JKR, Harry Potter, and the Nature of Evil

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 19736

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Barbara Purdom <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
> 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...
> There's some major stuff in the books having to do
> with people's reactions to their fathers.  One has to
> wonder, how would Harry have interacted with his own
> father, had James lived?
> 

I can't add anything about Harry's interaction with James - I need to 
think about it, 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