|
Actually, it's similar, but it seems to me the ring's action still is to create a desire for it. The "clothing" of that desire with the person's own personality is an attempt to rationalize an irrational desire: Gandalf would rationalize his desire for the Ring with pity, Boromir by telling himself it would benefit Gondor, Sam by telling himself he will create gardens, but it seems to me it was the desire that preceded these "reasons". Gandalf, Galadriel, Frodo and Sam all know the ring is evil, and know that anything they do with it will turn to evil; and yet, there is still a temptation they must resist; it seems the temptation is seperate from the reason they might find to give in to it.
"A mean soul", I wonder...mean as in cruel, or as in poor? At any rate, once he has murdered Deagol and taken the ring, he's under its influence more powerfully than either Bilbo or Frodo ever were. I also wonder how many people (especially social outcasts), if they had a ring of invisibility, wouldn't use it to spy (and quite a few even to steal). There is also the question of the influence of guilt on his psyche. We know he was tormented by guilt, since Tolkien tells us. I really don't see a description of an evil being; a pathetically weak one who knew he was weak and hated his weakness, knew, eventually, the ring influenced him and hated its influence even though he loved it. That's why I find it entirely believable that he would have, subconsciously, desired his own and its destruction.
|