Harry as Martyr

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 91193


Reading Jen's chapter summary made me think of interesting parallels 
between Harry and the early Christian martyrs (including Jesus 
himself).

First, a quote from www.newadvent.org/cathen:

"The Greek word martus signifies a witness who testifies to a fact of 
which he has knowledge from personal observation. .. the Apostles 
were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of 
Christ, as well as of all they had learned from His teaching.. [But]
The disciples of Christ were no ordinary witnesses such as those who 
gave testimony in a court of justice. These latter ran no risk in 
bearing testimony to facts that came under their observation, whereas 
the witnesses of Christ were brought face to face daily, from the 
beginning of their apostolate, with the possibility of incurring 
severe punishment and even death itself. ... Thus, within the 
lifetime of the Apostles, the term martus came to be used in the 
sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what 
he testified to, under penalty of death."

Harry is in exactly the same position vis a vis almost the entire WW 
for that whole year. He is literaly a witness (and the only one) to 
Voldemort's return, and throughout the book he is martyred because of 
his insistence to continue to bear witness. In the wider circle of 
the WW, he is pilloried by the media, and reviled by almost 
everybody. In the narrower circle of Hogwarts, people distance 
themselves from him, view him with suspicion or make fun of him. Even 
close friends of his (Seamus) turn against him. He is, in short, 
treated with hostility by most of the people around him.
The apex of his martyrdom is Umbridge, of course. It's here where the 
specifically Christian-martyr-like aspects come to the fore. Umbridge 
punishes Harry for telling that Voldemort has arisen, and she 
punishes him by making him cut his own flesh with *words.* Like the 
original martyrs, Harry could stop the torture by recanting his 
story, but he doesn't. He continues to suffer, and it's made clear 
that in a way, he seeks this confrontation, this test to his 
endurance. So the torture continues. Eventually, the words remain 
engraved on his flesh. Like the stigmata, and with it, the Christian 
theme of the truth (or Word) engraved and displayed on the wounded, 
mutilated body of the martyr (originally, Christ).

Of course, Harry's martyrdom is perverse, since he is a witness to 
the rise, not of the Good, but of Evil. He tries to persuade people 
to believe, not that their salvation, but their doom, is at hand. In 
this, Harry is closer to the more modern humanist hero - the artist, 
or the scientist - attempting to reveal unpalatable truths to a 
hostile humanity. 


Naama, who wonders whether this has been brought up before?