XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien
From: mr@sandman.net
In article ,
"No One in Particular" wrote:
> >Intentional or not, it is a defining part of the charachter, that both
> >JRR and the filmmakers fledged out in subsequent stories.
>
> I agree completely. The more I read, the more I think that JRRT's original
> intent was just a vocal quirk to flesh out the character. The split
> personality theory seems to have been pretty well established as appearing
> later, in LOTR, by other posters, whose wisdom I shall bow to. : )
Well, the term "split personality" is to be handled carefully,
methinks. It is extremely unusual, to my knowledge, for someone with
split personality, to be able to have a conversation between them.
Split personality actually is called "dissociative identity disorder"
or "DID" for short, if we are going to look at this from a medical
standpoint. It is usually caused by trauma, and a person wanting to
distance him or herself from memories/experiences from the past.
While that may seem fitting for Gollum, his state of mind would more
likely be likened to a drug-induced dissociative disorder, very much
like how your drunk uncle may seem to have a split personality. Only,
Gollums drug is the ring. While your uncle may not talk to himself
when drunk, Tolkien specifically says (Riddles in the Dark, TH) that
Gollum talks to himself because he is lonely. Take these two factors
("drugs" and loneliness) and suddenly, your uncle appearing to have
DID may not be such a long shot :)
But still, the term "split personality" is unfitting in any stage of
Gollum. Dual nature (as in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide) is more fitting,
especially in the context of a drug-induced disorder.
--
Sandman[.net]
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* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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