Five Moments That Allude to Dumbledore’s Relationship with Grindelwald
Rereading the “Harry Potter” novels with the knowledge of Dumbledore’s past in mind, certain moments take on a deeper meaning because they allude to his past with Grindelwald.
Tagged: analysis
Why Is a Dementor Like an Ice Pick?
The effects of the Dementor’s Kiss seem to bear some similarity to a certain neurosurgical procedure.
Lord Voldemort: A Monster Defined?
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s essay “Monster Theory: Reading Culture” presents several theories that are useful when examining a monstrous figure from text, film, or history. One of these theories is particularly applicable to the character of Lord Voldemort.
The Second of Seven: “Chamber of Secrets” and “The Silkworm”
Books within books – check out our comparison of “Chamber of Secrets” and “The Silkworm”.
Formulating love in “Harry Potter”
Psychologist Robert Sternberg is famous for formulating the Triangular Theory of Love. It states that “the three components of love are an intimacy component, a passion component, and a decision/commitment component.” Essentially, in this formula there are three factors in a successful romantic relationship, each equally important.
“Harry Potter” and the Nine Personality Types
Enneagrams (from the Greek word ennea, meaning “nine”) are “models of human personality” that are interconnected and can be formed into a circular diagram. Or in plain English, it’s like a personality test with nine possible outcomes that are all related to one another in different ways. Naturally, upon reading about enneagrams, I wanted to see if I could assign a character from “Harry Potter” to each personality type.
Is Draco Malfoy “evil”?
Draco Malfoy seems to be evil to the core. Even his last name, “bad faith” in French, seethes with evilness. You could say he deserves all the hatred the fandom can muster. But… is this really the case? Is Draco really someone “evil”?
Harry Potter and the hero’s journey
Last week, I found a post on Tumblr that analyzed a character from the TV show “Doctor Who” and compared that character’s journey to the pattern of Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth,” or “the hero’s journey” (the original post can be found here). Monomyth, as conveniently explained by Wikipedia, “is a basic pattern that its proponents argue is found in many narratives from around the world.” Essentially, it is the theory that many great literary heroes have all gone through the same seventeen stages of adventure (i.e., their stories all follow the same pattern). After researching this for a while, I was inspired to make my own comparisons between Harry’s journey in the “Harry Potter” series to see if it matched up with Joseph Campbell’s pattern.
