Percy, etc. as Parzival (was: Re: [HPforGrownups] Re: Official Discussion Questions for the next Few Months: Question #1)

[Bernadette M. Crumb]

No: HPFGUIDX 37272


----- Original Message ----- >
> A week or so ago somone posted a response in the Harry as
Arthur thread, with regards to the Arthurian knight
> Parzival.

SNIP
>I remember thinking that this might have more to do with Percy -
Percival - than with Harry.
> Many names in HP are indicative of their bearer's personality,
and I think it's very possible that Percy's name is the
> first indication that in the struggle between Dumbledore and
the MoM, he will at first ally himself with the wrong side,
> and only later realise his mistake and correct it.

Ah yes.  That was my post.  I'm glad someone got some use from
it!. :)  And I'd seen the parallels to Percy, but since that
conversation was about Harry, I didn't put the Percy stuff in
that post.

I thought of another parallel that I hadn't thought of before in
the Percy/Parzival connection.

We've all noted how Percy is so very rule-bound.  He's a stickler
for the absolute letter of the law.  Even when the letter of the
law is not the best thing for society.  He's bloody annoying
about it, from his pompous attitude as a new Prefect during
Harry's First year to his focus on the thickness of cauldron
bottoms.

At the very beginning of Wolfram's Parzival story (once he's gone
off on his first adventure after leaving home), Parzival is a
bloody annoying git... His mother gave him specific rules of
behavior to follow and he follows them to the letter, not
thinking for himself at all--and it gets him into trouble! (In
his case, he ruins the reputation of a duchess because he just
doesn't know any better and in the end restores it once he's
educated himself, and realizes the harm he's caused her when he
encounters her again.) He also takes the rules that his first
mentor of the knightly life tells him and takes them too
far--having been told it's impolite to ask nosy questions,
Parzival doesn't ask Anfortas what is wrong and the whole mess
with the Gral happens.

> My apologies to whoever posted the Parzival post in the first
place - first for not remembering your name, and second
> it I've made any grievous errors with the material.

Don't worry, Abigail. :)  I'm pretty new to the list and most
people aren't familiar with me yet.  And you got the material
pretty much down pat. :)  I tend to specify which Parzival I'm
referring to, since Malory's (why did I just want to type
Malfoy?) and Wolfram's are somewhat different in behavior.

I've tried to make Arthurian connections to other HP characters,
and obviously, the Dumbledore/Merlin connection is strong, but I
think I'm going to find better connections when I get into the
old celtic legends like the Mabinogin (not sure if I spelled it
right)...  I'm definitely finding more connections with the male
charactes in HP than I am the female... Hermione has been right
difficult to find an archetype for, although Ron could fit any of
several of the various knights in Arthurian and other Medieval
romances... (I'm getting some hints of EREC AND ENIDE connections
but they haven't gelled yet.)

I do hope that Percy's personality has a real reason for being
the way it is instead of just being another method of telling the
characters apart in that big Weasley family!

Bernadette

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no
survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value
to survival."
-- C.S. Lewis (1898-1963).