Psychological depth in Tolkien's characters

[The Saucepan Man]

Depicting psychological depth is not simply a matter of showing someone strugggling to make up their mind.

I am not saying that it is. Depiction of an internal struggle is only one means by which a writer can give a character psychological depth. I was using it as an example because it seems to me that this is the source of psychological complexity in most of Tolkien's characters. Frodo, Denethor, Faramir, Boromir and Gollum are all undergoing their own respective personal struggles. These struggles are relevant to the story that Tolkien wanted to tell, and so their psychological depth emerges as part of the story-telling process.

Of course, while a character's struggle continues, and we continue to be "shown" or "told" about it, that character will retain psychological depth. In that sense, the example of the alcholic and the reformed alcoholic was perhaps not the best illustration of my point (although, in my defence, I was trying to be flippant [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] ).

I agree with you on Frodo. He clearly is undergoing an intense personal struggle against temptation throughout most of the book, and this does become more psychologically intense as the book progresses. I still think that it is strange, however, that, despite the fact that he is the central character, we never really get inside his head in the same way that we did with Bilbo. And we never really witness his own personal struggle with the Ring in the same way that we do with Sam (and even, to a degree, Galadriel). So, although Frodo's psychological struggle is interesting, it could, I think, have been portrayed with greater depth. Perhaps Tolkien wanted to leave the details of what was going on in Frodo's head to our imaginations. Any thoughts?

[ November 21, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]