Theme of Death in Harry Potter

Name :- Rathod Zindagi V.

Roll no. 13

Sem. –IV

Year -2012-13

Sub. To. – Dr. Dilip Barad

Dept. of English

Maharaja Shri Krishnakumarsinhji Bha. Uni.

Bhavnagar

Paper:- The New Literature 

Topic:-

Theme of Death in Harry Potter

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” 
― Mark Twin 

This writing  examines different attempts throughout the series to master death. It looks at mastering death through immortality, acceptance and sacrifice comparing the attempts of different characters to ultimately accomplish the same goal of mastering death.

“I DON'T CARE!" Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!"
"You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” 
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    The word “ Deathly”  features prominently in our life , you can kind of figure out that death and mortality would play a major role in this book. Basically , Harry is forced to finally confront the specter that’s been haunting him all these years death face to face. While death has always shadowed his life since the murder of his parents, now it’s right up close and personal. From the deaths of many beloved friends to the requirements that Harry Himself shuffle off this mortal coil, generally we readers are constantly forced to try and understand what death is , What is mean, and how to deal with it. From the beginning of the quest, Harry knows that his own death is possibility – but now it seems almost like a likelihood. Here , we see his first thoughts on his fear of death and the unknown.

Along with good vs. Evil, and the burden of being “the one”, death is a looming theme. Dumbledore paints death as a great adventure. Voldemort fears it and seeks to power over it. Throughout the series and especially in this last installments beloved characters die heroic deaths in the battle against Voldemort. Loved ones grieve their loss. This is the nature of Die.

Keeping Faith with the Dead

The only person capable of planning and orchestrating Voldemort’s downfall is Dumbledore, because no one but he has the wisdom or knowledge to piece together what Voldemort has done and figure out how to undo it. And yet Dumbledore knows that this difficult work will only be completed after his death. Not only Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but also Snape, Lupin, Moody, and all the members of the Order of the Phoenix have to keep doing their part after Dumbledore’s death, carrying out his vision. As we have seen, believing in Dumbledore’s quest after he is dead is not easy for Harry, nor is it for any of the others.

In an attempt to gain immortality to go with his quest for absolute power Voldemort tears apart his own soul and commits murders to create horcruxes to house the pieces of his shattered soul. Fear of death motivates a few wizards to choose life as ghosts. Nearly Headless Nick tells Harry “I know nothing of the secrets of death, for I chose my feeble imitation of life.” A ghost is merely an imprint of a departed soul, but having splintered his own this is no longer a possibility for Voldemort.

Although many will claim by the end of the series Harry has mastered death by casting away the temptation of the Hallows and embracing his own death, evidence from the text shows his acceptance of death only prolonged death in certain situations. Harry finally seems to come to this same conclusion at the end of the series when he ignores the Deathly Hallows, a chance to become "master of death". Would the Deathly Hallows have brought Harry closer to immortality, especially after he had already come closer to death than any other character in the series? Probably, but truly mastering death is impossible and after what he has gone through Harry knows this as well as anyone.