In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. depicts the characters associated
with evil and maliciousness, like Mr. Dursley, Draco Malfoy, and Voldemort, as
being petty, close-minded, and dull rather than grand or majestic, thus
establishing the banality of evil.
One malicious and trite character is
Mr. Dursley. Completely aside from his
nastiness to Harry, Mr. Dursley lives an incredibly banal life. Rather than having an exciting job, he is “the
director of a firm called Grunnings” which manufactures drills(Rowling 1). He and his family embraces conformity to the
extent they are “proud to say that they [are] perfectly normal” and are “the
last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious”(Rowling
1). This desire
for normality translates into a close-minded hatred for those different than
himself, for he “is outraged to see” an old man violating fashion norms by
wearing a cloak and thinks of the Potters and other people with magic as “them
and their kind”(Rowling 3,8). Thus, for
all his malice, he is fundamentally a close-minded person living out a dull and
prosaic life.
The same description could be applied
to Draco Malfoy. He posses a narrow-minded
hatred of all those who are different from him, declaring that Muggleborns
should not be let into Hogwarts because “they’re just not the same, they’ve never
been brought up to know our ways”(Rowling 78).
Moreover, Draco is a rather petty and insipid person who is so on focused
on proving his superiority that he frequently references his father’s wealth
and power and, being “jealous and angry, …taunt[s] Harry about having no proper
family”(Rowling 195). Thus, his great malevolence directly connects to his
shallowness.
Finally, Voldemort also combines evil
and banality. Even though that one might
expect that the central antagonist might be more capable of greatness, vision,
and majesty than Draco or Vernon, even if it is in the service of a horrible
cause, he is, on the contrary, not fundamentally different from the dullness of
those two. Voldemort, instead of having
a grand vision of how he can and should change the world in order to better it
or at the very least shape it in his own image, believes only that “there is no
good evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it”(Rowling 291). Thus, his
motivation is nothing more than a petty pursuit of power, just as Mr. Dursley’s
motivation is a petty pursuit of normality and Malfoy’s is a petty pursuit of superiority. Moreover, Voldemort also shares the close-mindedness
of those two, for the “one thing Voldemort cannot understand” is love, leading
to his failure and downfall (Rowling 299).
Three of the most prominent malevolent
characters in this novel, Mr. Dursley, Draco Malfoy, and Voldemort, are quite
banal, shallow, closeminded, and pity. Furthermore,
by associating malevolent characters with banality, Rowling, of course, associates
evil and malevolence in general with it.
I would disagree that evil as a whole is portrayed as banal in the book. It is true that the Dursleys live banal lives, but Voldemort and Draco Malfoy do not. The Dursleys experience banality because they value banality. They want to live normal, banal lives. They fear being seen as anything else by their neighbors, which is why “They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters” (2).
ReplyDeleteVoldemort, however, and to some extent Malfoy as well, aspires for greatness. He did, at his height, try to reshape the world in his own image, which is revealed in Hagrid’s comment, “He was takin’ over” (55). He insists on his followers, such as Quirrel, referring to him as “Lord” and “Master” and there is so much dark power associated with his name that few wizards dare to speak it. His view, which he taught to Quirrel, that “There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it” reveals a hatred of banality. Unlike The Dursleys, who see uniqueness as the greatest evil, Voldemort sees normality and banality as the greatest evil.
Malfoy, whose father was a follower of Voldemort who unconvincingly claimed to have been coerced, grew up hearing and sharing these ideals. He defines himself not by being ordinary, but by being special. He believes his pedigree and his wealth are what protect him from banality. He resents Harry because Harry is “special” in a way Malfoy can never be.
Along with the banality of evil, Rowling was also certainly saying something about those who have the capacity for evil. We have Voldemort, a dark wizard; Draco, a young boy and Mr. Dursley, a salesman. These three obviously are very different in almost every way, but they're joined by their roles as evil antagonists in the series. In doing this, JK Rowling shows that evil can come from anywhere, not just the stereotypical villain such as Voldemort. The boring salesman you work with has the capacity to go home and abuse his orphaned nephew. The spoiled rich kid can turn out to be an awful bully. Someone does not have to be a dark wizard to be a bad person.
ReplyDeleteIn addition her message that anyone has the potential to be evil, JK Rowling also shows that people are bad due to a culmination of their actions. Each of the evil characters “live” by committing taboo acts. Mr. Dursely gets joy from abusing Harry, and Draco maintains his social status in Hogwarts by bullying other students. Voldemort quite literally needs to stay alive by killing the pure and innocent, as Firenze says about killing unicorns, “You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself” (Rowling 258). All three commit vastly different evils but each conveys it through their respective status in society.
This banality was likely intentional on Rowling's part, to showcase the costs of achieving your goals through evil. Malfoy's impressive broom skills are overshadowed by the prodigal talent of Harry, who receives a rare position on the Quiddich team as a 1st-year. The Dursleys live comfortable lives and can shower their son in gifts and trips, but are pushed aside for Harry's story. Voldemort was one of the most powerful wizards of all time, but exists "as mere shadow and vapor...I have for only when I can share another's body" (293). He is the closest to death that he can be, while still existing in some form. These villains are banal, because the novel continually trivializes them by snatching away their power with negative tradeoffs or greater triumphs from the heroes. This extends to the very end of the series, where the costs of power for evildoers reduce them to shadows of themselves, to charectatures of humans.
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