Green (and a note on Byron) (Was: Colors-McGonagall-Harry's Eyes)

[Porphyria Ashenden <porphyria@mindspring.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48618

SilverDawn wrote:

> So, my question is...why does McGonagall, the head of griffindor, 
> wear emerald green? (PS/SS 113) She even writes in "emerald green" 
> (PS/SS).  Is it because she is evil?  Also, what house was she in 
> when she was at Hogwarts.  Naturally, I assumed Gryffindor, but was 
> she in SLytherin?  Does anyone know?

Welcome to the list, SilverDawn. We have discussed a lot of this 
before, but we're always looking for new ideas. 

As to McGonagall -- there are advocates of Ever So Evil McGonagall 
(myself occasionally included <g>) who do see her fondness for green 
as suspicious, but unless we assume Harry and Lily are evil as well, 
then we should probably look for a more complicated symbolism for 
green. We don't know what house McGonagall was in, but most assume 
Gryffindor. I personally prefer to imagine that all Heads of House 
must have been members of the houses they head, but there's not much 
canon to back that up at the moment.

> Also, why are Harry (and Lily)'s eyes green?  Why not blue, hazel, 
or 
> brown?  Does JKR simply like green eyes, or is it a tie to 
> Voldemort?  Or, does green not necessarily signify anything?

Green symbolizes a lot.

>From the Online Symbolism Dictionary: 
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/G/green
.html

"Green is a dualistic color. It can represent envy, evil, and 
trickery, and/or growth, renewal, and life, as lush vegetation. In 
Arthurian legend the green knight slew all who attempted to cross his 
bridge, until he was killed by Arthur. In this respect green can be 
seen as death's unbiased nature and the slaying of the naive."

Envy, evil, trickery and unbiased slaying link it with Avada Kedavra 
and Lord Voldemort. But since green can also represent renewal, 
resurrection and love, this links it with Lily and her protection of 
Harry. 

Basically, green is a color that can go either way: it can symbolize 
life or death, decay or rebirth, sickness or regeneration. Green is 
associated with serpents too (as in Slytherin), and they can also 
represent good or evil, life or death, poison or healing (as with 
their use in the caduceus, which is also interesting as regards 
Snape). As the series develops, I suspect we'll see more good snakes 
(like the Brazilan boa constrictor) and bad ones (like Nagini), and 
more complicated associations with Slytherin house.

A lot of list members have examined the books use of red and green 
symbolism and noted how it relates to Alchemy. Caroline did a great 
analysis of green in support of the theory Stoned!Harry, which 
speculates that Harry is a living embodiment of the Philosopher's 
Stone: 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/38542
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/39473

Caroline brilliantly points out that Green's dualism makes it the 
color of *choices,* and hence, the major theme of the series.

Many list members have indeed speculated that Harry might have 
descended from Slytherin on his mother's side, and the green eyes 
indicate that. Personally, I don't think it's necessary that they be 
related, but simply that good and evil are symbolically linked in the 
complicated death/renewal/resurrection way that green represents. 
Furthermore, Harry doesn't need to be related to Voldemort in order 
to recognize a few similarities and that he can choose to act like LV 
or choose not to.

-----

I wanted to say more on the Snape as Byronic Hero thread, but what I 
had to say started getting really off-topic. I'm working on a post 
for OT-Chatter which replies to some posts from here, so if anyone 
would like to talk about Byronic Heroes in general with me, please 
check there later tonight. 

~Porphyria