Department of English and American Studies. English Language and Literature

Transcription

1 Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Magdaléna Vránová Moral Ambiguity of Selected Characters in Harry Potter Novels Bachelor s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. 2016

2 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography... Author s signature

3 I would like to thank my supervisor, Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D., for his advice, patience and for the time he devoted to this thesis.

4 Table of Contents Introduction... 5 Chapter 1 - Theory of Morality... 8 Theories of Morality... 8 Good and Evil Chapter 2 - Morally Good Characters Chapter 3 - Morally Bad Characters Chapter 4 - Evolution of the Moral Development of the Characters Conclusion Works Cited English Résumé Czech Résumé... 56

5 Introduction This thesis will analyse Harry Potter novels by the British author J. K. Rowling and its fundamental purpose is to prove that there exists no such thing as an utter good or utter evil. Being one of the most successful book series of all times, Harry Potter novels provide an immense number of elaborated characters, unpredictable plot twists and sophisticated story development. This thesis will concentrate on the issue of moral ambiguity in the series of Harry Potter and will deal with the issue of morality from the theoretical as well as practical point of view. It will provide a theoretical background of moral theory focusing on such theories dealing with the fight between the good and the evil. Also, practical examples will be given as the other part of this thesis will concentrate on the appliance of these theories in the books. This thesis will also analyse both characters, either considered good or bad, and will provide examples of their ambiguous behaviour in order to prove that one should not put a label on those characters thoughtlessly and with a prejudice, as nothing in the world is black or white and the truth is always somewhere in between. Last but not least, a great deal of attention will be paid to the evolution of the characters and their moral development and maturity as well as to the plot itself throughout the series. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate that an individual should not be judged merely on the basis of how his or her acts appear towards others. When writing about characters which tend to be described as utterly good, facts based on their behaviour will be found and presented in order to prove that their nature is not so definite and their acts are not always so good. On the other hand, when describing characters considered as bad, situations and facts showing the better side of their personality will be presented. Also, it must not be omitted to mention that, of course, 5

6 everyone including all of the Harry Potter characters have their weaknesses and virtues. However, this bachelor thesis will concentrate merely on those characters, whose ambiguity is in contrast with the pigeonhole they had been put into by the author. To put in other words, attention will be paid only to those characters, whose traits of characters are serious and deep enough to make the reader have doubts about which side, whether good or bad, these characters are truly on. The first chapter of this thesis will be concentrated on the theory of morality and various moral theories. It will focus on the theories created by significant scholars in this field and the results of their research, which will be discussed. Also, the definition of good and evil will be provided and the issue explained in this part of the thesis. This will provide a background for the latter chapters. Second chapter will deal with the characters perceived as morally good in the Harry Potter series, Albus Dumbledore in particular. This character will be analysed and discussed with respect to the theories of morality and moral goodness or badness. As well as morally good characters, characters usually perceived by readers as morally bad will be analysed. Chapter three will deal with Severus Snape, a typically bad character, whose morality is doubted in the books. Finally, the last chapter will concentrate on the evolution of morality in the Harry Potter novels, beginning with the first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone and ending with the last one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Also, attention will be paid to the author of the books J. K. Rowling and how the books have been affected by her personal struggles and experience. In this thesis, a large range of sources will be consulted. Primarily, the thesis will analyse all of the seven Harry Potter novels written by J. K. Rowling. Regarding the most relevant secondary sources, The Social Psychology of Good and Evil by Arthur G. Miller will provide its finding and will be helpful when dealing with the issue of 6

7 morally good and evil characters as it closely analyses this issue. Another significant secondary source is a book by James Rachels The Elements of Moral Philosophy since it will help to form a definition of morality and help the reader to clarify the issue. Also, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy by Robert Audi will be greatly consulted. The purpose of this source in this thesis is to explain and define various terms and it will be consulted mainly in the first chapter. 7

8 Chapter 1 - Theory of Morality The purpose of this thesis is to concentrate on morality and moral ambiguity in Harry Potter novels. The series of books appears rather complex and elaborate and the author based the most significant events and facts in it on the moral complexity. In order to have a closer look at the characters themselves and analyse them, first it is necessary to clarify and define what morality and particularly moral ambiguity is, which is a major purpose of this chapter. Theories of Morality Characters open to more than one interpretation have appeared in literature since time immemorial. Most typically, authors tend to put a label on individual characters, therefore most of them are either bad or good as this division enables authors to create a balance between moral values. However, there are characters which cannot be categorized in either of those definitive categories. These are characters which emit features of both good and bad moral values, although they are, nevertheless, usually inclined to be either more good or more bad. Krakowiak et al. claim that Literary researchers use the term ambiguous characters to refer to characters that are morally complicated and that possess both good and bad qualities; characters that are unwaveringly good or bad are not considered ambiguous. (Krakowiak et al. 4) It is not a new phenomenon that such characters appear in fiction with regularity. Not only does moral ambiguity generally guarantee an unpredictable plot, it allows for the creation of the particular character which is more realistic and closer to the readers. Joanne K. Rowling is a contemporary author in whose work one can find a lot of examples of morally ambiguous characters. As the books, in fact, deal with the matter of good and evil, there can be found many instances where a character must make a 8

9 difficult choice or decision. In this part of the thesis, however, a theory of moral ambiguity will be focused on. (Krakowiak et al. 11) (Flotmann) In order to have a deeper look at this issue, it is necessary to define what morality is. According to the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, morality is an informal public system applying to all rational persons, governing behaviour that affects others, having the lessening of evil or harm as its goal, and including what are commonly known as the moral rules, moral ideals, and moral virtues (Audi 586). In other words, according to this definition, morality is thus a legally non-binding system of rules applied to an individual in order to determine the boundaries of his or her behaviour. Also, the crucial purpose of morality is to prevent such behaviour which would be harmful or damaging and the fact that each individual has different set of rules and values is rather significant. Therefore, it is impossible to determine a unified and universally valid system of values since such values differ not only from one individual to another, but they also differ based on religion, cultural conditions and plenty of other aspects. Another point of view is provided by Socrates, whose interpretation of morality is slightly different and with whom the French philosopher and scholar Jacques Maritain was concerned with. As Maritain suggests in his book, view of morality of Socrates is as follows: The art of morality is not the art of living morally with a view to attaining happiness; it is the art of being happy because one lives morally. (Maritain) This statement puts an emphasis on the well-being of an individual. Instead of strict following rules and behaving in socially the most acceptable way, Socrates promotes the way of life, including adopted ideals and virtues, which make an individual happy and thus are not difficult to follow. According to Socrates, humans sometimes wish to go after what he thinks is bad in place of the good. (Parry) This point of view rather 9

10 differs from the one provided in the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy as the latter one defines morality as something which should prevent such a behaviour. On the other hand, the fact that morality varies and each individual has a different set of rules determining what is acceptable and what is not is thereby proved to be true. The problem with the interpretation of Socrates is that while a thing which makes one person truly happy can be a source of great concern to another person. To put in other words, when an individual behaves in a certain way which he finds acceptable, it does not mean that others will perceive the same thing or situation with equal pleasure. In such situation, a conflict of who is going to subordinate to the other person arises. Another approach was defined by Aristotle. According to the theory of Aristotle, described by Joe Sachs, the translator of Aristotle and Plato, moral virtue is the only practical road to effective action. What the person of good character loves with right desire and thinks of as an end with right reason must first be perceived as beautiful. Hence, the virtuous person sees truly and judges rightly, since beautiful things appear as they truly are only to a person of good character. (Sachs) This means that Aristotle puts a great emphasis on morality and perceives it as a way of an individual to behave properly and communicate effectively. Also, according to Aristotle, an individual behaves morally if the final action of his is perceived as generally beautiful. In other words, if a person loves something with desire and thinks of it with right reason, the same thing does not have to be necessarily moral since what is beautiful for someone does not have to be beautiful for somebody else. The moral theory of Aristotle also lays stress on aspects influencing a fulfilling manner of living, friendship, wealth and pleasure in particular. (Sachs) J. S. Mill defines the theory of morality as a theory which claims that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness (Mill 10, 210) (Sachs) 10

11 However, the utilitarian theory concerning morality is held that it is merely consequences that matter. Thus, in the case of morality, utilitarians believe that when an action is performed, the most important part of it is the result. However, it is not right to trust the common sense of an individual when making a moral choice, because the issue might be much more complex and cannot be solved that easily. Also, the conception of common sense might differ in relation to a period when an individual making a decision is living as a perception of what is acceptable and what is not differ due to a period of time as well. James Rachels in his book The Elements of Moral Philosophy also points out that there are plenty of irrational prejudices influencing our society nowadays and yet we are not able to detect them as we are surrounded by a fog and this enables us to see all the consequences. Rachels claims that: Cultural influences have set up the assumptions about the mind, the body, and the universe with which we begin; pose the questions we ask; influence the facts we seek; determine the interpretations we give these facts; and direct out reaction to these interpretations and conclusions. (Rachels 115) This statement is of interest since as a matter of fact it claims that morality of a human is dependent on cultural conditions and may differ greatly. Put another way, the reaction of an individual may differ not only as a result of different thought processes, but also as a result of different cultural conditions. Given the fact that each definition of morality to some extent differs from the others and, at the same time, taking into consideration that each author of moral theory has a slightly distinct approach towards this issue, it is absolutely essential to define a minimum conception of morality, from which all of the other theories are derived. Since James Rachels sought to define the aforementioned minimum conception of morality, one possible definition may be determined through the medium of his words. Morality 11

12 is a behaviour of an individual in the best possible manner which an individual considers appropriate, using his or her common sense and, at the same time, the impact of such behaviour and how it affects other individuals should be taken into consideration. According to Rachels, one should give equal weight to his or her mental processes as to how people might potentially be affected by what has been said or done. (Rachels 13) Rachels also provides a definition of a conscientious moral agent who is, according to his point of view, someone who is concerned impartially with the interests of everyone affected by what he or she does. Also, such a person should ascertain all the facts, scrutinize principles and make sure they are sound and reasonable, and, last but not least, should be prepared to revise his or her former beliefs. (Rachels 14) Good and Evil Defining the matter of morality and delimitation of this conception comes hand in hand with the concept of good and evil. Taking into consideration that the main purpose of this piece of work is to concentrate on the issue of moral ambiguity, it is necessary to specify and determine the good and the evil, in terms of the theory of morality and ethics. Moral ambiguity then always occurs somewhere depending on the circumstances - in between those two points. Renée Fuller in his article Understanding Good and Evil in Children's Literature claims that: The similarity in what is considered good and evil in our various human cultures is not accidental. Good and evil are concepts that represent the essential rules of behaviour without which no society can survive. (Fuller) Together with morality, the conception of what is good and what is bad differs on the basis of cultural diversity. However, there is a great similarity among cultures in terms of what is considered either good or evil. 12

13 As has been mentioned, there are good values and bad values. In this part of the text, the former one will be focused on. However, the issue is rather complicated since when we talk about good moral values, we usually refer to the matter of how we ought to behave and what is the best appropriate behavioural pattern. This is rather complicated to determine as moral values are not the same over the world and thus it is impossible to determine one collective definition of the good. According to Robert Hinde in Why good is good: the sources of morality, the mechanism by which people come to hold moral values (in the sense of values seen as good) and behave in moral ways are similar in many respects to those by which immoral (in the sense of bad) values and behaviour are acquired. (Hinde 3) Despite this one mutual attribute, there are significantly more attributes which distinguish those two opposites. Most commonly, goodness is viewed as something which is an essential part of human nature. The concept of goodness is usually perceived as based on the idea of love, hope, truth and bonding among people. (Audi 286) Also, R. M. Hare in his work The Language of Morals notes an interesting issue. We get stirred up about the goodness of men because we are men. This means that the acceptance of a judgment, that such and such a man s act is good in circumstances of a certain sort, involves the acceptance of the judgement that it would be good, were we ourselves placed in similar circumstances, to do likewise. (Hare 141) According to Ralph B. Perry and his article The Conception of Moral Goodness, the concept of goodness goes hand in hand with sensibility, religion, art and even knowledge of an individual. Moral society is based on the unfolding of impartial, hospitable, disciplined ideals and the most essential basis in terms of morality is justice. Also, in the point of view of Perry, the ideals which morality will support must 13

14 be those in which moral beings may be brought to unite, not by repression or forcible constraint, but through the free cultivation of love and enlightenment. (Perry 153) Another approach is provided for example by John Campbell who is a great defender of the Kantian view on moral goodness which defines a morally good motive. According to this definition, such a motive cannot be merely a result of a current mood of an individual and cannot be concentrated on fulfilling the needs of only one person, thus it should not be self-centred. Moreover, not only Kantians claim that morally good motive must be accessible to all rational people and its content should be universal, they also believe that such motive should be trustworthy, reliable and inevitable. According to the point of view of Robert Johnson in his article Kant s Moral Philosophy : Immanuel Kant... argued that moral requirements are based on a standard of rationality he dubbed the Categorical Imperative (CI). Immorality thus involves a violation of the CI and is thereby irrational. (Johnson) Also, as Campbell claims, we cannot rule out the possibility that motives based in reason confer moral worth. (Campbell 550) Rather significant is the fact that it must be sufficient enough in order to perform a free action and, also, that animals should not possess this motive. (Campbell ) In the article Moral Evil as Apparent Disvalue, David Hicks claims that a morally evil person is one with evil or vicious motives, attitudes, dispositions and/or will (Hicks 10). However, as well as when attempting to define what moral goodness is, in this case it is also impossible to provide one universal definition as points of view of various people differ and thus are unfeasible to generalize. For example, The Social Psychology of Good and Evil is a psychological and sociological piece of work which reflects on the matter of evil actions performed by humans. In this work, author claims that there is a great paradox as it rather often occurs 14

15 that when an individual performs a violent action, he or she hardly considers himself or herself as evil. To put in other words, the boundaries of when a people become doers of something bad is rather variable and often they would not even admit they have done something they should not have. In this book, the definition of an evil action is described as performing violent, harmful, cruel, and oppressive acts. (Miller 85) Also, Miller and his colleagues reflect on why some people are performing evil acts, or at least, why are they performing acts considered by other humans as evil and attempt to provide answers for these questions. Given the extensive research, they decided to divide the root causes into four categories. The first category is when malicious deeds are employed as a means to an end which means that some people behave in a non acceptable way (in other words, they perform evil actions) in order to achieve their personal goals without expressing sympathy towards other people. The second cause of malicious deeds is when people cause harm, either mental or physical, due to previous behaviour of someone else who wounded their pride or self-esteem. As rather remarkable can be considered the fact that, despite the widely spread assumption, people with low self-esteem in general do not tend to cause violence more than people with healthy self-confidence. The next root of evil consists in people who consider malicious acts as absolutely necessary in order to achieve something positive and these people might also believe that such acts are their moral duty which often occurs when people are trying to make world a better place by disposing of innocent or undesirable individuals. The last but not least root of evil is sadism. Although sadism is often portrayed in fiction and in the accounts of a victim, it is rather rare in everyday life. However, even though people feel impulses tempting them to perform a malicious act, they often resist and manage not to give in (Miller ). 15

16 At this point, it is necessary to define what ambiguity is. According to the Macmillan English Dictionary, the definition of ambiguity is as follows: ambiguity is something that is not clear because it has more than one possible meaning or ambiguity is a confusing mixture of feelings or ideas that makes something hard to understand (41). Also, Macmillan English Dictionary provides a definition of ambiguous acts, which are described as not definite and rather difficult when attempted to be classified or understood. Ambiguous acts are able to be interpreted in more than one way and thus are rather difficult to understand as they might appear confusing (41). Regarding moral ambiguity, there exists no such thing as entire goodness or badness. Given definitions of ambiguity, the character of a morally ambiguous individual appears unclear and often mysterious. Also, moral ambiguity often goes hand in hand with difficult ethical or moral choice, which might transform even entirely good or bad characters into morally ambiguous ones. Also, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms defines ambiguity as an openness to different interpretations; or an instance in which some use of language may be understood in diverse ways (Baldick 7). William Empson, who is an influential figure in the field of ambiguity, in his best-known piece of work Seven types of ambiguity claims that ambiguity itself can mean an indecision as to what you mean, an intention to mean several things, a probability that one or other or both of two things has been meant, and the fact that a statement has several meanings. (Empson 24) This claim indicates that ambiguity might be either intentional or unintentional, depending on whether the speaker is aware of meaning of his words (or actions), or whether ambiguity occurred without him or her realizing complete impact of his or her words or behaviour. To sum up, ambiguity (or 16

17 moral ambiguity) is by many difficult to be understood since it involves a lot of aspects and thus appears confusing. 17

18 Chapter 2 - Morally Good Characters In this part of the text, a character appearing as morally good, nevertheless possessing morally bad characteristics as well, will be analysed. Firstly, it is necessary to make the remark that the author of the Harry Potter series novels Joanne Kathleen Rowling created a diverse variety of literary characters in her books, however, this work is going to concentrate merely on those, whose ambiguity of morality reaches such severity that it forces a reader to question his or her current perception of a particular character. That is to say, this chapter will be focused on such a character who, in spite of being described and generally perceived by readers as a good one, evinces features of characters commonly delineated as bad and thus appears confusing and ambiguous in his behaviour. A typical example of the aforementioned description is represented by the character of Albus Dumbledore, a father figure to the main character, who may be found throughout the whole series of all seven novels and who undoubtedly is one of the most significant and crucial characters. Although utterly good in Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone, Albus Dumbledore evolves and exposes concealed mysteries of his personality as the story continues, particularly in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last from the whole series. As has already been noted, Dumbledore is depicted and perceived by the public as a character occurring on the good side. Larry Craddock in his article "Good Moral Character" as a Licensing Standard claims that a morally good character is someone who is consistent with the community's current ethical standards and that shows an absence of deceit or morally reprehensible conduct and, also, who shows an absence of moral turpitude. (Craddock) 18

19 Firstly, it is necessary to clarify and demonstrate how the character of Albus Dumbledore is portrayed by Rowling in her novels and what impression this character makes on a reader prima facie. A physical description of this character is as follows: Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. (Philosopher s Stone 77) Considering this characterisation, Albus Dumbledore is not portrayed as possessing features typical of either bad or good character based on his appearance when mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone. Instead, he is portrayed as completely neutral and lacking features which would indicate his morality or personal characteristics. However, later in the books, Rowling points out warmth and heartiness of his personality rather frequently. For instance, the author depicts this character as twinkling kindly down (Chamber of Secrets 216) at someone, smiling serenely (Chamber of Secrets 220) or looking unusually grave (Chamber of Secrets 53), where the latter indicates that such an expression on his face is rather rare and not typical of this character as it does not correspond with genuine nature of his personality. The character of Albus Dumbledore is portrayed as greatly kind, immensely wise and rather caring and intelligent. As a matter of fact, hardly any imperfection can be found on his personality until book five, as Rowling portrays him in a nearly schmaltzy way. Diana Patterson in her book Harry Potter s World Wide Influence claims that The idealisation of Dumbledore in the reader s mind is carefully woven by Rowling, while she reveals little of his character and motives, making Dumbledore the mysterious hand whose secret deeds affect the whole plot and Harry s fate in particular. (Patterson 26) 19

20 As Patterson suggests, Albus Dumbledore is greatly idealised in the novels. For a long time, Rowling intentionally depicts this character merely in a good light, flawless and, in a certain sense, as superior to other characters appearing in the books. "We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, Harry and Ron thought. "See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?" (Philosopher s Stone 194) This extract from the first book indicates that the character of Dumbledore is regarded as an authority and someone whom others always seek when in need of advice or having difficulties since he is always willing to give an advice and knows all the answers. Such situation occurs rather often in the series, Dumbledore is frequently sought for advice or asked for help. Put simply, when a problem arises, the person concerned consults Dumbledore and, as this character would say, help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. (Chamber of Secrets 173) One of the reasons for such behaviour is the fact that he is considered the greatest wizard in the magical world of Harry Potter and thus plays a role of not merely a moral authority, but also represents a certain sort of a superior power from which every other significant sequence of events derives. Although Rodney Hall in his article Moral Authority as a Power Resource argues that a moral authority is employed as a power resource to construct and define the rules of hieratic, feudal-theocratic social order, it does not appear Dumbledore would be able or had the objective of taking advantage of such power and influence as his apparent concern is well-being of all individuals, young students of his school in particular. Not only is Albus Dumbledore believed to rank among the greatest wizards, he also ranks among the most open-minded and magnanimous magicians of the wizarding world created by J. K. Rowling. He is a well known supporter of students from 20

21 muggle 1 families and those, who somehow differ. For instance, the character of Dumbledore is a significant supporter of not numerous, yet misunderstood and discriminated species of creatures such as giants, merpeople, house-elves, werewolves, etc. "But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school..." (Prisoner of Azkaban 258) Another example of his generosity and magnanimity can be noted when another character, Hagrid half human, half giant is being denigrated for impurity of his blood and ancestry and Dumbledore shows a great deal of sympathy and understanding. Such deeds thus even more contribute to increase of his popularity and creating image of a generous man. Dumbledore left the cabin, pausing only to scratch Fang s ears.... Hermione kept patting his arm, and at last, Hagrid looked up, his eyes very red indeed, and said, Great man, Dumbledore... great man... (Goblet of Fire 395) Despite his sensitivity and empathy in terms of sympathizing with others, Albus Dumbledore is also portrayed as an indefatigable fighter against injustice and malefice, who devotes his life confronting evil wizards performing the dark arts. For instance, Dumbledore is a well known defeater of a wizard of this kind named Grindelwald. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in (Philosopher s Stone 77) Also, he is considered the only person whom the main negative character in Harry Potter series, Lord Voldemort, is afraid of and this fact is of a great importance for the plotline. 1 Muggles are people lacking the ability to perform magic. Sometimes they are considered as inferior sort of people by some (although usually morally bad ) wizards in the series. Muggle-born you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards like Malfoy s family who think they re better than everyone else because they re what people call pure-blood. (Chamber of Secrets 75) 21

22 At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore's face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye moody was more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore's face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat. (Goblet of Fire ) As apparent in this extract, Dumbledore truly is a significant character in the books and being portrayed as fearless, wise and respected, he appears as a complete opposite to evil. As a matter of fact, not only he appears as an opposite to evil, but he also officially holds office of a head of an organisation fighting evil, The Order of Phoenix and, also, later in the books takes charge of an unofficial students organisation Dumbledore s Army. Involvement of Albus Dumbledore in aforesaid organisations only proves his commitment to fight for good and determination to literally save the world. And Harry remembered his first nightmarish trip into the forest, the first time he had ever encountered the thing that was then Voldemort, and how he had faced him, and how he and Dumbledore had discussed fighting a losing battle not long thereafter. It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated.... (Half-Blood Prince ) Another significant feature typical to this character is putting an emphasis on the importance of love, truth and solidarity, which goes hand in hand with his engagement in fight against evil since these values constitute the contrary to the values peculiar to dark wizards. Concerning Dumbledore being a teacher, mentor, and a father figure to the main character Harry, basically all his teachings are based on the idea of the united wizarding society where each individual respects others and where such society is built 22

23 on the principle of love. Therefore, given the definition that The concept of goodness is usually perceived as based on the idea of love, hope, truth and bonding among people (Audi 286), it is obvious that Albus Dumbledore is portrayed by Rowling as a morally good character since he corresponds with attributes of moral goodness. However, it is not until the last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows, when this character can be seen in an entirely new light since not yet revealed information about life of Dumbledore emerge. But I can promise that anybody who still thinks Dumbledore was white as his beard is in for a rude awakening! Let s just say that nobody hearing him rage against you-know-who would have dreamed that he dabbled in the Dark Arts himself in his youth! And for a wizard who spent his later years pleading for tolerance, he wasn t exactly broad-minded when he was younger! Yes, Albus Dumbledore had an extremely murky past (Deathly Hallows 27) As observed in the extract above, his past is not exactly what one would expect considering his good reputation and renown. Firstly, in the last book of the series the main character Harry, who has always looked up to Dumbledore, learns that his mentor and a role model used to associate with one of the most dangerous and malicious wizards of all times, Grindelwald, during his youth. But not only Dumbledore was a friend with this evil wizard, they also formulated plans which would enable them being in charge of the whole wizarding community and thus acquire nearly unlimited power. As Dumbledore himself admits, the immense desire for power remained his great weakness and temptation even in his later years. According to David Willer and his colleagues in their article Power and Influence: A Theoretical Bridge, power may be defined as the structurally determined potential for obtaining favored payoffs in relations where interests are opposed. (Willer 573) In other words, this definition suggests that a person possessing power is able to 23

24 promote his or her own interests in a situation which might not be acceptable for someone else. As obvious in Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows, Dumbledore sought precisely such form of power and even though one would assume that Dumbledore, considering his apparent kindness and generosity, would employ it in order to promote noble interests, the truth is quite the contrary. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, in- flamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution. Oh, I had a few scruples. I assuaged my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards. Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes. If the plans we were making came to fruition, all my dreams would come true. (Deathly Hallows ) Although his former plans have never been implemented, his intentions could hardly be considered morally good since forcing other individuals into subservience simply does not represent a humane manner of treating people. Such mentality resembles dictatorship rather than democracy and implementation of beliefs of this sort can barely result in a liberal, content and morally acceptable society. Michel Foucault in his book Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth claims that In the abuse of power, one exceeds the legitimate exercise of one's power and imposes one's fantasies, appetites, and desires on others (Foucault 288), which obviously is the case of Dumbledore as he evidently strove for asserting his immoral convictions. Also, Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows admits that, in those days, he wanted glory, he wanted to shine, become invincible and even to conquer death, and his brother Aberforth Dumbledore describes him in an equally unimpressive manner: Not Albus, he was always up in his bedroom when he was home, reading his books and 24

25 counting his prizes, keeping up with his correspondence with the most notable magical names of the day. (Deathly Hallows 455) Having compared the resulting potential society to dictatorship, such a regime would presumably be strict and severe. As Gene Sharp in From Dictatorship To Democracy: A Conceptual Framework For Liberation suggests, Dictators are therefore likely to threaten and punish those who disobey, strike, or fail to cooperate. However, that is not the end of the story. Repression, even brutalities, do not always produce a resumption of the necessary degree of submission and cooperation for the regime to function. (Sharp 19) Nevertheless, it must be noted that even though initially captivated by such prospects, Dumbledore eventually relinquished his former beliefs and parted with Grindelwald, who later implemented his convictions and hence became one of the most feared wizards of all times. On the other hand, it is rather difficult to believe that someone who was acclaimed for his kindness once sympathized and supported such a dreaded wizard. Another weakness of Dumbledore is the idea going hand in hand with the desire for power, the ideology justifying perpetrating various, and often monstrous, acts under the guise of generosity - the concept of the Greater Good. This concept is based on the idea covered by Philip Rice in his book On The Knowledge Of Good And Evil claiming that a smaller present good is not to be preferred to a greater future good. (Rice 250) This idea certainly does not appear completely wrong since it surely has a great depth, nevertheless, it would have to serve purposes other than submission of muggles and domination of wizards over other human beings, who are, in contrast with the wizards, strictly speaking defenceless. As noted in The Social Psychology of Good and Evil,... hardly anyone recognizes himself or herself as evil. Ironically, many who have perpetrated what history has come to condemn as some of the worst excesses regarded themselves as trying their best to do something good and noble. (Miller 85) This theory 25

26 surely applies to the former beliefs of Albus Dumbledore as he and his friends wanted to teach the Muggles their place (Deathly Hallows 457), which is, notwithstanding his youth at that time, incompatible with considering such person as a virtuous human being and a role model for others. Arthur Miller also argues that people often perform things which might be regarded by others as evil in a misguided effort to do good. (Miller 91) What is more, Dumbledore also failed in the matter of taking care of his own sister, which was an unfortunate consequence of his failure to look after her properly, even though certainly not deliberately. And at last, my brother had an equal to talk to someone just as bright and talented he was. And looking after Ariana took a backseat then, while they were hatching all their plans for a new Wizarding order and looking for Hallows, and whatever else it was they were so interested in. Grand plans for the benefit of all Wizardkind, and if one young girl neglected, what did that matter, when Albus was working for the greater good? (Deathly Hallows 456) Although the above described is merely a problem of his past, even at the time of his employment as a headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and particularly when the story of the main character Harry Potter takes place, it is possible to notice certain ambiguities in his morality. The tendency of Dumbledore to manipulate people, untruthfulness and, to a certain extent, selfishness could be considered the most severe ones. The problem with the truth is rather a crucial one since Dumbledore appears rather secretive towards the main character Harry. Instead of providing information and being honest with his intentions which include other people as well, Dumbledore keeps a lot of issues in secret and assigns other people with difficult tasks even though he fails to give them information they need. Therefore, he prevents them from making a free choice and essentially achieves his goals in a rather inconsiderate manner since he has not taken into consideration opinions of other 26

27 individuals. Burgess and Burgess in their book Truth emphasize the definition of Aristotle whose view on truth is as follows: To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true. (2) To put in another way, truth is what corresponds with reality. In the case of Dumbledore, his ability to speak the truth could be called into question. Despite all of his good qualities, he can hardly be regarded as a truthful and honest person, even though he barely resorts to lying. However, intentional withholding information is of the same value as telling lies. Particularly in a situation when an individual, who is following orders commanded by someone else, is not familiar with purposes of his or her mentor and, at the same time, when the mentor is aware that the person following his orders would not perform such an activity in case he knew all the consequences. A situation of this kind occurs as Dumbledore fails to provide crucial information to one of the Hogwarts school teachers, Severus Snape, who afterwards feels deceived. I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter s son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter. (Deathly Hallows 551) However, Severus Snape is not the only person who feels deceived due to Dumbledore. Harry Potter, the main character, is also rather disappointed when he realises Dumbledore keeps a large amount of significant issues in secret. Dumbledore's betrayal was almost nothing. Of course there had been a bigger plan; Harry had simply been too foolish to see it, he realized that now. He had never questioned his own assumption that Dumbledore wanted him alive. Now he saw that his life span had always been determined by how long it took to eliminate all the Horcruxes. Dumbledore had passed the job of destroying them to him... How neat, how elegant, not to waste any more lives, but to give the dangerous task to the boy who had already been marked for slaughter... And 27

28 Dumbledore had known that Harry would not duck out... because he had taken trouble to get to know him, hadn't he? (Deathly Hallows 555) That is to say, Dumbledore still promotes the idea of the Greater Good even if it meant that someone who unboundedly trusted him has to sacrifice himself. As Aberforth Dumbledore remarks, a lot of people involved in activities of Dumbledore end up harmed, and with their lives completely different than before. This sort of selfishness is in a noteworthy contrast with the Greater Good, since the concept of the Greater God in fact suppresses needs of an individual in order to pursue more noble objectives. Given the definition by James Rachels that morality is a behaviour of an individual in the best possible manner... the impact of such behaviour and how it affects other individuals should be taken into consideration (13), Dumbledore can scarcely be perceived as a solely good character, however, it is impossible to think of him as a purely evil character either. Albus Dumbledore later in his life regrets his former misconduct and is aware if his mistakes. Also, even though he once had the eventuality to be led astray, he chose otherwise and devoted his life to fight evil. To conclude, as Bethany MacCallum in her article Dealing with Dumbledore: Undefining Moral Ambiguity in J. K. Rowling s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows suggests, The moral ambiguity set up by the character of Dumbledore carries with it the idea that life is not easily defined into binaries or dichotomies Clearcut binaries simply do not exist, and the character of Dumbledore displays this in his morally ambiguous past. (232) 28

29 Chapter 3 - Morally Bad Characters Unlike the previous chapter, this part of the thesis will concentrate on the characters from Harry Potter novels which appear as morally bad, but possess certain praiseworthy characteristics as well and thus rank among the morally ambiguous ones. Surprisingly, a rather large amount of such characters can be found in this series as Rowling created a considerably large number of them. Nearly a majority of all morally bad characters is comprised of Lord Voldemort adherents, or as Rowling named them, Death Eaters, whose common feature is a desire for power, seizing control over the wizarding community and, last but not least, purifying the world from the nonwizarding community. However, this chapter will focus merely on the character of Severus Snape, an unpopular Potions teacher at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who has a penchant for the Dark Arts and whose morality appears rather unexpectedly ambiguous and complex even to a greater extent than the morality of Dumbledore. According to Ann Kirk, the author of J.K. Rowling: A Biography, Rowling was allegedly inspired by her former chemistry teacher who liked to pick on students out of the blue to answer questions, often frightening them even though they came to class prepared (Kirk 35) (Evans 318) when creating the character of Severus Snape. This character appears in the storyline as far back as the first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone was released and is an integral part of the story until its very end. Snape is delineated as a rather embittered teacher whose typical features are hooked nose, sallow skin and greasy black hair. Also, this character never expresses his emotions and his reputation among students, except for those of his own house, can hardly be considered good. A more somber use of sibilance is the name of Severus Snape, whose given name reminds readers that he is a severe faculty member, while 29

30 the hissing sounds and fact that his surname is just one letter off from snake probably help readers remember that he is headmaster of Slytherin House (Nilsen 65) As obvious in the extract above from the article Naming Tropes and Schemes in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Books by Don L. F Nilsen and his colleagues, Rowling intentionally predetermined Snape to appear in a negative light and thus his image has been even further consolidated. However, it is not his appearance that makes him appear as completely evil. As noted in the article The Great Snape Debate written by Peter Appelbaum, When we first meet Snape, we receive a picture of a tyrannical and unpredictable teacher who may have talent with potions but has few social skills, and hardly any more pedagogical skills. (10) Such a suggestion is completely accurate. Severus Snape certainly is a character who seizes the opportunity to ridicule, humiliate and give a hard time to anyone whom he dislikes whenever it is possible. This sort of aversion is apparent particularly in his relation to the main character, Harry Potter, against whom Snape truly is biased and never misses an opportunity to disgrace him. The office dissolved but re-formed instantly. Snape was pacing up and down in front of Dumbledore. mediocre, arrogant as his father, a determined rulebreaker, delighted to find himself famous, attention-seeking and impertinent You see what you expect to see, Severus, said Dumbledore, without raising his eyes from a copy of Transfiguration Today. Other teachers report that the boy is modest, likable, and reasonably talented. Personally, I find him an engaging child. (Deathly Hallows 545) Nevertheless, this dark, mysterious and unpredictable character bullies not only Harry, but also other students from houses other than his own. He constantly abuses his position of power as he rather often acts tyrannically towards young children in his classes and, what is more, is by no means impartial or empathetic. Such manners appear 30

31 even more serious considering that the probability of being affected by such behaviour is higher in case of children who are unable to defend themselves. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach. (Philosopher s Stone 102) Generally, a teacher should lead by example and act decently and in a sensible way. According to the definition of David Hicks, a morally evil person is one with evil or vicious motives, attitudes, dispositions and/or will. (Hicks 10) Considering malicious behaviour of this character, Snape can undoubtedly be designated a morally evil person in compliance with above mentioned definition since he corresponds with the description. However, the behaviour of Snape towards his students does not constitute the greatest problem with his morality. Ever since the days he attended school, Snape sympathized with the beliefs of the followers of Lord Voldemort, one of the most evil and dangerous wizards, and later in his life even became his adherent. "Ever since I found out Snape was teaching here, I ve wondered why Dumbledore hired him. Snape s always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at school. Slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid, he was." Sirius added, and Harry and Ron grinned at each other. "Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly-all turned out to be Death Eaters." (Goblet of Fire ) Also, Snape murders Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and takes control over Hogwarts school, which then transforms into a despotic institution. Mary 31