Editing Denethor (section)

=== Character flaws ===

[[Mental illness in Middle-earth|Denethor's madness]] and despair has been [[Shakespeare's influence on Tolkien|compared to that of Shakespeare's]] [[King Lear]]. Both men are first outraged when their children (Faramir and Cordelia, respectively) refuse to aid them, but then grieve upon their children's death – which is only perceived in the case of Faramir. According to [[Michael D. C. Drout]], both Denethor and Lear "despair of God's mercy", something extremely dangerous in a leader who has to defend his realm.<ref name="Smith 2007">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-WGaDtnHUOYC&pg=PA140 |title=Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language |chapter=The Influence of King Lear on Lord of the Rings |first=Leigh |last=Smith |editor-first=Janet Brennan |editor-last=Croft |editor-link=Janet Brennan Croft |page=140 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-78642-827-4}}</ref> Sauron drives Denethor to suicide by showing him in the [[Palantír]] the Black Fleet approaching Gondor, while concealing the fact that the ships are carrying Aragorn's troops, coming to Gondor's rescue.<ref name="Kocher 1974 p63"/> The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] comments that this forms part of a pattern around the use of the Palantír, that one should not try to see the future but should trust in one's [[Luck and fate in Middle-earth|luck]] and make one's own mind up, courageously facing one's duty in each situation.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=188, 423-429}} The medievalist [[Elizabeth Solopova]] comments that unlike Aragorn, Denethor is incapable of displaying what Tolkien in ''[[Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics]]'' called "[[Northern courage in Middle-earth|northern courage]]", namely, the spirit to carry on in the face of certain defeat and death.<ref>{{ME-ref|Solopova|pages=28–29}}</ref> Alex Davis, in the ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'', writes that many critics have examined his fall and corrupted leadership, whereas Richard Purtill identifies Denethor's pride and egoism, a man who considers Gondor his property.<ref name="Davis 2006">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Davis |first=Alex |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Jackson, Peter: Artistic Impression |encyclopedia=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia|J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment]] |year=2006 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=1-135-88034-4 |page=120}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Purtill |first1=Richard L. |title=J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion |date=2003 |publisher=Ignatius |isbn=978-0898709483 |page=85}}</ref>