[HPforGrownups] Lockhart - Yuck!

[Margaret Dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 19366

meboriqua at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Am I the only one who really dislikes Lockhart?  Because I do.  When
> trying to figure out why CoS is my least favorite in the series, I
> feel that Lockhart has a lot to do with that.  I know he is comic
> relief for many and he very well serves the purpose of teaching the
> lesson that looks aren't everything, but boy, did I find him annoying!

No, indeed you're not the only one!  CoS is probably my least
favorite in the series so far, simply because Lockhart gets on my
nerves so badly.  He's like fingers on a blackboard!  Mind you,
I'm not faulting JKR for creating him.  She just characterized
him all too well.

I find I like my heroes (and other characters, too) to have
courage, competence, and compassion.  Lockhart has =none= of
these.  He's a coward, he sucks as a wizard, and cares about
nobody but himself.  As such, of course, he makes a perfect foil
(gold foil?) for the other characters who =do= possess these
qualities (or some of them:  Snape is interesting because he has
the first two but not, by and large, the third), but somehow that
doesn't make him any easier to take.  For me, at least -- YMMV!


--Margaret Dean
  <margdean at erols.com>