Essence Divided

[Astrid Wootton]

No: HPFGUIDX 83186


Sydney:
To really get into this discussion, here is the full text of the mysterious
poem with some explanatory notes:
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1850.html

Astrid:
Thanks for giving the reference so that those who are interested can look at
the whole text.

Mandy
We know JKR is a fan of Shakespeare's, after all she has resurrected the
names Hermione and Dorcus. Both from The Winter's Tale, as I'm sure you
know, and I've been thinking about the relevance of that connection for a
while.  I certainly believe that Rowling has set up a devastating love
triangle between Harry, Hermione and Ron like the one in The Winter's Tale
which I have mentioned in other posts.

Astrid:
Yes, I read with interest some of your comments on The Winter¹s Tale a few
days ago. Among other images the petrified Hermione (CoS) echoes the statue
of Hermione (Winter¹s Tale) coming back to life ­ ³Oh, she¹s warm!²

Catlady:
<I wonder if common readers in Shakespeare's day could understand it better
than I -- I mean, understand which words are the verbs and which are the
nouns and which verbs go with which nouns.

Astrid:
I don¹t think this poem would ever have been easily understood, as the
language is so compressed and allusive, and the concepts so complex. But I
know that this is not the place to analyse the poem itself.

Catlady:
<While JKR may have gotten the phrase "in essence divided?" from her
recollection of that poem, I think it unlikely that the poem sheds light on
the Potter oeuvre -- the poem is about being in love, and Harry and LV are
NOT in love. TMR and LV are NOT in love, either.>

Astrid:
First, the poem is not about being in love, (more below) but Love is the
power the Dark Lord knows not, (OoP UKHB page743) and which he despises andŠ
has always, therefore, underestimated to his cost. (OoP UKHC page 136).

So the power of Love is central to the mystery of the Prophecy and the
nature of the relationship that exists between Harry and LV. How might this
poem shed any light on this relationship?

Second. The Phoenix and the Turtle(dove) offers a paradigm of Shakespeare¹s
obsession with the idea of two-in-one, of doubles, of relations between
substance and shadow. Hence the essence of a separate person is ³appalled²
by the conundrum presented by distinct yet undivided persons: the*selfsame*
is split

> ³Šthe self was not the same
> Single nature¹s double name
> Neither two nor one was called.²

But enough of the poem. The HP text is not an illustration of a 16th century
text, although it may be dealing here with a related complexity

What we are dealing with is something more complex than possession (see
Moody OoP UKHC page 434 and Ginny OoP UKHC page 441/442); more subtle than
mind reading (see Snape OoP UKHC page468).

LV can lie curled as a dormant snake ready to strike within Harry (DD OoP
UKHC pages 729/730). But when he attempts full possession the Love that
infuses Harry¹s nature is quite inimical to LV, and he has to vacate Harry¹s
being as an environment too hostile to be borne.

Finally, I¹m interested in how the power of Love (Harry¹s greatest strength)
might eventually defeat LV. Any ideas, anyone? anyone?




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