Amortentia and re The morality of love potions/Merope and Tom Sr.

[festuco]

No: HPFGUIDX 152314



> Julie:
> Again he wasn't violated, IMO, he was tricked, into believing he 
> loved her because she was gorgeous and desirable in his eyes, when 
> she really wasn't once he saw how she really looked. 
>  
Gerry
So he finds out he has been sleeping with somebody he finds totally
repellent and it is not rape? I think it is rape, I think he panicked
and felt violated and besmirched when he found out what had happened
to him. I can easily imagine him running out as fast as he could
without looking back - ever. 

> > 
> > Carol:
> >  Once he got over the initial outrage and humiliation,
> > > he should have seen that she, a lifelong victim of abuse, only 
> > wanted
> > > to be loved, that she was sorry for her mistake, that as a fellow
> > > human being, she deserved to be treated with compassion even 
> though
> > > she had hurt him. Does being sorry and trying to make amends for a
> > > mistake count for nothing?

Gerry
You assume he knew anything about her background. You assume he
actually understood in what kind of psychological environment she grew
up. You also assume that he could see she only wanted love. It is
equally possible that she never talked about her past, that he knew
nothing about her and that when the effects of the potions were gone
he saw this ugly, dumb, nasty witch who had enchanted him and tricked
him into marriage. And even if he understood all that he was in no way
obliged to have anything to do with her again. She was a victim, sure,
but why would it have been her victim's duty to help her? After all,
she was a witch and could be supposed to look after herself. 

 > Julie:
> Hmm. I don't have to forcibly remind myself that Merope was the 
> victim of abuse, because the moment I read about her horrible, 
> loveless life I couldn't feel anything but sympathy for her. Even 
> after she used the love potion I felt sympathy for her, because she 
> was driven by desperation and a desire for love and acceptance that 
> should have been her birthright as a human but which she'd never 
> known. Yes, she was wrong to do it, but her intent wasn't to harm, so 
> I can both condemn her action while not fully condemning her. But 
> that's just me :-)

I totally agree with that, but I don't agree it is Tom who should give
the compassion, the forgiveness or the love. 
> 
Gerry