Regis University ePublications at Regis University All Regis University Theses Spring 2013 Defense Against the Dark Arts: Harry Potter and the Allegory for Evil Amy Lytle Regis University Follow this and additional works at:https://epublications.regis.edu/theses Part of theArts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Lytle, Amy, "Defense Against the Dark Arts: Harry Potter and the Allegory for Evil" (2013).All Regis University Theses. 587. https://epublications.regis.edu/theses/587 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by ePublications at Regis University. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Regis University Theses by an authorized administrator of ePublications at Regis University. For more information, please [email protected]. Regis University Regis College Honors Theses Disclaimer Use of the materials available in the Regis University Thesis Collection (“Collection”) is limited and restricted to those users who agree to comply with the following terms of use. Regis University reserves the right to deny access to the Collection to any person who violates these terms of use or who seeks to or does alter, avoid or supersede the functional conditions, restrictions and limitations of the Collection. The site may be used only for lawful purposes. The user is solely responsible for knowing and adhering to any and all applicable laws, rules, and regulations relating or pertaining to use of the Collection. All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations. DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS: HARRY POTTER AND THE ALLEGORY FOR EVIL A thesis submitted to Regis College The Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Graduation with Honors by Amy Lytle May 2013 1 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v I. INTRODUCTION 1 A Muggle’s Perspective: Harry Potter and the Analytical Importance of Fantasy II. HARRY POTTER and THE GREATER GOOD 8 III. HARRY POTTER and THE MONSTROUS OTHER IN THE 26 CAMPBELLIAN MONOMYTH IV. CURSES, TORTURE, and the AMBIGUITY OF GOOD and 44 EVIL V. CONCLUSION 62 The Magic of True Friendship: The Divergence of Harry and Voldemort’s Character and Fate WORKS CITED 68 iv Acknowledgements I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to my advisor Dr. Lara Narcisi for her continuous help with each part of the writing process for this thesis, as well as her support in my research of popular children’s literature and believing that it could yield a scholarly piece of work. Her endless patience and guidance at every step of the way allowed me to be both enthusiastic about and very proud of the piece of writing I have created. Her comments and suggestions were always witty, constructive, and fundamental to the piece I produce today. I would also like to extend my deepest thanks to my reader Dr. Daryl Palmer who was always enthusiastic about my topic and willing to talk to me about any aspect along the way, as well as always holding me to a superior standard of writing that I strove to achieve. I owe my deepest gratitude to both Dr. Narcisi and Dr. Palmer for showing me what truly amazing professors look like and profoundly influencing my life, over the course of this writing process and my four years at Regis as a whole. I also give my heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Thomas Bowie, the director of the Honors Program who has been incredibly helpful over the last four years, in regards to both academics and life in general. I would not be where I am today without the support and guidance he has offered to me during my time at Regis. I also must extend an incredible thanks to Connie Gates, the magician behind everything in both the Honors and English departments. None of what I have accomplished today would have been possible without the mother-like care Connie has extended to me over the last four years, making my place in these departments truly feel like home. v Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family: my mom, Vickie, my dad, Bruce, and my two older brothers, Marc and Kevin. They have been so loving and patient with me for my entire life, but especially the last four years when I have encountered many challenges and achieved many triumphs, none of which would have mattered without them by my side. For their patience with my overly-enthusiastic embracement of this project, and their love and encouragement in every endeavor I have taken on, I cannot thank them enough. I love you all! vi A Muggle’s Perspective: Harry Potter and the Analytical Importance of Fantasy Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter series presents to the reader a discourse that exemplifies archetypal representations of good and evil, particularly through historical and psychological lenses. This can be seen by the parallels of Harry’s battle against a Hitler figure and his journey through the Campbellian monomyth, culminating in a final conflict involving undeniable evils perpetrated by Voldemort. However, Rowling complicates this seemingly clear good versus evil dichotomy by suggesting that the ultimate evil may actually be within us all, even the most deliberately heroic. For this ambiguity and not overly-didactic moral teaching, Harry Potter has become one of the most important pieces of young adult literature the world has ever seen. From scholastic literary conferences to psychiatric symposiums to better understanding childhood development, the Harry Potter books have been used, analyzed, and discussed at length. While sometimes dismissed as nothing more than children’s literature, Harry Potter has proved to be an important piece of literature to look at from a historical as well as social perspective, particularly because it is children’s literature. Children are the formative impetus in society and the young adults reading this series are the people coming into the beginning stages of a new national consciousness and, as such, it is onto them that history, attitudes, politics, and culture are most easily imprinted. 1 For this very reason the series is not only significant but should be taken into far greater consideration than people have allowed heretofore. On September 20, 1999, Rowling became the first children’s writer in history to be featured in a Time magazine cover story and Harry Potter mania became even greater than it already was. By this time the first two books had already been given three awards and were named “one of the best books of 1998” by three United States magazines. Since its publication, the Harry Potter books have received in excess of thirty awards (Mehlenbacher). The series has been translated into 64 languages and sold 325 million copies, as of February 2007, before the publication of the final novel; the release of The Deathly Hallows saw 11 million copies sold in Britain and the United States combined in the first 24 hours (BBC). The statistics of Harry Potter, while impressive and certainly speaking for themselves, show a larger importance of the series on our society’s youth: it is an incredibly widely-read series that is impacting young adults across the world and imparts vital moral standards in our culture. However, the series manages to convey these moral teachings to the children that read it without being didactic or overly moralizing - appeasing both kids and their parents. While the series has encountered controversy from parents, schools, and religious communities, there have been numerous rebuttals from people who realize that the series, far from being anti-Christian, has many Christian symbols and is unlikely to promote paganism and occultism in children. Likewise, the women of the series - Hermione, Ginny, Professor McGonagall, etc - create a strong feminist reading; rather than creating a patriarchal world, Rowling shows strong women who propel the story forward: truly, where would Ron and Harry be without the ever­ 2 present assistance and intelligence provided by Hermione? The series has also been listed as one of the top 100 books that should be on teachers’ lists for their classrooms, demonstrating how important the series is not only to be read by children but taught by schools - giving children a more informed, intellectual perspective to the already fun-to- read adventure series. All of this raises the question: what is it about the Harry Potter series that appeals to so many people, across cultures and continents? Perhaps it is the universality of the novels: the immense battle between good and evil involving a prototypical hero and villain yet with some alterations that do not allow readers to simplify the battle to merely good versus evil, Harry versus Voldemort. Perhaps it is the combination of genres: bildungsroman, fairy tale, adventure quest, boarding school narrative, Gothic, detective novel, and fantasy fiction that appeals to so many people - it has something for everyone to enjoy. It is an epic quest for knowledge and truth; a quest that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and every child must go through and experience. Harry Potter also reintroduced the literary hero in a dramatic way. Harry Potter is courageous, loyal, brave, cunning, reckless, daring, and chivalrous: everything a person could hope for in a friend and hero. While cinema has maintained a continuous stream of hero characters, the literary world was somewhat lacking, especially in the world of young adult literature; however, Harry Potter changed all of that, creating a multiform heroism in the context of the 21st century (Berndt & Steveker 2). Not only did Harry Potter give children a role model of morality, valor, and acumen to look up to but it has also provided professionals in several fields of study an opportunity to debate, analyze, and utilize the novels to further their fields. 3