Harry Potter contains at least a few themes that significantly enrich its content and are worth a more detailed analysis. In the second part of the series, therefore, another fundamental theme for the whole of Harry Potter will be discussed - love.
A philosophical view of love
Another very important thought that JK Rowling tried to convey to readers, and which at the same time seems to be ubiquitous in her books, is love and love in every sense of the word. Through the main characters, the author communicates the importance of love in life. He does it mainly with the help of Albus Dumbledore – the director of Hogwarts and a kind of Harry’s mentor. As soon as he meets the protagonist and gets to know him better, he tries to impress on him that love is man’s greatest weapon and that the fact that Harry can love determines his advantage over Lord Voldemort. For a long time, Harry does not fully understand the words of his professor, but with time, as a result of subsequent experiences and experiences, he understands what they really mean.
Image 1: Still from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Well, according to Rowling (and also Dumbledore himself, who on this plane is a literary reflection of the writer) love is not only romantic or even family love. Under the slogan “love” they hide in Harry Potterany good feelings such as understanding, compassion, and concern for others. You could say that love is everything that is associated with the so-called internal warmth. Harry learns that despite his disastrous beginnings, everything that surrounds him, such as friends, family (whom he meets in subsequent volumes) and allies, as well as the fact that he can sympathize and show understanding, are the greatest gifts he could. get. Additionally, his mother, Lily Potter, gave her life for him when he was only a year old, an act of love that saved baby Harry from Voldemort’s murderous spell.
Image 2: Voldemort
In contrast, Dumbledore makes him realize that Tom Riddle has been and is deprived of these very things – he cannot love because his mother, who died in childbirth, was unable to instill it on him, and he himself was conceived not by true love, but a love potion. Besides, he never had real friends, only followers, followers for whom he was a leader. Finally, the lack of any emotional relationship with others led to him becoming a man completely devoid of empathy, conscience, and insensitive to the suffering of others, and splitting the soul to form horcruxes even deepened it. In addition, his morbid fear of death stems precisely from his lack of love – his inability to realize that there are things worse than her is due to that he never had any loved ones that he could care for, or anything to lose or feel the loss of in the same way as the rest of the characters in the novel. What’s more, his lack of positive feelings leads to the fact that he spreads pain and suffering everywhere, wherever he appears, without doing anything about it, and at times even feeling perverse satisfaction. On this basis, Harry and Voldemort are compared again – one is an example of a man who can love and show compassion, while the other is a person totally devoid of all “inner warmth” and striving to achieve the goal over the corpses (unfortunately in many cases literally). his lack of positive feelings leads to the fact that he spreads pain and suffering everywhere, wherever he appears, without doing anything about it, and at times even feeling perverse satisfaction. On this basis, Harry and Voldemort are compared again – one is an example of a man who can love and show compassion, while the other is a person totally devoid of all “inner warmth” and striving to achieve the goal over the corpses (unfortunately in many cases literally). his lack of positive feelings leads to the fact that he spreads pain and suffering everywhere, wherever he appears, without doing anything about it, and at times even feeling perverse satisfaction. On this basis, Harry and Voldemort are compared again – one is an example of a man who can love and show compassion, while the other is a person totally devoid of all “inner warmth” and striving to achieve the goal over the corpses (unfortunately in many cases literally).
Love is the determinant of humanity?
Through the threads described above, JK Rowling refers to the real world, presenting another universal reflection. Namely, a man without love, warm feelings and understanding is nobody. Its lack leads to hatred and all the evil that people do to each other, and in extreme cases even to the birth of tyrants (led by the one who was a significant inspiration for Voldemort – Adolf Hitler). That is why it is so important to cultivate feelings and all that is good, because only in this way can people really be human and make the world a better place. It can therefore be concluded that love is not only the greatest gift Harry has received, but that a human being can ever receive. Moreover, it is the most fundamental feature of humanity,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows :
Don’t pity the dead, Harry. Be sorry for the living, and most of all for those who live without love.
Image 3: A still from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Image sources:
Picture 1: https://www.antyradio.pl/Filmy-i-seriale/Filmy/13-ciekawostek-ze-swiata-Harryego-Pottera-ktore-czynia-serie-jeszcze-szym-magiczna-37413
Image 2: https://www.women.com/ambercolby/harry-potter-lord-voldemort-quiz-082918
Image 3: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/remembering-wise-wizard-albus-dumbledores-12-greatest-quotes
