Twist JKR? (was:Re: Dumbledore's pleading...)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 141581

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nrenka" <nrenka at y...> wrote:

> Just considerably less well-behaved and contributing to the welfare 
> of the school than others, and to at least some conceptions of 
> society as a whole (not to mention pesky lurking ideas like the 
> Good).  If Slughorn is a representative Slytherin, I suppose it's an 
> improvement over Snape, Lucius Malfoy, and Voldemort.
> 
> But then I can also specialize in damning with faint praise. :)
> 

Pippin:
I've been reading a book about women in the Middle Ages, and
there are some  striking parallels between the medieval 
attitude toward women and the prevailing view of Slytherin.

Women were associated with the serpent (through Eve), they
were generally thought to be weaker in character and apt
to meddle with Dark Magic.  Of course it was recognized that 
women *could* be virtuous, heroic and brave, but these qualities were 
thought to be much, much rarer in women than in men. There was much
ink spilt over the desirability and the difficulty of finding a 'good' woman.

This makes me wonder if we aren't being set up for a 
*tremendous* reversal, in which we see that Slytherin, left
weaker than the other Houses by the desertion or exile of
its founder, became the target on which all the other
Houses projected their fears. Perhaps Slytherins aren't really
any worse than the other Houses, except in so far as they
buy into the image the other Houses have of them.

And perhaps the Gryffindors aren't really better, except, again,
as they buy into the lofty expectations that everyone
has of them. Could this be the key to uniting the Houses?

Pippin