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

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 152383


> Pippin:
> I guess that's where we disagree -- there *is* something wrong with
> acting on what you think is love but is really artificial 
obsession. Let's
> remember that it doesn't take magic --there are whole industries 
in 
> the real world dedicated to inducing obsessions. 
> 
> Every day, movie stars get thousands of marriage proposals
> from people they've never met. Famous criminals get them too. If 
the
> obsessed person were accepted, I don't think they could ignore 
their
> responsibility for their spouse or their child simply on the 
grounds
> that  they couldn't resist the hype.

Magpie:
That runs into the same problem as trying to make it a glamour; it 
erases the line that gets crossed when you violate someone's person. 
It's also, imo, using the word "obsession" more in its perfume 
sense, making it a synonym for finding someone desirable.  There is 
no industry that creates obsession.  It may produce likely objects 
for the obsessed, but it's not creating the feeling.  Tom seems 
perfectly capable of rejecting stuff like that.  That's why Merope 
had to drug him. If it was just like putting really attractive 
people in front of others and saying they should want them, it 
wouldn't require magic.

"Obsession" is a compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an 
unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of 
anxiety. "Compulsion" is an irresistible impulse to act, regardless 
of the rationality of the motivation.  An "obsessive/compulsive" 
disorder is a mental disorder, not just another way of saying 
someone refuses to not act on his desires. A person doesn't act on 
his compulsions because he really wants to wash his hands or check 
to make sure the doors are locked again or pull out his hair or 
steal something, he acts on his compulsions because it's the only 
way to relieve a painful anxiety.  If Tom did realize that this 
wasn't love he was feeling, because it didn't feel good, if he's 
suffering anything like obsession a cold shower is useless.  The 
only way he can stop suffering is to be with Merope. It could feel 
very much like being enslaved.  

The love potion is described as being the most dangerous Potion in 
Slughorn's classroom iirc and, as others have pointed out, we don't 
even know if it was a Love Potion.  It seems like it was since DD 
says it was, but I don't think Harry's suggestion of Imperius is 
supposed to just be wrong, it's a significant answer showing how the 
two are so similar. 

If a person proposed to a celebrity or a serial killer because the 
celebrity/serial killer drugged the person to make them feel an 
obsession with him/her I doubt the person would be held responsible 
for the marriage.  The celebrity/serial killer would probably be the 
one up on charges. When you drug someone secretly, you are taking on 
responsibility for their behavior under the influence of the drug 
that you have given them because you have done something to control 
that behavior. 

-m