Evil or Irritating (was Re: Idle musings on Book Six)

[caliburncy at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27825

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Megan" <virtualworldofhp at y...> wrote:
> I don't think we can classify Rita under that category of "truly
> evil".  If she's evil, then Dobby and Lockhart are too...because 
> they irritate me just as much.

Okay, I'm going into my "being obnoxiously semantic" mode.  I 
apologize--I have generally tried to keep my "being obnoxiously 
semantic" mode at the length of a twelve-foot pole away from the group 
as there are certainly a sufficient number of L.O.O.N.S. here already. 
 But I just can't let this one slide, it's just too much.

How is being irritating a criterion for being evil?

Both the terms "irritating" and "evil" are conferrances of judgment, 
but "irritating" is generally considered a subjective judgment and 
"evil" an objective one.

Now, I'm the last person that should be talking about "good" and 
"evil", because quite frankly I don't believe such a distinction truly 
exists.  I definitely believe in "right" and "wrong", but that's not 
the same.  Anyway, that's another discussion for another time, and 
probably not even on this list.

But evilness, if it exists, surely has an objective definition?  
Surely its not just based on our personal opinions like someone being 
deemed "irritating" is?

So, if we take evilness in literary terms as fulfilling the role of 
the antagonist, then Rita IS evil.  She is a clear antagonist to our 
protagonists (Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, etc.), because she causes 
problems for them.  Whether she is irritating is immaterial.  Lockhart 
is also evil, under this definition, because he is an antagonist to 
Harry and Ron.  I suppose he and Rita could be coined as "less" evil 
(if indeed evil can be said to have "degrees") than Voldemort, but 
this is logical as Voldemort is the primary antagonist.  Dobby, though 
quite possibly irritating, is not evil under this definition.  He 
assists the protagonists; he does not cause them any detriment with 
bad intent.

Or, if we take evilness as being morally corrupted, than the same 
conclusions generally apply (Rita and Lockhart are evil but Dobby is 
not).

Okay, that's out of my system.  Please continue.

-Luke