Trelawney (was Can(n)ons and Teachers: McGonagall (was Hermione and Snape

[sophierom]

No: HPFGUIDX 128372

> Potioncat:
> I'd like to issue a challenge. Can(n)ons at 10 paces. We need 
> something to keep us busy for another month or so.
<snip>
> Here's my challenge: Choose a teacher and provde canon that shows
his 
> or her teaching either in the classroom or at some other moment. 
> Compare, contrast, comment, leave it open, express it however you 
> choose.  
> 
> Are there any takers?

Sophierom:

I'll bite! ;-D 

Rowling does a fabulous job of letting us know, from the very first,
that Trelawney is more of an actor than a teacher. Before we see
Trelawney, we see her classroom, her set, as it were.  As Harry
observes, "it didn't look like a classroom at all, more like a cross
between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop" (PoA, Am. ed.,
101-102).  Trelawney then makes a dramatic entrance, using her "soft,
misty sort of voice" to announce her presence (102).  Her costume is
magnificent and comedic at the same time: "large glasses," "a gauzy
spangled shawl," "innumerable chains and beads," "bangles and rings"
all suggest that this woman is dressed, if not to impress, then at
least to make an impression (102). 

Trelawney's opening speech is "extraordinary" in the most basic sense
of that word, and she uses dramatic language and eye contact to reach
her audience (103).  Then, the show really begins, as begins to make
predictions. Apparently, she's prepared well for her performance: she
knows that Neville has a grandmother, that he's likely to be impressed
by her showmanship, and that he's nervous enough to break his tea cup.
  She also knows when to end her performance: after she's "predicted"
Harry's death, Hermione confronts her, threatening her authority, and
Trelawney quickly brings an end to the class (103-108).  

Interestingly enough, as soon as the kids leave Trelawney's classroom,
they head to Transfiguration class.  McGonagall, too, tries to put on
a "show," morphing from her cat form to her human shape.  Unlike
Trelawney, however, the "failure" of her performance doesn't bother
her.  "Not that it matters," McGonagall tells the class, "but that's
the first time my transformation's not gotten applause from a class"
(109). It comes out that Trelawney has "predicted" Harry's death, and
McGonagall quickly dismisses the notion and goes on with her class.

Harry not only finds McGonagall's words soothing, but he also feels
much calmer now that he's no longer being influenced by Trelawney's
"set" or "stage":  "It was harder to feel scared of a lump of tea
leaves away from the dim red light and befuddling perfume of Professor
Trelawney's classroom" (109-110).  It seems, then, that
Trelawney's authority is directly tied to the setting she's created
for herself. 

What I find so interesting about Trelawney, McGonagall, and the issue
of performance is that in both instances, the teachers turn to acting
or performance as a way to begin the class.  (There are other examples
of this, too; Snape, in particular, comes to mind.)  There's a tacit
recognition, then, on Rowling's part that performance is part of
teaching.  However, Trelawney relies solely on acting and performing,
and the minute her performance is threatened (Hermione's questioning),
the class falls apart.  For McGonagall, however, the performance is
only the hook to teach something more substantive.  The lessons that
McGonagall will teach can continue to be useful outside of her "stage"
or classroom.