Opening the Chamber of Secrets (on Lockhart)

[dherreid at colortechnology.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 11312

 
> IMO, Gilderoy Lockhart is one of the most singularly unpleasant
characters JKR has written and, perhaps, one of the reasons this book
comes up a little short of the others.  He is so completely
self-obsessed, that it becomes stifling, in spite of the humour.  Of
course, he is a caricature, but he represents a kind of shallow,
delusional vanity that is all too common in our convenience-driven
world.  
> 
> Neil


Neil - well written! I agree - however...

I found Gilderoy Lockhart to be one of the elements that carried what 
was, IMO, the weakest of JKR's story lines. Lockhart's comedy,
teaching the Peskipiksi Pesternomi spell, the duelling class, is well 
suited to show us his ruthless ability with memory charms and his 
desperation.

I will say that aspects of CofS were inspired in their conception. I 
was especially impressed with howlers, and Tom Riddle and his diary 
were endlessly clever. But, in the end, CofS seemed to lean too
heavily on incongruous elements (if there can even be incongruous 
elements in the wizarding world); an Egyptian tomb-like hall beneath 
Hogwarts, the sword pulled from the sorting hat...

GL emphasizes the point, running through all the books, that you
can't predict what anyone can or will do, no one really knows what 
anyone else is capable of - which further illustrates that it is our
choices, not our abilities, that make us who we are.

dherreid