That pathetic figure reflecting the readers back to themselves very uncomfortably is Gollum. Seldom or perhaps never in the field of human literature has the human soul in a state of addiction to sin been portrayed with such psychological realism and spiritual brilliance. Oscar Wilde tried something similar in The Picture of Dorian Gray, but the portrait of Dorian Gray’s soul is dumb and speaks only through the screaming silence of its cruel and sadistic ugliness. Gollum is, however, a fully embodied image of the sin addict’s soul. He brings to life with monstrous vigor the words of Christ
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