insane.
Pride is linked to greatness, and it’s often destructive in Tolkien. Feanor’s greatness reminds me of Melkor’s, whose part in the song somebody’s brilliant sig (can’t remember who, sorry) paraphrases as LALALALAMEMEMEMEMEMEMELALALA…. Melkor, like Feanor, certainly becomes interested in the beautiful thing created, but each of them wants to use it to prop up his own glory, and it is this that estranges each of them from the Valar. They are great in a literal as well as a figurative sense; they’re big, they take up a lot of social space, and they can hardly see past the tips of their noses. They pursue their goals for the sake of glory.
Furthermore, I’m still not convinced that the Teleri were wrong to deny the use of their ships. The Valar are not only powerful, but also right. Olwe reminds us that "it may be the part of a friend to rebuke a friend’s folly." He can see Feanor’s error and doesn’t want to embroil him further in it. To say that they "chose the Valar over their own kin" assumes that they would have been doing him a favor to give him a ride. I’m not sure it would be.
Besides, as Naaramare points out, Feanor is hardly a model of good intra-family relationships himself. He bound his sons to an evil oath, slaughtered the Teleri, and, for no apparent reason, stranded Fingolfin’s people almost as soon as he got to Middle-Earth.
Note: After writing all this out, I saw Kuruharan’s post-- very similar to what I wanted to say, but so much more concise! Ah, well.
--Belin Ibaimendi