Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Freud-o Baggins?
Tolkien uses the 'divided self' theme many times in Lord of the Rings- and example when Frodo finds himself torn between 'perhaps I shall cross the River myself one day' to which the other half of his mind: 'not yet.' (ch.2) As the ring takes a stronger role in the story, notice how it acts as a wedge further dividing virtue from desire (personified in Gollum/Smeagol). Find any other examples of 'divided self'? Or how is Tolkien advising us to handle that Id on our shoulder?
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2 comments:
Funny you should mention Freud and Lord of the Rings. I was just reading a poem by Maurice Sagoff from her book called "ShrinkLits." It's a book of summarization poetry, condensing dozens of classic books into quick and cute little poems. There are two about the Hobbit (I know The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring aren't the same thing, but I still consider this a coincidence. The first verse of the poem follows as such:
"The Hobbit (2)"
Hobbit-hole ("Bag End") is small,
Opening on a tube-shaped hall
Through which Bilbo is deployed
(Are you listening, Sigmund Freud?)
I know this really doesn't answer your post at all (or perhaps even relate to it), but I just thought it was a funny coincidence.
So we've all seen the movie where Frodo has the hero moment to close the council- He accepts his fate as ring-bearer, but in the book it's not quite the same. It says, he wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice. 'I will take the ring' If not his will, who's? The voice didn't say, 'I will destroy the ring,' but rather 'take'. If only he knew the 'way'
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