Broad Strokes

[jomamaumd]

No: HPFGUIDX 46981

I am new to this list, and I couldn't believe it when I read that 
some of you think Dumbledore would be evil.  I did consider this 
viewpoint to convince myself I wasn't being naive, but I still find 
it completely ludicrous.  To paraphrase a Jason Isaacs interview 
where he discussed how he would play Lucius on-screen, "This being a 
children's series, Rowling seems to paint her characters in decidedly 
broad strokes."

Now, granted, the books have become less child-oriented recently, but 
I still believe Isaacs is on the right track.  Rowling seems to be an 
author, who, like Tolkien before her, conforms to archetypes and has 
firm ideas about "good" and "evil."  Now, aside from the characters 
whose loyalties we were meant to question - Snape, Sirius, Karkaroff, 
et al - all of the main characters have been vividly painted as as 
one extreme or the other.  We are given numerous examples of Lucius's 
malice, for instance, and just as many, I believe, of Dumbledore's 
unadulterated goodness.

I admit I was questioning this "broad strokes" theory for a while in 
relation to Draco.  He seemed to me to be the only character who 
could possibly be redeemed.  But on the train, after the resurrection 
of Voldemort, his choice of sides was clearly displayed, and can only 
be taken as an blatant statement of his evilness.

Thus it seems to me that all of Rowling's main characters are clearly 
painted as being on one side of the line or the other.  I am eager to 
hear your dissenting opinions.

- jomama