[HPforGrownups] Imperius Curse, was The Madness of Barty Crouch, Jr???

[djtarb at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 30193

In a message dated Mon, 26 Nov 2001 10:21:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, caliburncy at yahoo.com writes:

>
> The only exception, as many have pointed out, where an ulterior 
> motive is less clear is his special attention to Harry regarding the 
> Imperius Curse.  Even here, various reasons may be present, although 
> none is conclusively stated:
> 
> *He may have been testing Harry's resistance to report back to 
> Voldemort (in which case Voldemort underestimated the report, I guess-
> -which wouldn't be the first time Voldemort was too confident in his 
> own abilities)
> 
Or, it may be that it never even occurred to him that Harry WOULD be able to resist the imperius curse, and he wanted to be able to show his power over the great Harry Potter.  It would be interesting to know whether other students subjected to the curse also heard that little voice but were not strong enough to resist or if the voice wasn't present.  Was Harry's ability to resist founded from his ability to question the order (free will, anyone?) or was it simply that he was strong enough to resist an order he did not wish to follow?

The Imperius Curse is one of my favorite JKR creations. Not because it is good, but because it shows us something about the nature of magical power.  We have a lot of discussion on this list about why someone didn't use a particular spell or take a particular action to effect change.  Maybe there are very different kinds of magical talent (just like math vs. verbal) and a person can be skilled in one aspect but not another, or in all aspects, or none!

It appeared to me that it was more difficult for Harry to resist Voldemort's Imperius curse than Crouch's.  Was this because V was a more powerful wizard?  Was it because Harry was in a panic, and therefore weakened?  It does seem that Harry's strengths are developed to oppose V's strengths.  Is the opposite true?  Where are V's and Harry's weaknesses, and can that be exploited by V's enemies?

Diane in Philly