Harry/Henry Potter and Harry/Henry V

[rja.carnegie at excite.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20167

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., catherine at c... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Rita Winston" <catlady at w...> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Barbara Purdom <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
> > > Well, that immediately got me thinking that perhaps
> > > Harry isn't a Harold at all, but a Henry 
> > 
> > IIRC JKR said in an interview that Harry's name (what I call "birth 
> > certificate name") is Harry, not Harold or Henry or Harrison.
> > 
> > I associated Harry's name with the battle cry "For England, Harry, 
> > and St. George", which my high school english teacher told me was 
> > still used in WWII even tho' it started with the Henrys you cite in 
> > the middle ages. 
> 
> I am surprised that I haven't thought about this before, as I did my 
> final year dissertation on Henry V.  It was used in WW2 - in fact, 
> Olivier's Henry V was the first film to be filmed in colour in the 
> UK - and one of the reasons for this was to raise morale during WW2.
> 
> I am not sure that the parrallel works  though.  I just can't see our 
> Harry as the irresponsible, fun loving Prince Hal which is portrayed 
> in Henry IV Part 1.  Harry, for me, has a great sense of 
> responsibility.  He also doesn't have the father/son issues of Prince 
> Hal.  I also don't see Harry having the kind of friends such as 
> Falstaff, Bardolph et al.  Prince Hal makes a conscious decision to 
> shoulder his responsibilies and in doing so moves away from the 
> friends of his youth.  I just can't see Harry needing to make that 
> decision.  IMO, their psyches and the issues they have to deal with 
> are very different. 

I'm not familiar enough with _Henry IV_ - which isn't exactly
history, not that that matters - but the comparison partly works
for me.  Harry Potter does know how to have a good time -
Quidditch, Hogsmeade (in POA, and he's firmly told off by Lupin) -
and so do Ron and Hermione.  Harry and Ron forget about Buckbeak
in POA, when their help could be useful.  And Harry may have
problems to come with one or more of his father-figures - he's
still younger than Hal at the moment, isn't he?

I don't think he'll have to give up his friends, though - but
he might have to give up Quidditch, for a greater battlefield.
Let me place an early hypothetical bet on the battle against
Voldemort being won on - or, rather, some dozens of feet above -
the Quidditch pitch of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Robert Carnegie
Meretricious!