Love and Death in Harry Potter
To describe the sensation that Harry Potter has caused as a phenomenon would be an understatement. During the whole history of children’s literature, none other series of books have wracked a bigger havoc of craziness. Ever since 1997, when the black-haired, bespectacled eleven-year-old wizard first rose onto the stage of the fiction genre, there has been a shelf in every bookstore devoted to adventure to the trio — Harry, Ron and Hermione — in their quest against the Dark Lord. However, is Harry Potter merely about some immature wizarding children waving some silly sticks and saying a few funny words? Not at all. A careful reading would reveal the true underlying theme—love and death.
Death
The first death we encountered with Harry was that of his parents, Lily and James Potter. In due course, Harry learnt, piece by piece, that actually he was the intended victim. He only escaped on that fateful Halloween night “by luck and chance” (DH 01).
But, this was hardly the end. Things were just beginning to get darker and messier. As Harry progressed through his years at Hogwarts, more threat of death materialized and more actual death occurred. In the first and second book, Harry only managed to escape narrowly, firstly from the slave of the Dark Lord and then from Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort) himself. Barely a year later, Harry along with his friends nearly had their souls sucked out of his mouth by the Dementors. Following these were the deaths of his school friend, beloved godfather, wise headmaster, and countless courageous others, who refused to surrender to the evil clutches of Lord Voldemort. Death is something that continuously appears throughout the series, that weaves in and out of the plot, and that is both painful and, yet, unavoidable for Harry.
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But Harry had to learn to recover from the death of his loved ones. After all, death is irreversible, and “no spell can reawaken the dead”(GF 36).
Through the years, Harry began to come to grasp with this idea. After hearing his parents’ last moments replayed in his head, he told himself sternly that “they’re dead and listening to echoes of them won’t bring them back” (PA 12).
When Sirius died, Harry had searched desperately for some kind of loophole, some way that his beloved godfather would return. But when Dumbledore died barely a year after that, Harry only felt numb, for he knew that his last and greatest protector is gone, and he must let it go. He must move on. It does not do the dwell upon death and forget to live. There are tasks to be done and evils to be defeated, and he must continue along this “dark and winding path” (HBP 30), despite everything that is at stack.
In spite of the irreversibility of death, it is not to be feared. In answer to Harry’s bewildered exclamation that Nicolas Flamel “and his wife will die”, Professor Dumbledore said that “to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”(SS 17).
It is the unknown that we fear, when we look upon death, and nothing more. In a way, facing death is similar to looking ahead into the immense darkness of a thick forest. With minds ready for challenges and hands ready for struggle, we have nothing to fear for a forest; nor is there anything to fear for death. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”(DH 16).There is always things that lives on after the initial person had died. Lily died leaving Harry with a magical protection that Lord Voldemort wasn’t able to penetrate for seventeen years; James died leaving Harry with a hatred for the dark arts; Dumbledore died leaving Harry with the determination to set everything right. The spirit and legacy of the dead acted as a torch in guiding Harry on his journey to save the wizarding the world. In a way, the dead never truly leaves us, they are alive in our hearts and they would remain so for all eternity.
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Love
When Professor Dumbledore first told Harry about the power that will aid him in defeating Lord Voldemort, there was a thought-provoking paragraph:
“There is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there.” (OP 37)
Though Harry didn’t know it at the time, what Professor Dumbledore was referring to was his ability to love. “The only protection that can work against the lure of power like Voldemort’s”(HBP 23).
Love is the reason why Harry survived when he was barely a year old, why when he looked into the Mirror of Erised, he saw not fame or riches, but his family, and why he was able to walk calmly to meet “the close”(DH 34).
In the end, love proves to be the true conqueror of everything, including death. For years, Lord Voldemort seeks to make himself impervious of death. His reign of terror made some of the best wizard flinch at the sound of his name. But, after almost fifty years, love finally prevailed. A young wizard barely of age triumphed over the greatest dark wizard for centuries. Like Dumbledore had explained after Harry thwarted Voldemort’s plan for the first time:
“If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign . . . to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection for ever.” (SS 17)
By protection, Dumbledore wasn’t merely referring to the fact that Voldemort couldn’t touch or harm Harry before his seventeenth birthday (OP 37).
He was, in fact, emphasizing Harry’s ability to love. Because of Lily’s sacrifice, Harry knew that he had been loved deeply, and thus learnt to love others as well. He had been misjudged and mistreated, but he remained pure of heart (HBP 23).
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It is this ability to love that saved Harry from Voldemort’s possession (OP 36), that enables him to escape Voldemort’s clutches again and again, and that gives him the courage to calmly face death for the people he loved (DH 34).
Love is the true precious protection that Lily Potter left her son.
Yet, love is something that comes naturally. In the magic world of Harry Potter, even Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in existence, “doesn’t really create love”; “it only causes a powerful infatuation or obsession”(HBP 9).
At first, affection created by magic might seem sweet and romantic. But when the whole relationship is based on enslavement by magical means, one small tile misplaced and the whole building would come tumbling down. This is what happened to Merope Gaunt. When she couldn’t bear to keep Tom Riddle Senior under constant magical influence, she decided to stop giving him love potions. After the enchantment lifted, Riddle left, without considering his pregnant wife or his soon-to-be born son (HBP 10).
Love couldn’t be forced, for it is a harmonious relationship between a man and a woman, formed by mutual care and affection.
It is true, the basis of love is just as simple — care and understanding. Just as after Dumbledore’s funeral when Harry decided to tell Ginny that their relationship must end, he knew by the look on her face that she’d understand. “She would not say ‘Be careful,’ or ‘Don’t do it,’ but accept his decision, because she would not have expected anything less of him”(DH 30).
Ginny understood Harry’s need for everything to be over, and she knows that only by ending their relationship could he go on with his quest without looking back. Their mutual affection had already bound the two souls so tightly together that each have become part of the other. And this combination enabled them to understand each other perfectly, even without explanations.
When the bond of love is formed, it means much more than understanding. Love is about devotion. Severus Snape, with a deep devotion to a woman whom he loved since he was a little boy, dedicated his life to working against Lord Voldemort and protecting her son, Harry. His method may not have been approved; his way may not have been understood. But the devotion remains, long and lasting. The same is true for friendships. In Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, “we’re coming” was the answer he got when he asked Ron and Hermione to turn back(SS 16).
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Five years later, the answer still remained so. “We’re with you whatever happens”(HBP 30).
Through thick and thin, Harry, Ron and Hermione had never really separated. There may have been quarrels and even jealousy, but, in the end, friendship always came through. Because deep down in the hearts of friends, there is a devotion that is eternal.
Love and death is not merely part of the fictional world of Harry Potter. Over the past century, the advancement of science and technology has made possible dreams that have long seemed unattainable. The invention of airplanes have realized the human dreams of flying, and it won’t be long before Invisibility Cloaks becomes a reality. Our real world has become not so unlike that of Harry’s magical world. But “the old argument” remains (HBP 20).
People still craves love and fears death. But as the lucky generation that grew up with Harry, we have gained an understanding and a relief on this two aspect of life: share your love and don’t be afraid of death.
inspired by essay of the same title
