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This is the first four pages of my 10 page paper on LOTR. The Struggle for Middle-Earth: An Examination of Good and Evil in The Lord of the Rings Robert McCreery Good and evil are parallels in the universe, for every good there is an equivalent evil. Throughout Tolkien’s works the reader can see these parallels in both characters and themes. To oppose the dark lord Melkor, there is the other Valar, Manwe. In direct opposition to the evil of despair is the power of hope. Without one of these forces, the other could not exist. Tolkien’s view of evil is one of corruption. Nothing is evil at its creation. The corruption of that which is good and beautiful is the result of greed and a lust for power. As described in The Silmarillion, Melkor was given part of each aspect of Ilúvatar’s personality, but he desired more power: 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 Ilúvatar; for he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself. To Melkor among the Ainur was given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a share in all the gifts of his brethren. (Tolkien 4). Melkor was originally the greatest of the Valar, but his lust for power corrupted him and after he stole the Silmarils for their power, he was fully corrupt: Last of all is set the name of Melkor, He who arises in Might. But that name he has forfeited; and the Noldor, who among the Elves suffered most from his malice, will not utter it, and they name him Morgoth, the Dark Enemy of the World. Great might was given to him by Ilúvatar, and he was coeval with Manwe. In the powers and knowledge of all the other Valar he had part, but he turned them to evil purposes, and squandered his strength in violence and tyranny. For he coveted Arda and all that was in it, desiring the kingship of Manwe and dominion over the realms of his peers. (Tolkien, Silmarillion 23) In offering of his power he corrupted others, and they became servants to his dark hand. Of those he corrupted, the greatest was Sauron. After Melkor was banished from the universe by Ilúvatar, Sauron became the new dark lord over Middle-Earth and in turn was able to corrupt on his own (Tolkien, Silmarillion 310). He came to the island paradise of men, known as Númenor as a prisoner, but became the counselor to the king, and corrupted the hearts of valiant men. The men attacked Valinor, the home of Ilúvatar and the Valar, in a lust for power and immortality. Ilúvatar was angered and destroyed Númenor in a great flood. The Faithful he warned and they fled, but all others perished (Tolkien, Return 350-354). Sauron then corrupted nine kings of men and seven lords of dwarves, with the gifts rings of great power. The elves had made their own rings to preserve the beauty and good of the word, but were forced to hide their three rings from the might of Sauron. For Sauron used his great power to make the One Ring, to rule over all others. Through the ring he could gain more power, but his lust for power was his undoing. He had put too much of his power into the ring and when he lost the ring he lost his power (Tolkien, Fellowship 293). The Ring itself is evil, but its evil can be approached two separate ways. The first is the view of ‘Boethian.’ ‘Boethian’ evil is the view that evil is just the absence of good. It is an addiction that brings out the evil of the soul (Shippey 135). Isildur, after he cuts the ring from the hand of Sauron cannot bear to part with the ring. It betrays him to his death (Tolkien, Fellowship 77). Sméagol killed his cousin in lust for the ring (Tolkien, Fellowship 78). The ring betrayed Sméagol to get back to its master. It was found by Bilbo Baggins,a hobbit and it soon corrupts him, as he says to Smaug, the dragon, “I am ring-winner…” (Tolkien, The Hobbit 221). For it was his story that he won the ring in a contest of riddles with Gollum, not by finding it on the ground. These are all the ‘Boethian’ view, that the rings brings out an inside evil of lies and greed. When Frodo is attacked and paralyzed by the spider Shelob, his companion Sam takes the burden of the ring. When Sam finds Frodo, taken prisoner and stripped of his belongings, Frodo believes the quest over and the ring taken. However, when he finds that Sam kept the ring he is not joyous but greedy, “Give it to me at once! You can’t have it!” (Tolkien, Return 208). Again, greed for the power of the ring overcomes him in the Crack of Doom at the end of the quest. He decides the ring is his and will not destroy it, “I have come, but I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!” (Tolkien, Return 246). Another that the Ring corrupts through the ‘Boethian’ view of evil is Boromir. In his own land he is of noble descent and a valiant warrior, but when he first sees the Ring it already is beginning to corrupt him. At the Council of Elrond he proposes not to destroy it but to use it. “Why do you speak of hiding and destroying?” (Tolkien, Fellowship 320). He is fully corrupt when he attacks Frodo on the slopes of Amon Hen, in fact he denies that it even has the power to corrupt: Gandalf, Elrond – all these folk have taught you to say so. For themselves they might be right… Yet often I doubt if they are wise and not merely timid. But each to his own kind. True-hearted Men, they will not be corrupted… We do not desire the power of wizard-lords, only strength to defend ourselves, strength in a just cause… The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner! (Tolkien, Fellowship 468-469) The ring corrupts or tries to corrupt everything it comes into contact with, but in corruption it is just digging into the depths of the soul and drawing out the evil. The other view of the evil of the Ring is the ‘Manichaean’ view. The ‘Manichaean’ view is that evil is a separate force from good. It is an outside force working for its own gain (Shippey 134). On the hills of Amon Sûl and Amon Hen, when the Ring compels Frodo to put it on, that is Manichaean evil (Tolkien, Fellowship 240, 470). Frodo is also affected by the will of the ring in Bree. His “accident” with the Ring is no accident; it is the will of the Ring. The ring wants to be found and taken back to its creator (Tolkien, Fellowship 200). As the quest goes further, the Ring’s burden grows. The Ring is heavy on Frodo’s neck, though when Sam carries his master the burden is not shared: Sam staggered to his feet; and then to his amazement he felt the burden light. He had feared that he would have barely strength to lift his master alone, and beyond that he had expected to share in the dreadful dragging weight of the accursed Ring. But it was not so. (Tolkien, Return 242). The Ring is evil, both in the ‘Boethian’ and the ‘Manichaean’ sense.
