Barty Crouch, Jr. and Voldemort

[angela_burgess at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19990

>>Dave raises a lot of great points.  He also wrote: 
Barty Crouch Jr. is a curious mixture of vindictiveness and selfless 
devotion.  He clearly loves Voldemort and has enormous faith in him.  
In another cause, his singleminded pursuit of his goal and 
willingness to sacrifice for the sake of another would be regarded as 
exemplary.  It is clear that Voldemort's hold on him is not one of 
fear alone.  Of course, he is an unusual case among the Death 
Eaters...<<

Catherine then writes:
>>...but I have some thoughts on Barty Crouch jnr.  Is the man a 
hypocrite?  We know that he holds himself up to be Voldemort's most 
faithful servant.  He seems to revere him, love him - no fear 
involved here.  BCJ also hates with a passion all the death eaters 
who managed to escape Azkaban by renouncing Voldemort, or pretending 
that they were under the imperious curse, such as Lucius Malfoy.  

He says that he is Voldemort's most faithful servant and that he,  
personally, never dreamed of renouncing him.  I think that there is 
some very selective memories going on here.  IIRC, BCJ, when being  
sentenced by his father screams and pleads with him not to send him 
back to Azkaban, protests his innocence and says that he never had  
anything to do with torturing the Longbottoms.  This is in contrast 
to the Lestranges, who are truly faithful, and who accept their  
sentences and tell the court that the Dark Lord will rise again. They 
certainly do not renounce Voldemort.   
I admit that BCJ does help them try and find Voldemort after he has 
lost his powers, but he certainly denies his involvement.  Therefore, 
how can he say that he is Voldemort's most faithful servant?  I am of 
the opinion that he considers V as a father figure, and does see  
himself as a faithful servant - but I also think that he was 
resentful of the death eaters who walked free because they managed to 
escape the experience of Azkaban, unlike himself.  He was stupid 
enough to get caught - they weren't.-- Catherine<<

My thoughts on this have been swirling in my brain for quite some 
time (a Penseive would hae been great!), but I wanted to wait before 
I posted anything.  I am currently listening to GoF on audio, which 
makes this my 6th reading of it since it came out...not much compared 
to some of you, I'm sure, but plenty for most people.

Anyway, i got off track...I just listened to BCJ's trial again.  
While he definitely denies torturing the Longbottoms, he NEVER says 
that he does not support Voldemort.  In fact, he seems quite 
determined only to admit his innocence where the Longbottoms are 
concerned.  This seems to me as simply a matter where he is being 
tried for the wrong reason.  It is very possible that he didn't put 
the Cruciatus Curse on the Longbottoms.  However, if BCS had put him 
on trial for being a Death Eater, as they did Karkaroff, then he 
would not have denied it.  

It's like the television series (I don't remember the name) where the 
lawyer is able to get a criminal off because the reason he can't be 
guilty of the murder they are accusing him of is that, on the night 
of the murder, he was killimg someone else.  It's simply a matter of 
asking the right questions and accusing the criminal if the 
appropriate crime.  Does that make any sense?  Any thoughts out 
there?  

Angela