The One Ring as an engagement ring?

Question

The One Ring is clearly a corrupting power in Middle Earth. Even the hobbits that are more resistant to corruption are eventually affected by its influence (Frodo, as an example, of course). The language Tolkien uses clearly states many times how "Men" are greatly affected by this corrupting influence because they covet power. Now, I know that "Men" is used in the generic sense to refer to Mankind in Middle Earth, but it is also clearly used to refer only to males. For example, it was foretold that the Witch-king would not fall "by the hand of man." Ultimately, Eowyn was able to slay him, claiming correctly that she is not a "man."

This is a little confusing, because one would expect that prophecy to refer to "men" as the race of mankind, but clearly it was not. This then opens the door to considering other similar wording along these lines. Therefore, it seems to me quite possible that a woman would not be subject to the corrupting influence of the One Ring (or any other Ring of Power, for that matter).

Is this interpretation valid? What if, for example, the One Ring were given as an engagement ring? Is there anything that expands upon this distinction in other canon (such as the Silmarillion)?

Answer 1

Whilst you might have some good logic, Galadriel disagrees

Female elves can be corrupted, so it's not unreasonable to think so could female humans or in fact females of any species.

Answer 2

In addition to the point about Galadriel being tempted by The One Ring, I'll add the fact that the ring was very rarely given up voluntarily.

1. When Bilbo left it behind when leaving Bag End, and that required a lot of persuasion (and a hint of threatening) by a close trusted friend.
2. By Sam when he rescued Frodo in Cirith Ungol. He had only possessed it a couple of days (appears to be even less time in the movie) and there was a hint of threat and a whole lot of trust/love in that exchange also.
3. By the unique Tom Bombadil.
4. In the movie, Boromir held it for a short moment on the slopes of the Misty Mountains. He was strongly tempted by it, but he never actually touched the ring.

I seriously doubt that anyone (other than Tom) could have given It as an engagement/wedding ring.

Answer 3

I think the answer is in the capitalization. Tolkien was using capitalization intentionally to mean different things as explained in Mark Trapp's answer here.

I therefore interpret "Man/Men" and "man/men" as different words. The first as a sweeping term including females, and the other as adult-male.

As an aside, I'm having trouble finding a quote dealing with the ring's corrupting power that uses the word "Men". I did find this one (from Gandalf in FOTR) which uses "mortal":

'A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he bocemes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings. Yes, sooner or later - later, if he is strong or well-meaning to begin with, but neither strength nor good purpose will last - sooner or later the dark power will devour him.'

Also at the council of Elrond:

'Alas, no,' said Elrond. 'We cannot use the Ruling Ring. That we now know too well. It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil. Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power of their own. But for them it holds an even deadlier peril. The very desire of it corrupts the heart. Consider Saruman. If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron's throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear...

The quotes that I'm finding seem all-encompassing, and I can't find any mention of the word "Man/Men"