« Sam was cocksure, and deep down a little conceited, but his conceit had been transformed by his devotion to Frodo. He did not think of himself as heroic, or even brave, or in any way admirable – except in his service and loyalty to his master. That had an ingredient (probably inevitable) of pride and possessiveness : it is difficult to exclude it from the devotion of those who perform such service. In any case it prevented him from fully understanding the master that he loved… He plainly did not fully understand Frodo’s motives or his distress in the incident of the Forbidden Pool. If he had understood better what was going on between Frodo and Gollum, things might have turned out differently in the end. For me perhaps the most tragic moment in the Tale comes … when Sam fails to note the complete change in Gollum’s tone and aspect. ‘Nothing, nothing, said Gollum softly. Nice master !’ His repentance is blighted and all Frodo’s pity is …wasted. Shelob’s lair became inevitable» L246, p. 329-30 in Letters of Tolkien).
Frodo/Sam/Gollum… En fait c’est une suite de mauvaises intentions et actions qui font aboutir la quête : la dureté de Sam pousse Gollum à assumer son rôle de ‘puant’ à fond, Frodo faillit à sa mission en cédant à la volonté de l’Anneau et Gollum, dévoré par son désir de l’Unique, s’en empare sauvagement.
J’ai lu une interprétation plutôt lugubre à propos de ce trio infernal ;-) Sam the dark side of Gollum, comme Gollum the dark side of Frodo :
« Gollum is captured by Sam and Frodo. With the help of the Ring, they force him to guide them to Mordor, and to help them find a way in to this dark country. During their journey, Gollum starts to develop some feelings for Frodo. His hate for one Baggins (Bilbo), who stole his precious ring, turns to a fondness for another Baggins (Frodo). As their relationship develops into some kind of mutual affection, Gollum becomes more and more ambiguous. In our terms, we could even say that he develops schizophrenic features. The two sides of Gollum are named Slinker and Stinker by Sam. One side of him, Slinker, wants to do good, and help his new master. The other side of him, Stinker, only wants to get hold of the Ring and, with the help of it, continue his mischief. I would go so far though, as to say that the good side of him represents Frodo in him, and the evil side represents Sam. The two hobbits evoke such strong feelings in Gollum that his ambiguity is partly created by them. To him, Frodo is Slinker, and Sam is Stinker.
Gollum's attitude towards Sam is quite the opposite from his attitude towards Frodo. He hates Sam because Sam hates him. He treats Gollum with contempt, and in a very deprecatory way. Sam cannot imagine that Gollum possesses any good qualities. To protect his master from this wretched creature, Sam is always on guard against Gollum, never wasting a chance to reprimand him, or to hurt him. It is actually Sam's fault that Gollum finally decides to listen to his inner evil voice, Stinker. Having reached a point where he is about to repent and truly devote himself to Frodo, he is met by some very harsh words from Sam. Not able to accept this mistrust in him anymore, Gollum gives in to Stinker, and decides to get rid of the two hobbits (LR 742-743). This passage is very strong and emotional… » (Essai de Leif Jacobsen, disponible sur le site de ‘The Tolkien Archives’).
Je conclus, en citant Vincent « … héros et monstres sont parfois très proches, comme dans les récits anciens » (p.41).
Cathy, pour la réhabilitation de Gollum, le VRAI HEROS DU SDA :))