Voldemort as Christ figure

[kscottmccormick]

No: HPFGUIDX 37076

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "davewitley" <dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> 
> >And what about Voldemort--is *he* a Christ figure?  He has the 
> resurrection if not the self-sacrifice.
> To be fair, most of this could also be used to make him out as an 
> anti-Christ, too, who is depicted in Revelation as having a fake 
> resurrection.  Voldemort was not strictly dead and, indeed, refers 
to 
> rebirthing rather than resurrection.  > But I do wonder if JKR is 
in fact saying something about religion, or 
> at least religious sects.

Yes, Rowling is definitely saying something about religion.  
Voldemort's rebirth, as you point out, is more the point of the story 
than his resurrection.  Harry suffers symbolic deaths at the climaxes 
of the books and is reborn, assisted or accompanied twice by the 
phoenix, symbol of rebirth.  I discuss this in my paper "The Magical 
Journey: Symbols of Transformation and the Occult Foundations of the 
Harry Potter Books" if you´re interested.  It is at 
http://geocities.com/nopotter2001 .

Ken McCormick