Quote 3
In
that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most
to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered
his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he
was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions
were not a mere cheat to betray him.
This insight into Sam’s thoughts about
the Ring at Cirith Ungol in Book VI, Chapter 1,
explains the key virtue of the hobbits as Ring-bearers and members
of the Fellowship. Frodo’s and Sam’s small statures—both in terms
of physical size and force of authority and personality—grant them
a perspective that does not suit the Ring’s overwhelming power.
The small size of the Hobbit race also functions as a metaphor for
their measured attitudes, their humility, and their unadorned goodness—attributes
that appear to make them less vulnerable to the lure of the Ring.
The Hobbits and the Shire are little known in Middle-earth; throughout The
Lord of the Rings, the races of Men and Elves are surprised
to learn that Hobbits actually exist. Frodo, by accepting the Ring,
enters a history of war and conflict between Men and the forces
of evil in which the Hobbits have had little part. As the symbol
of that conflict, the Ring always seems like an awkward fit on a
Hobbit hand.
Despite the seeming incompatibility of the Hobbit race
as a whole with the lure of the Ring, we still get the sense that
Frodo and Sam are exceptional Hobbits, with a strength of character
that makes them less vulnerable to the Ring’s power. After all,
we know that Gollum, though once a Hobbit-like creature, was still
corrupted by the Ring, and we have seen that the Ring is able to
elicit erratic behavior and sudden fierceness in Bilbo. Frodo and
Sam, on the other hand, are evidence that Hobbit virtues are only
virtues insofar as one exhibits them. At Cirith Ungol, Sam proves
that he has developed from a slightly dim-witted youth to a mature
hobbit with a deep capacity for discernment and reflection. Deeply
influenced by Frodo’s experiences with the burden of the quest,
Sam analyzes the Ring and immediately realizes and respects its
subtle, destructive potential. Perhaps most important, Sam’s desire
to use the Ring himself springs only from his love for Frodo and
his attempts to save his master. In this sense, Sam’s affection
for Frodo acts as a corrective to the Ring’s power. Sam muses that,
even if the tantalizing benefits of the Ring were an actual possibility
rather than a false promise, they would not really be benefits if
they involved losing his hobbit sense and his affection for Frodo.
In this regard, Sam’s resilient love for his friend precludes his
fascination with the Ring’s power.
