The Ring of Terror: The Ring Mirroring Totalitarianism
As the sun sets and Frodo takes in his surroundings as he begins his journey, he begins to feel the overcoming power and danger of the Ring as the hooded figure approaches him. Although the Ring brings an element of safety to the characters’ lives, it also brings an element of terror at the same time. The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien causes the characters to change, betray one another, and become hungry for power, therefore causing the Ring to parallel similar elements of totalitarianism in The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksander Solzhenistyn in which the Ring is a form of mind control and power over the characters in the book. With this, the ideas of control, brainwashing, betrayal, and isolation are all seen in the Gulag Archipelago, which is exactly what the Ring causes between the characters as it pushes them to do what the Ring wants them to do. The Ring’s power controls the characters in The Lord of the Rings in the same way that totalitarianism controls Solzhenistyn in his biography, since the Ring draws them in but soon isolates them in order to overpower them . Overall, the Ring’s power shows how easy humans are to control and how the elements of totalitarianism relate directly to the way the Ring affects the characters in the book.
In Chapter 3 of Book 3 of The Lord of The Rings, fear overcomes Frodo as he starts his journey, he realizes what the ring holds as the Black Rider approaches him. Through the language and imagery in this scene, Tolkien exposes the fear and feeling of isolation that overcomes Frodo as he starts his journey as the Ring Bearer. This is described when Tolkien writes, “A sudden unreasoning fear of discovery laid hold of Frodo, and he thought of his Ring. He hardly dared to breathe, and yet the desire to get it out of his pocket became so strong that he began slowly to move his hand” (75). Here, it is evident that Frodo is allowing the Ring to do what it has done before, and push its power onto him, creating the feeling of isolation and fear. The presence of the Black Rider causes panic in Frodo, however, it also causes him to feel the need to keep the Ring closer to him, which demonstrates how the Ring latches on to people in order to weaken them. Frodo feels the power of the Ring again as he hears horses for the second time when Tolkien writes, “Once more the desire to slip on the Ring came over Frodo; but this time it was stronger than before. So strong that, almost before he realized what he was doing, his hand was groping in his pocket” (78). Here, Tolkien mentions this feeling of fear and determination to put the Ring in in order to emphasize how the Ring is already having a consistent, controlling power over him. The repetition of these events of the Black Riders drawing Frodo closer to the Ring demonstrates the corruption and power that Tolkien is attempting to show here. Furthermore, the Ring’s power also causes Frodo to feel a sense of need for it, specifically making him desire the power that it emits. This is shown when Frodo expresses, “I can’t say why, but I felt certain he was looking or smelling for me; and also I felt certain that I did not want him to discover me. I’ve never seen or felt anything like it in the Shire before” (75). Here, it is clear that Frodo is experiencing an unexplainable attachment to the Ring through the way that he feels fear from the Black Riders. Tolkien illustrates the power of the Ring through the power it already has over Frodo, as he feels danger from it, yet still feels the need to keep it close to him. Overall, the Ring casts a sense of danger and power over Frodo, while also causing him to desire it.