[Boromir88]

Matthew, well I wasn't exactly meaning that Boromir was a vicious and hated murderer, I meant that what they had gone through (with the Ring) was rather similar. They both faced the same struggle, there were just some different impulses between the two.

Smeagol wanted the Ring as a birthday present. Boromir wanted to use the Ring as a weapon and thereby win 'glory.' So, yes their impulses were different, but the way the Ring used them all the same.

Boromir was 'predisposed' to the temptation of the Ring, just as Gollum was, because of his personality. The difference is Smeagol already had seeds of evil, even before coming across the Ring, which is my guess as to why he almost instantly kills for it and instantly starts using the Ring for 'malicious and wicked' purposes.

Boromir already had his own weaknesses, which made him a target of the Ring, even before coming across it. Gondor was bearing the brunt of Sauron's attacks, he loved Gondor, he wanted victory for Gondor, he was also a 'glory-seeker,' and this is what the Ring uses to corrupt Boromir. The Ring used different ways to 'woo' Boromir and Smeagol, but in the end it's all the same. Boromir falls to the lust of the Ring just as Smeagol did.

We can look at a character such as Denethor who was like Boromir 'in face and pride'. Also as mad as Denethor became, he never gave up in the struggle against Sauron (until the very end when his mind was overthrown), because he, like Boromir, loved his country. Denethor doesn't even come close to seeing the Ring, yet he desires it:

'Nay it should have been kept, hidden, hidden dark and deep. Not used, I say, unless at the uttermost end of need, but set beyond his grasp,...'~The Siege of Gondor

So, there are people who are simply predisposed to the corruption of the Ring; because of their desires.

The point in comparing Smeagol and Boromir was that their character before even knowing about The One Ring is what made them targets of the Ring. The Ring doesn't create any impulses within the individual, it uses what's already there. The Ring didn't create 'Gollum' in Smeagol, Gollum was already there:

'The domination of the Ring was much too strong for the mean soul of Smeagol. But he would never had to endure it if he had not become a mean sort of thief before it crossed his path.'

The Ring didn't create any impulse for Boromir to use it as a weapon in defeating Sauron and winning his own glory. The Ring used those impulses already in him. Just as Denethor already wanted to use the Ring and he never even saw it. It didn't even have to be a Ring, bottomline is Boromir and Denethor would have used anything that promised them victory over Sauron. It could have been a chicken foot, if that chicken foot could be used to destroy Sauron, Boromir and Denethor would have wanted to use it.

Boromir also repents in the end, and Gollum as we know fails and falls.

But what would have happened to Boromir had he gotten the Ring and held it in his possession for over 500 years?

'He would have stretched out his hand to this thing, and taking it he would have fallen. He would have kept it for his own, and when he returned you would not have known your son.'~The Siege of Gondor

Would he have been able to repent that easily? Boromir repents because the Ring is out of his presense. Gollum possessed the Ring for over 500 years, a bit different.

He never commited murder in the sense that Gollum did...

He very easily could have had Frodo not been smart and kept a large rock between him and Boromir; and then was able to escape. The Ring has a tendency to get people to act in ways they normally wouldn't. Look at Bilbo he's ready to fight Gandalf over the Ring (that's certainly un-bilbo like). Boromir was consumed by a madness:

He rose and passed his hand over his eyes, dashing away the tears. 'What have I said?' he cried. What have I done? Frodo, Frodo!' he called. 'Come back! A madness took me, but it has passed. Come back!'~The Breaking of the Fellowship

This is just my own personal interpretation, but I imagine Smeagol's situation quite the same. The Ring got Smeagol into this 'blinding rage' and Deagol was unable to get away. Boromir was in this same rage, lucky for Frodo (and him), Frodo (and the Ring) were able to escape. When the Ring's out of Boromir's grasp, the madness passes. What would have happened had Deagol been able to get away? Smeagol may have been a 'mean son of a thief' but he was no murderer before coming across the Ring.

I also would not say that Boromir was "too weak"...his motives were just entirely different...the Ring played on him best.

But Galadriel, Elrond, and Gandalf all had the same desires as Boromir did. They too wanted to use the Ring as a weapon, but they all came to the conclusion this was not the answer and so were able to reject the Ring. True they are the 'wise' ones, but hey Sam, Faramir, and even Isildur to a point, all reject the Ring. Yes, there is an evil that the Ring exudes, but the individual has just a big of a part to play. Which is why there are characters (such as Smeagol, Denethor, and Boromir) who are targets of The Ring (or anything 'powerful' that would give them what they want), who all fall to the Ring.