Failure and Punishment

[Lush]

...and some just luck-Shelob could've stung him instead of Frodo.

You know, it very well may be luck, but I was under the impression that these dark creatures like Shelob (and the Watcher in the Water, etc.) were constantly drawn to the Ring. Perhaps Sam's luck has to do more with not being "chosen."

Note that his characters are usually at some point shown to have failings, even Aragorn displays arrogance at Edoras, Gandalf is sarcastic, Sam has a bad temper, Galadriel has a lust for power....

... Eowyn is suicidal, and even characters who are seemingly so simply drawn (well, in comparison to some of the other ones, I personally love our elf-boy, but I'm easy like that) i.e. Legolas and Gimli, have issues of prejudice they need to initially deal with.

So having Frodo 'fail' in fact elevates him.

You know, I never thought about it this way, but now that you mention it, it makes perfect sense. Stylistically, Frodo is a better character for this. Also, there is something about the proceedings at Mt. Doom that make me love him, really love him, in a way that the events leading up to the climax do not. It might have something to do with the fact that I've always taken issue with the way that Frodo and Sam speak to each other - and have been tempted to skim their storylines as the result. But Frodo's "failure" at Mt. Doom really casts their banter, their individual character quirks, in a whole new light.