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Will and want All beings have within them ambitions and desires, but only those who manage to resist those siren calls can overcome the inner struggle between what one wants, and what must be. J. R. R. Tolkien demonstrates this everlasting conflict between willpower and desire in his novels, The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Silmarillion.
This conflict is personified within the characters of the mortal Frodo, and god Melkor, and symbolized by the empowering Master-ring, which tempts corruption. Frodo struggles within himself to resist the will of the Master-ring, which coaxes him to take the easy way out. He ultimately succeeds in overcoming its deceptive lure. Melkor, mightiest of the gods, is consumed by ambition and desire to be the best, and most revered of the gods. His gradual degeneration leads him down the path to his ultimate ruin. Through his inability to restrain his ambition he becomes corrupt, and a slave to his own desires, eventually losing all decency he once had.
The master ring, temptation incarnate, offers power, protection, and a clash of wills for the wielder. For just as the bearer seeks to use the ring, the ring seeks to dominate the bearer through tempting him with what he desires. Thus man, god and object all relate to the same overall theme of the balance between good and evil. If one gives in to desire it can only lead to corruption and evil, whereas if the willpower is stronger than the temptation, the good will prevail. J.
R. R. Tolkien uses the Master-Ring as the symbol of desire, temptation, and power. All who come within its presence become tainted, craving to possess it, its power, and its promises. All of these things make the ring a catalyst, sparking the clash between willpower and desire. All who wear the ring must battle with it for control lest it take them over.
The most notable figures to come under the sway of the Ring in this way are the Human Boromir, and the hobbit Sm agol, later to be known as Gollum. The ring acts almost as if it were a separate entity suggesting and tempting the bearer to do things that will either bring the bearer into safety or into harms way. Such as when Frodo is making a simple speech. He felt the Ring on its chain, and quite unaccountably the desire came over him to slip it on and vanish out of the silly situation. It seemed to him somehow, as if the suggestion came to him from outside, from someone or something in the room. He resisted the temptation firmly, and clasped the Ring in his hand, as if to prevent it from escaping or doing any mischief.
Upon first seeing the Ring, Gollum undergoes a transformation from a curious hobbit, to a greedy murderer. The Ring warps the mind of Gollum, to make his foremost thought the desire to possess the Ring. Gollum s willpower dwindles to nothing, and he kills his friend without even a thought. Give us that, D agol, my love, said Sm agol, over his friend s shoulder. Why?
said D agol. Because it s my birthday, my love, and I wants it, said Sm agol. I don t care, said D agol. I have given you a present already, more than I could afford. I found this, and I m going to keep it. Oh, are you indeed, my love said Sm agol; and he caught D agol by the throat, and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful.
Then he put the ring on his finger. Frodo and Bilbo are the only ones strong enough in will to eventually give up the ring. Even they however fell under the control of the Ring at times. The chief example of this occurs when Frodo and his friends are beset by four of the seven black riders. but his terror was swallowed up in a sudden temptation to put on the Ring.
The desire to do this laid hold of him, and he could think of nothing else. He did not forget the barrow, nor the message of Gandalf; but something seemed to be compelling him to disregard all warnings, and he longed to yield. Not with the hope of escape, or of doing anything, either good or bad: he simply felt that he must take the Ring and put it on his finger. He could not speak He shut his eyes and struggled for a while; but resistance became unbearable, and at last he slowly drew out the chain, and slipped the Ring on the forefinger of his left hand. Here, the Ring grabs hold of Frodo, and despite his best efforts the ring gains control, and thus throws Frodo into danger against his better judgement. The power of the ring is so strong, that even the hero at times falls under the sway of the ring no matter how hard he tries to resist.
In The Fellowship of the Ring the battle between willpower and desire is waged within the Ring-bearer Frodo. As the Ring-bearer Frodo must constantly resist the temptation to use the Master ring to save himself, or for any other purposes. The ring tempts him, prompting him to use it to further ensnare him, and Frodo must use all of his will to resist giving in to these temptations, and desires. Whereas Melkor falls into corruption because of his awesome power and desire to use it, Frodo is the polar opposite. He has no power nor does he seek it.
Frodo s character is meek, and he wishes nothing more then to save his friends or himself. This leaves him unscathed where the ring corrupts others. The chief example of this occurs when the Ring begins to feed him lies and evil thoughts, as he hides in the tomb of the Barrow-wights. His friends have been captured and are about to be killed by a Barrow-wight. Frodo wishes to escape, but his will to save his friends proves stronger then the Ring or even his own desire for self-preservation as is demonstrated by this excerpt. Then a wild thought of escape came to him.
He wondered if he put on the Ring, whether the Barrow-wight would miss him, and he might find some way out. He thought of himself running free over the grass grieving for Merry, and Sam, and Pippin, but free and alive himself. Gandalf would admit there had been nothing else he could do. But the courage that had been awakened in him was now too strong: he could not leave his friends so easily. He wavered, groping in his pocket, and then fought with him-self again; and as he did so the arm crept nearer. Suddenly resolve hardened in him, and he seized a short sword that lay beside him, and kneeling he stooped low over the bodies of his companions.
With what strength he had he hewed at the crawling arm near the wrist This demonstrates that despite the relentless assault of the ring upon his mind, Frodo manages to continue as the master of the ring, through his sheer willpower and character. This conflict between willpower and desire or temptation reaches its most frenzied peak as Frodo dons the ring to evade Boromir. The evil Sauron seeks out Frodo several moments after he puts the ring on his finger, and unless he takes off the ring he will be sensed and his mind overwhelmed. Frodo struggles within himself striving to find which course to take, the rings voice struggles against his reason and will and he makes his choice within the following quote. He heard himself crying out: Never, Never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you?
He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off!
Take off the ring! The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose with one remaining instant in which to do so.
He took the ring off his finger. Once more the protagonist fights within himself, torn between what he should do, and the desirable easy way out. Frodo, as the main character of The Fellowship of the Rings, deals with the theme of will versus desire almost on a chapter basis furthering the conclusion that this theme is the key theme of J. R.
R. Tolkien. It is said that men do not fall because they lack power, men fall because they have power, and once they have power, they crave more, loosing all moral restraint. This proverb is confirmed on a recurring basis within the novel The Silmarillion. Melkor begins the tale as the most powerful of all the gods. His power and his desires, begin and guide his fall into ruin.
Melkor is tormented by the conflict in his heart, his infinite desire to increase his greatness and be the most revered of the gods, striving with his desire to do good, and will to resist giving into his ambition. The following excerpt But as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Il var; for he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself. To Melkor among the Air had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a share of all the gifts of his brethren being alone he had begun to conceive thoughts of his own unlike those of his brethren. indicates how strong this desire is within Melkor even in the beginning, where in the midst of the Great Music, Melkor is unable to check his ardor. This lack of self-restraint throws the entire godly choir into discord, and fosters the guilt, resentment, and hatred that would later consume him. His struggle turns inward and his bitterness magnifies itself, and slowly consuming him.
His desires lead him to ruin. Eventually so consumed by his ungoverned emotions, ambitions, and greed, Melkor turns from his once life of grace, to pure evil. From splendour he fell through arrogance to contempt for all things save himself, a spirit wasteful and pitiless. Understanding he turned to subtlety in perverting to his own will all that he would use, until he became a liar without shame. He began with the desire of light, but when he could not posses it for himself alone, he descended through fire and wrath into a great burning, down into darkness. (Silmarillion, p 23) J. R.
R Tolkien uses Melkor as the antithesis of Frodo, Melkor has power, wisdom, greatness, and thus falls from grace. Frodo has nothing, weakness, a lack of great wisdom, but he does have control over himself and his wants unlike Melkor. This clearly shows that Tolkien s dominating theme in these two novels is the conflict between willpower and desire. Throughout the adventurous tales, one cannot escape the spellbinding effect of these struggles and their implications. Frodo s fate could have taken a grave turn, when he faced the decision to take the ring off and loose its power, or keep it on and never escape its power. The ring demonstrates how eager we are to instill meaning to symbols, and then act in a certain way because of their real or perceived power.
Who would deny that, in real life, a wedding ring could be seen as such a symbol, having the power to shield a couple from intrusion? Melkor had long ago made his choice to wander into the dark side, and could not find his way back. Here we have a parallel to human history, where it has been demonstrated time and time again by regular people becoming powerful politicians, dictators, or criminals, that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Tolkien masterfully deals with this theme, and concludes his novels with willpower and desire being once more in harmony.
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Research essay sample on Ring Bearer Frodo Conflict Between Willpower Power
