Glamis? Cawdor? A bookworm's musings - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Bêthberry · 06-01-2003, 06:28 PM

To my mind, one of the important differences between Paradise Lost and LOTR is that Milton danced with the Devil, whereas Tolkien backed away from giving us a truly replete depiction of Saruman's characterization. I am profoundly interested by the study in Frodo's motivation and behaviour, but I wish we had more of Saruman. If we had had as full a depiction of Saruman as of Gandalf or of Frodo, I think LOTR would have been completely mesmerizing.

06-01-2003, 06:28 PM	#37
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 5,977	To my mind, one of the important differences between Paradise Lost and LOTR is that Milton danced with the Devil, whereas Tolkien backed away from giving us a truly replete depiction of Saruman's characterization. I am profoundly interested by the study in Frodo's motivation and behaviour, but I wish we had more of Saruman. If we had had as full a depiction of Saruman as of Gandalf or of Frodo, I think LOTR would have been completely mesmerizing. __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.