TBAY - Crouch Sr. as Tragic Hero

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 45402

"Sirius is dead sexy! JKR said it herself!" cries one sailor.

"Sirius? Good Lord, you have to be joking!" cries another. "Severus
Snape's the man!"

"Withdraw that right now," cries the first sailor. 

"I WILL NOT!"

"Name the time and the place."

"Theory Beach. By the dock. Seven o'clock."

"An awful waste of time," says an observer. "When everyone knows
Lupin's the one to crush on..."

"I have a bit of a thing for Arthur Weasley," says Elkins, who is
readjusting the deck chairs on the Imperio'ed Catamaran. "And Cindy
expressed a wish for a little hanky-panky with Fudge, once upon a time."

"For purely mercenary reasons," says Cindy cooly, who is engaged in
scuffing up the deck. "My heart belongs to Igor Karkaroff and Alastor
Moody in equal proportions." 

Eileen opens her mouth to speak.

"NO!!!!!!!!" scream Cindy and Elkins. "WE DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT
YOUR THING FOR BARTY CROUCH SR.!"

"Really?" says Eileen.

"Well, not really," begins Cindy.

"It's quite amusing, actually," says Elkins.

"You grow all defensive, though," says Cindy.

"Pretending we're making it all up," says Elkins. "You know what you
told Cindy and me."

"That you were hurt by our unfounded allegations that you had it bad
for Crouch," answers Cindy. 

"After all, you said it right there on the list, in front of God and
the 4000 lurkers and everyone. You even requested an acronym for it. So
you really can't blame us if we needle you for that, can you?"(1)

"But I'm a SYCOPHANT, Elkins. I can't take needling."

"Yes you can," says Cindy. "You have to learn to be tough. To suck
things up. Like Barty."

"Like Barty," says Eileen dreamily.

"Oh no," says Elkins. "Here we go again."

* * * * * * * * 

How on earth did a nice girl like myself end up with an acronym like
C.R.A.B.C.U.S.T.A.R.D.? It's a long story. I suppose the real answer
is that one should never surf Inish Alley for one's amusement. If one
does, one is likely to find some rather nasty things.
B.A.B.E.M.E.I.S.T.E.R. , for example. I believe it runs "Brilliant
Actor Barty: Evil Man Easily, Infinitely Sexier Than Ex-Riddle."

My jaw dropped. I didn't like Barty Crouch Jr. back then. I had yet to
be taught by Elkins that serving an evil Overlord, torturing the
Longbottoms, killing your father, ensnaring Harry Potter, and plotting
general death and destruction for the world is only a sympathetic
feature of adolescent rebellion.

"What is the world coming to?" I asked. "BABEMEISTER indeed! And his
poor father... does he get an acronym? No. Ungrateful brat!"

I picked up GoF, and said, "I am going to get Crouch Sr. an acronym if
I die doing it. Let's find evidence for sexiness. It might be a
stretch but here's to it!"

The rest is history.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/37476

Suffice it to say that I found very good evidence. I became quite
enamoured of the tough and steely Head of International Magical
Co-operation, to tell the truth. Not enamoured to the point of
blindness. I can still go all Solzhenitsyn on him when the situation
demands it.

-----------------
"You didn't mention CRABCUSTARD," says Cindy.

"I'm getting there," says Eileen, beginning to blush. "When I
requested an acronym, I never could have imagined CRABCUSTARD. Classy,
Rich, Ambitious, Bold: Crouch's Unsung Sexiness Tempts All Raunchy
Damsels. I nearly fainted."

"Yeeesssss," says Elkins, "there is something a bit, um, well,
*raunchy* about that one, isn't there?  Can't say why, precisely. 
It's somehow just a very unsavory acronym." (2)

"It took me quite a while to say C.R.A.B.C.U.S.T.A.R.D. without blood
rushing into my cheeks. And then when I had got used to that, you and
Cindy...."

"Don't cry," says Cindy. "I'm warning you."

"Why don't you like Barty Crouch Sr.? Why are you unmoved by
everything I say? Isn't it obvious that the text invites us to
sympathize with Crouch?"

"No," says Cindy bluntly.

"It is to me!" wails Eileen. "Even before I decided that Crouch was
definitely sexy, I knew that. I knew it the moment I finally put GoF
down somewhere in the state of Idaho en route to Seattle."

"If you knew it," says Cindy. "How come we don't?"

"That's a very good question. I've been wondering a long time. What is
it in the text that makes me like Crouch Sr. and doesn't seem to
affect you at all?"

-----------------------------------

Not much has been written about Crouch Sr. on the list. He's not a
favourite character of listies. He gets a few mentions on "Least
Favourite Characters" lists, but that's about it. For instance, the
Chapter Discussions of "The Madness of Mr. Crouch," "Padfoot Returns,"
and "The Pensieve" (all Crouch-heavy chapters) featured no questions
about Crouch, and the discussion generated was limited. 

However, I found one gem of a post by CMC (Post 11177): 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/11177

"The Madness of Mr. Crouch - Shakespearian Connections"

Reading it, everything fell into place. I knew why I liked Crouch Sr.

To me, Crouch seems to be obviously set up as a tragic hero. Let's
examine him on the Tragic Quiz all right?

-------------------------------

"There's a tragic hero quiz?" asks Cindy.

"Well, I'm going to steal a lovely little summary I found on some
professor's website when I did a search on tragic heroes. Here it is
courtesy of Dr. Smith, Kentucky State University.
http://www.kysu.edu/artsscience/ENG411/tragic%20hero.htm 

Noble Stature - Check
Tragic Flaw - Check
Free Choice - Check
The Punishment Exceeds the Crime - Check
Increased Awareness - Check
Produces Catharsis - Check for me, X-mark for Cindy."

"Very nice but what does that list mean?" asks Cindy.

"Those are the traditional characteristics of tragic heroes. Do you
argue them?"

"I may not, but you COULD explain them in relation to Barty Crouch,"
says Cindy in annoyed voice.

-------------------------------

Noble Stature - The tragic hero does not start down in the dumps.
Crouch is tipped to be next Minister for Magic. He comes of an old,
pureblooded, and probably very rich family. He is popular,
good-looking, well educated, talented. He has to all outside
appearances a perfect family. His namesake son received 12 OWLs and
appears to be every bit as brilliant as his brilliant father. 

Nobility in tragedy also refers to virtue, however, and Crouch has
that as well going for him. Tragic heroes do terrible things and
Crouch does terrible things, but they have a lot of things going for
them as well. Crouch is on the good side. He fights against Voldemort
and protects people against him. He does this at great risk to
himself. Does anyone want to think about what Voldemort would have
done to Crouch had he triumphed? What he did in the little time he had
Crouch at his disposal? Imperius isn't the Unforgivable Curse that is
known to leave people insane, fwiw. 

Besides this, Crouch has a sense of honour. As Elkins has noted, he
gives Karkaroff his word, and releases him when it would have been
much easier to throw him back to the dementors as Moody advises. 

Tragic Flaw - What is Crouch's tragic flaw? 

I don't think it was not getting home early enough from the office,
whatever Sirius might say. That line has always struck me as
hilarious, considering that for almost 10 months of the year, Crouch
Sr. could have got home early from the office any day, and then what?
Barty Jr. was at Hogwarts, for heaven's sakes! 

No, the key to Crouch's character (and I'm sure Sirius would
ultimatley agree) can be found in PS/SS. 

"Those cunning folk use any means // To achieve their ends."

Before GoF, that ethic is limited to the bad guys. GoF's moral
complexity stems from the fact that Crouch Sr. is introduced to employ
that ethic on the good side. 
What is the moral problem of using any means to achieve one's ends? I
am not a theologian or philosopher, but I remember one very concise
explanation. "Human beings are ends not means." This can be related to
Crouch quite well. It covers both his authorization of the
Unforgivable Curses on suspects and his relationship to his son, two
aspects of his character which the text obviously links but which
never seemed linked to me before. Charis Julia writes in the
ever-so-brilliant Message 37769:

"Which is also where I see Barty Sr setting off wrong with his son
from the very beginning . Jr could not have been instilled with such
rigid ideas of Good and Evil as his father proudly exhibits. Crouch
probably just delivered the lecture and skipped the explanation. He
would not have seen it as necessary? his son should do what he says
simply because he says it. Unfortunately however this left Barty Jr
not only resentful of his father's iron fist but also sadly
susceptible to Voldemort's "There is no good and evil?only power and
those too weak to seek it" persuasive little speech."

I see here the tragic flaw asserting itself. The belief that people
should do as he disposed him, that he did not have the responsibility
to treat them as people first and foremost. This shows up in all his
actions, down to his final dismissal of Winky. I've never believed
Barty Jr. that his father didn't love him. (It seems to me like the
sort of thing any immature teenager might say.) I would be hard
pressed to believe that there was no emotional bond between Winky and
him. But Barty Crouch Sr. did not let love (any of the four loves)
dictate his relationships with others. He used people and therein lies
his downfall. 

Free Choice - It is important that a tragic hero (at least the modern
tragic hero, I suppose Oedipus had no choice in the matter) fall on
account of his own free choice. Fate or chance can conspire against
him, but in the end he must destroy himself. Remember Macbeth in this
regard. He did not have to follow the dictates of the witches, when
push comes to shove, but he did. 

Crouch Sr. chooses his downfall at several points throughout the
story. First and perhaps most seriously, he chooses to authorize the
Unforgivable Curses on suspects. Then, there is his "I Have No Son!"
which leads thematically to his rejection and destruction at the hands
of his son. He then chooses to flout the law by rescuing his son from
Azkaban and putting him under the Imperius curse. At last, he
dismisses Winky, the only protection he would have had against Voldemort. 

The Punishment Exceeds the Crime - The tragic hero always gets more
than he deserves. This may not mean exactly that he only does X and he
gets punished enough for X and Y. It generally means that he gets more
than anyone deserves. Crouch qualifies here. To start off tamely, he
loses his power and reputation. He loses his family, in different
manners, his wife, his son, and Winky. He is placed under Imperius by
Voldemort and forced to carry out Voldemort's scheme to kill Harry and
countless others. He is rejected by his son, who finally murders him.
What Voldemort did to him in the mean time is a not-so-pleasant topic
of speculation. As I said before, insanity does not seem to be a
common result of Imperius... Whatever the case is there, he spent the
last months of his life physically and spiritually alone, tormented by
his own choices, as well as Voldemort, Pettigrew, and Barty Jr.

Have you ever tried to imagine the final scene between him and his
son? I always back away from it. Elkins once explained that she tries
to believe that Barty Crouch Jr. was unconscious when he was Kissed,
but that she doesn't really believe it. It's too horrible to think of,
she said, and I concur with her. Yet, I have a similar reaction to
this scene. I have tried to convince myself that it was done quickly,
and that Crouch didn't realize what was happening, that he was
fluently conversing with Weatherby at the time. But I can't really
believe that. And I don't want to think about what really happened. 

Increased Awareness - The tragic hero needs to understand how things
went wrong, how he went wrong. 

" "I... escaped .. . must warn ... must tell... see Dumbledore ... my
fault... all my fault... Bertha ... dead ... all my fault. .. my son
... my fault... tell Dumbledore ... Harry Potter ... the Dark Lord ...
stronger ... Harry Potter ..."

Yep, I think Crouch qualifies. 

Catharsis - I suppose we've come back to the whole "Redemption Scene"
question here. I think there can be no doubt that "The Madness of Mr.
Crouch" reads on the surface as a redemption scene. Cindy has
attempted to argue that Crouch is really just cleverly pretending to
be redeemed.   No way to refute that, I suppose. However, taking the
text as it stands, it seems to me a perfect example of catharsis.
Tragic but uplifting that in the end he comes to an understanding of
his life. 

--------------------------------

"And there we are," says Eileen looking about. "Why I like Barty
Crouch Sr. I've said in the past that Crouch Sr. reminded me of Brutus
(not the one who killed Caesar, but an ancestor), condemning his own
sons to death. So Porphyria sent me a lovely portrait of the Crouch
family off-list which I would like to share with you all:"
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/david/brutus.jpg   

"EWWWWWWWWWW!" says Cindy. "Those Ancient Romans were twisted!"
Elkins, who has been starting at her shoes, looks up with interest.

"So you think Brutus is the model for Crouch Sr.?" she asks.

"To some extent. I also cited Julius Caesar's "Caesar's wife must be
above suspicion," in relation to his dismissal of Winky."

Elkins nods.

"But I think there's another non-Roman model. Shakespeare's King Lear:
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child!"

"Crouch wasn't sentimental like Lear," says Elkins with a thin smile. 

"No. Crouch isn't Lear. But he's very like Lear, isn't he? A Lear
without Cordelia or Kent."

"How about Winky?" asks Elkins.

"Oh my goodness! It fits. Winky, the only person loyal to him, is
banished just as Cordelia and Kent, if for a different reason. And
wandering out of the Forbidden Forest. Can one possibly not detect the
Immortal Bard here? And you know, King Lear is my favourite of
Shakespeare's plays. The dark, depressing one. The play about
parricide and fratricide etc. Whatever it is that appeals to me about
Lear appeals to me about Crouch."

"But..." begins Elkins.

"Just a moment. One more thing. Some canon that struck me as rather
interesting."

-----------------------------

Mr. Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore.

"I think that's all, is it, Albus?"

"I think so," said Dumbledore, who was looking at Mr. Crouch with mild
concern. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay at Hogwarts tonight,
Barty?"

-------------------------------

"Is it just me or does Dumbledore seem to show some affection for
Crouch there? His concern is only "mild" and therefore not linked to
some idea in his head that this might be linked to Voldemort. He's
worried about Crouch, the same way I feel he is worried about Harry,
Snape, and others. The fact that Dumbledore disapproved of what Crouch
had done doesn't mean he didn't care for him."

"But..." begins Elkins again. 

Eileen continues talking. "And if anyone wants more wonderful Crouch
stuff, check out Charis Julia's posts."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/37567

and 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/37769

"But..." says Elkins. "Do you want to hear me out or not?"

"I do," says Eileen. "I really do." 

*********************************************************

(1) and (2) were comments made to me by Elkins off-list. 


Eileen

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For further explanation of the acronyms and theories in this post,
visit Hypothetic Alley at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/files/Admin%20Files/hypotheticalley.htm
and Inish Alley at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/database?method=reportRows&tbl=13

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