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Originally Posted by lmp
Sorry to belabor a point, but the difference between evoking character by behavior, versus evoking character by "going into the head", is worthy of careful distinction. The latter is "going into the head", the former is not.
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This would depend entirely upon the character. With Gollum, evoking character by representing his behaviour does work. Gollum is not like other characters; he is suffering with an intense psychological disorder or illness. When I think about how all his impulses are worn on his exterior, how he follows his urges and says what is going on in his thoughts the condition that comes to mind is Tourette's. This is a condition which leads people to say exactly what is in their head, to display impulsive behaviours (e.g. repetitious acts and sounds, rather like Gollum's swallowing noise which gives him his nickname). Compare this to how someone without the condition might behave - all these impulses are kept internalised. So Gollum
does display his thoughts and psyche, we see what he is thinking because he simply cannot keep those thoughts internalised.
I don't know enough about Freud to thoroughly explain it, but it is as though Gollum's Id is completely on show.
I think you say below just how far he has lost control of his own impulses:
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Originally Posted by lmp
He has been enslaved by the Ring for so long that his purpose is to serve the Ring. He has almost lost all hold on his own will. Isn't this the essence of his being at the time of the events of the book?
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The strange thing about the Ring taking hold of him is that ultimately he does
not serve the Ring. Something, whether his own character, fate or something else entirely, takes away the Ring's control of him.
I think he serves a peculiar purpose in the books. Gollum is like a mirror of the darker, more uncontrollable side to ourselves. He serves to make us question our ideas of right and wrong, of pity and justice. He isn't just there to scare us.