My Essay: "A Defense of Character: Boromir"

[davem]

Originally Posted by B88

First, I'd like to note that I don't think Tolkien was so anti-Boromir as it seems. Sure, he compares him to Saruman and Denethor, but it's in the sense that there is no black and white, good and evil. There is a bunch of gray areas, it's not "all these guys are good and they're going to fight all these evil guys," as some critics said. There are people who struggle between good and evil, they have a flawed reasoning so to say.

Good point. Of course, in Tolkien's world there is Good & Evil, but incarnates are very rarely absolutely one or the other. I'm reminded of Frodo on Amon Hen, writhing between the opposing forces of the Voice & the Eye. Boromir seems to have been in the same position when he confronted Frodo (if not for much longer).

Its perhaps true that many of the characters 'writhe' in the same way - Denethor, Saruman - in fact most of the characters have that experience. But the point is they all remain themselves, even at the most extreme point. So there is a moral choice to be made & there is an individual who makes a free choice - even though they may be under the most extreme distress. Boromir chooses 'Evil' & as such he is required to pay his 'weregild'.

The difference between Boromir & Frodo is that Boromir dies forgiven, & knows that he has paid his debt. Frodo perhaps, deep down, never does feel he has paid the debt for his 'betrayal'. He still longs for the Ring's existence even after its destruction.

I suspect this is the difference between them. Boromir desired the Ring to defeat Sauron. One feels that once that had happened he would no longer have any desire for it. Frodo desired the Ring even after Sauron's fall. Its as if his identification with the Ring had become so intense that he saw no clear dividing line between himself & it, whereas for Boromir the Ring was merely the means to an end. Frodo could not destroy the Ring finally because it was effectively himself - its 'will' was his own, its being his own being. Boromir never went that far. Which is not to say that, if he had taken it & achieved victory over Sauron he wouldn't have ended up in the same position. However that didn't happen. Frodo identified himself with the Ring, became one with it. Boromir never did, so his 'sin' was less. However his 'test' was less. I suspect Boromir, unlike Frodo, was able to forgive himself & therefore accept Aragorn's 'forgiveness', & so die at peace. Frodo, however, was not able to forgive himself, & so could not go on living, but must needs pass from the world.

Boromir's was not a 'mortal' sin, so he could die in peace. Frodo's was, so he could not, but had to continue living - why else did he not die, as he should have done, in achieving the Quest. He expected to die at the end. His 'punishment' for his 'sin' was in not being permitted to die. His life after the Ring's destruction was his punishment for his sin. Of course, the only way he could have achieved the Quest was to hurl himself into the Fire along with the Ring - the idea he could have thrown the Ring in & walked away is ridiculous, as by that time he had ceased to distinguish between it & himself. The task he had taken on himself was his own destruction along with that of the Ring - whether he realised that or not at the time he accepted the Quest is not important. His role was to be the Blood Sacrifice for the Sins of Middle-earth, but he refused at the end to go through with it. He rejected his sacrificial role & was punished accordingly, because Eru demanded his death, not just the destruction of the One.

One of Tolkien's best friends, GB Smith wrote two elegies for Rob Gilson who had just been killed on the Somme: John Garth writes (Tolkien & the Great War)

"'One piece declares a stark view of Divine Providence. Gilson's death is 'a sacrifice of blood outpoured' to a God whose purposes are utterly inscrutable & who 'only canst be glorified/ by man's own passion & the supreme pain'.

Boromir had no such destiny, hence his 'failure' could be forgiven & he could die fulfilled & at peace.