Competent Hagrid? - again

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 34118

I wrote:
>>  Hagrid also is very childlike -- emotional, impulsive, unable to 
>> see the consequences of his actions. I think this is supposed to be 
>> out of Hagrid's control...

And "jenny_ravenclaw" replied:
> If this is the case, my belief in his incompetence as a teacher is 
> confirmed even more....
> ... I am uncomfortable with the argument that characters 
> (or real people) are not in control of themselves and are therefore 
> excused from their behavior... when adults *choose* to turn 
> backsides 
> into pig tails or slam other adults into trees, or even adults who 
> choose to turn students into ferrets, I say that these adults are in 
> complete control of their behavior and know exactly what they are 
> doing. 

After re-reading my post, I realized that I never addressed the 
question of whether Hagrid is a competent teacher.  For the record, I 
think Hagrid is a nice guy, but a very incompetent teacher. 

Also for the record, I thought Hagrid should not have tried to turn 
Dudley into a pig.  And Fake Moody's bouncing ferret thing was way out 
of line (nasty though Draco is.) 

As for whether characters are responsible for their actions -- I think 
the rules are different in the Potterverse than in the real 
world.  In the Potterverse, one can lose self-control for reasons that 
don't exist in the real world -- the imperiatus curse, veritaserum, 
insanity caused by the cruciatus curse, etc.  Furthermore, the 
Potterverse is full of creatures that are human-looking, but 
unintelligent (fairies) or intelligent but not human in personality 
(centaurs) or even human only some of the time (werewolves.)  We can't 
expect all these creatures (or beings) to act like humans.  Hagrid is 
not fully human, and therefore perhaps human standards should not be 
applied to him. I believe that Hagrid is not to blame for his 
immaturity, but this has nothing to do with my beliefs concerning 
responsibility in the real world.