I love how Quirrell and Lockhart are such great examples of what can happen when you corrupt a Ravenclaw (My house!) - they’re like two very different sides of the same coin. JFR had this to say about Quirrell on Pottermore: “I saw him as a gifted but delicate boy, who would probably have been teased for his timidity and nerves during his school life. Feeling inadequate and wishing to prove himself, he developed an (initially theoretical) interest in the dark arts. Like many people who feel themselves to be insignificant, even laughable, Quirrell had a latent desire to make the world sit up and notice him.” Like, he was a brilliant student with a knack for the theory of both dark arts and defensive magic, but he was so incredibly timid that he had a really difficult time executing anything (except when he was possessed by Voldemort). Quirrell set out deliberately to find whatever remained of the dark wizard, partly out of curiosity, partly out of that unacknowledged desire for importance. at the very least, Quirrell fantasized that he could be the man who tracked Voldemort down, but at best, might learn skills from Voldemort that would ensure he was never laughed at again. So, he sought to make a name for himself beyond his status of stuttering boy and he had hoped that he could gain fame by tracking Voldemort down or he could do even better by learning from Voldemort how to stand up for himself in an unhealthy way. “The Hogwarts teacher was both naive and arrogant in thinking that he would be able to control an encounter with Voldemort, even in the dark wizard’s weakened state. When Voldemort realized that the young man had a position at Hogwarts, he took immediate possession of Quirrell, who was incapable of resisting.” Definitely more of an optimistic Ravenclaw than a realistic one, he thought he could put an end to his troubles, but he was mistaken in thinking his theoretical knowledge would be sufficient for dealing with such a powerful force. He was subsequently subjugated, acting as a temporary horcrux and forced to do his master’s bidding no matter how hard he tried to resist. Quirrell’s story is a tragic tale that teaches us to put an end to bullying. Otherwise, someone will begin using dark methods of coping that ultimately destroy them in the end. However timid Quirrell was, Lockhart was every bit as vain. Lockhart was the youngest of three children born to a witch and muggle. Neither of his two sisters possessed magical powers. Due to this, his mother played favorites, so of course that messed him up a bit and it’s not entirely his fault. It wasn’t his choice to be the only child to have magical abilities and he couldn’t prevent his witch mother from focusing her attention on her clever, good-looking son. When he arrived at school, he was sorted into Ravenclaw and achieved good marks in his schoolwork. ”His teachers felt that he was of above-average intelligence and ability, and that, with hard work, he might make something of himself.” Unfortunately, his mother made such a fuss over him that he expected to walk through the school’s doors (a la Harry Potter) and instantly become a sensation. This was obviously not the case and had the opposite effect of squashing his vanity. “There was always a kink in his nature that made him increasingly unsatisfied. If he was not first and best, he would rather not participate at all. Increasingly, he directed his talents towards short cuts and dodges. He valued learning not for its own sake, but for the attention it brought him. So, the Sorting Hat obviously saw his knack for learning and thought Ravenclaw was a good fit, but Lockhart didn’t check his ego at the door and he approached learning with a more Slytherin set of values because he would rather use his knowledge for personal gain. After leaving school, his name began popping up in foreign lands with heroic deeds tied to it. “By perfecting memory charms, he had succeeded in modifying the recollections of a dozen highly accomplished and courageous witches and wizards, allowing him to take credit for their daring exploits, returning to Britain at the end of each ‘adventure’ with a new book ready for publication which retold ‘his’ feats of bravery with a wealth of invented detail.” Albus Dumbledore happened to have known two of the wizards for whose life’s work Gilderoy Lockhart had taken credit, and was one of the only people in the world who thought he knew what Lockhart was up to. Dumbledore was convinced that Lockhart needed only to be put back into an ordinary school setting to be revealed as a charlatan and a fraud. Professor McGonagall, who had never liked Lockhart, asked Dumbledore what he thought students would learn from such a vain, celebrity-hungry man. Dumbledore replied that ‘there is plenty to be learned even from a bad teacher: what not to do, how not to be’.” While it was true that it had become almost impossible to persuade anybody else to take the Defense Against the Dark Arts Job (the rumor that it was cursed was gathering strength both inside and outside Hogwarts), by subtly suggesting that teaching Harry Potter would set the seal on Lockhart’s fame, Dumbledore had set a lure that Lockhart could not resist.” So, the reason Dumbledore was able to fill the position at all that year was because he dangled Harry in front of Lockhart like live bait in front of a rainbow fish. For his sake, it was a lucky circumstance to have Harry at his disposal because Dumbledore was able to figure out what Lockhart was up to and planned to reveal his fraudulence to the Wizarding world while also teaching Lockhart’s students that it doesn’t pay to be treated with only-child status at home, only to spend the rest of your life trying to impress everyone for attention. He had never been a bad wizard, only a lazy one, and by the time that he returned to the school, Lockhart’s magical skills (once rather good) had become rusty almost beyond repair.” Lockhart’s story is a tragic tale that teaches us to not play favorites among children (in any setting: home, classroom, etc.) because disastrous results, in the form of engorged egos and vanity, are likely. If Lockhart hadn’t been the only child with magical abilities and/or hadn’t been so doted upon by his mother, he may have turned out to be much less of an attention-seeker and much better-equipped to put his intelligence, love of learning, and talent to better use. (Lockhart’s story is also a lesson to the Ollivander family for entrusting a cherry wood and dragon hearstring wand to a child with Lockhart’s background.)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 18:44:31 +0000
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