Introduction
JRR Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" is not only the progenitor of modern fantasy, but aimed to be a certain 'folklore' that the English lacked. In this, it naturally drew on ideas and cultural resonances that were core to the English consciousness. Of course, it is impossible to consider these resonances without thinking about Greek culture and Greek myth. Greek myth had a profound effect on the world of Lord of the Rings, both in how the Valar were conceptualized, in the structuring of the Ages, and in the conceptualization of heroes.
To this end, since Boromir parallels in many ways the hero Ajax, I have taken inspiration from Sophocles’ Ajax and written the fall of Boromir in the style of Greek tragedy, adding trappings of Tolkien’s lyricism to substitute for the missing lyricism of Greek verse in its original. Much of Tolkien’s dialogue flows naturally into this form, and is used in the conversation between Frodo and Boromir. Since it’s formatted as a play, and not as a story, we’re deprived of some internal context that Tolkien gives us. In order to replace what is missing, I’ve added a third character, THE ENEMY, which represents the influence of the ring on Boromir, invisible to both characters, similar to the role that the chorus plays and that Muses occasionally play in other Greek plays.
The goal of this is to give the reader a sense of how much the work was already inspired by Greek tragedy. Though much of the dialogue needed to change, sometimes entire lines could be used unalatered, speaking to Tolkien's verse-like approach to writing, and to lend itself to a deeper understaning of Tolkien through acknowleging some aspects of his works as being in the style of a tragedian.