Goblet of Fire

[Randy]

No: HPFGUIDX 147973

Here is some better support for the theme of Self-control versus Lust 
in the Goblet of Fire.

Since Tom Riddle never cared about anyone else in his whole life, JKR 
decided to have him lust after his own body and not someone elses!  

p.644
"Voldemort looked away from Harry and began examining his own 
body....He held up his hands and flexed the fingers, his _expression 
rapt and exultant.  He took not the slightest notice of Wormtail, who 
lay twitching and bleeding on the ground..."


Regarding people never having lust and therefore never having any 
children....

Obviously, if everyone became celebate the number of people would go 
to zero.  I don't even think the Catholic church is dumb enough to 
try to defend against this line of reasoning. However, lust is the 
excessive craving of the pleasures of the body.  It really comes down 
to having control and balance in your life.  Don't overdo it and 
don't lose all control in your life.

Goblet of Fire could be shown to highlight other vices instead of 
lust such as greed....

I agree that all of the seven deadlies occur in all of the books, but 
one particular deadly is the main theme of each book.  Here is some 
better evidence than my first attempt.

p.49-50 Dudley eats one of the Ton-Tongue toffees that the Twins drop 
on purpose.  This causes his tongue to enlarge and hang out of his 
mouth.  To have one's tongue hang out is a common _expression of lust.

p. 84 
"...and a little farther on they saw Cho Chang, a very pretty girl 
who played seeker on the Ravenclaw team.  She waved and smiled at 
Harry, who slopped quite a lot of water down his front as he waved 
back."

p. 103 
"Veela were women... the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen... 
and Harry stopped worrying about them not being human- in fact he 
stopped worrying about anything at all."
"The veela had started to dance, and Harry's mind had gone completely 
blank.  All that mattered in the world was that he kept watching the 
veela..."

pp. 125-126
Stan Shunpike and other boys start to brag while standing around a 
few Veela to show off for the girls.  Ron starts to brag and Hermione 
takes action..."Honestly!" said Hermione, and she and Harry grabbed 
Ron firmly by the arms, wheeled him around and marched him away."

pp. 231-232
Harry has to fight the "IMPERIO" curse from Moody.  In other words, 
he has to gain self control.  Harry must fight back against the loss 
of control over one's actions that occurs when the "Mad-Eye" of LUST 
takes control over him!

One thing that the "goblet of fire" inside us does is to drive us to 
compete.  The Quidditch World Cup and the Tri-Wizard Tournament are 
examples of this competition.  Harry must fight the inner dragon; he 
must save the thing that he loves from the underwater world; and he 
must control his desire to grab the cup at the expense of all his 
friends!  He does so brilliantly when he asks Cedric to touch it with 
him.  Competition is a healthy way to channel our drive (goblet of 
fire) unless the lust for victory overtakes us!  Harry realizes the 
cost when Cedric dies (the man he was jealous of because of Cho 
Chang), and he even gives his winnings to the Twins.

Randy