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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 152538


> > Pippin:
> > Would it? Wizards invented the Goblet of Fire, which seems to reflect a 
> > moral philosophy very much like the one informing the old idea of
> marriage.
> 
> Gerry
> ??????Even in 1926 there was no forced marriage. 

Pippin:
We agree on that. Our problem is the 1926 definition of 'force'.
Naturally they didn't allow for magic, and we don't know what they
would have done if magic existed. But they did believe that women
could make themselves irresistable by 'feminine wiles'. They could
deceive and manipulate men's emotions with alcohol, perfume and 
flattery, just as they had been doing since Delilah's day. The discovery 
that a woman you thought you were in love with had done just 
that did not invalidate a marriage.


> Gerry
> Oh, that is why people got into hotels with another woman, made sure
> they were seen so they could get the divorce they wanted. If they had
> enough money of course, because I believe it was still rather
> expensive. So looking at it from that angle, Tom certainly was in the
> right social class for getting divorced.

Pippin:
::raises eyebrow:: You're telling me Tom was hard done by because
he had no opportunity to frame his wife for adultery?

Pippin: 
> > The marriage was made as soon as the partners gave free consent
> > in a recognized way...and the law in 1926 did not recognize
> persuasion by
> > means other than force as coercion.

Gerry:
> Again, Mufflre law. Wizarding law undoubtedly would. 

Pippin:
Undoubtedly?  Fridwulfa seems to have deserted her husband. We
have no idea what wizard family law is like or even if there is any.
In any case, I doubt the wizengamot would have taken over the
financial responsibility for Merope and baby Tom if they could
get the gold from Tom Sr. They'd have a case against Merope for 
causing harm and distress to a Muggle, but I don't know that
they'd have invalidated the marriage because she used a love
potion. They seem to be in pretty common use if Fred and George
can sell them openly.

And of course they've got no problems with slavery, unfortunately.

> > Pippin:
> > "Again this is guesswork," said Dumbeldore,"but I believe that
> Merope, who was deeply in love with her husband, could not bear 
to continue enslaving him by magical means." --HBP ch 10 
> 
> Gerry
> There is no time frame here. 

Pippin:
"You see, within a few months of their runaway marriage, Tom Riddle
reappeared at the manor house in Little Hangleton without his wife."

> > 
> 
> > Pippin:
> > The exchange in chapter 5 where Molly explains why she thinks Bill
> > and Fleur have hurried into their engagement and should delay 
> > reflects a view most people would have held in 1926. It also
> > may reflect JKR's own personal experience and her first disastrous
> > marriage.
> 
> Gerry
> And Ginny immediately replies that Bill and Fleur are doing exactly
> the same as Molly and Arthyr did themselves. So, I'm sorry, but I
> don't think this very convincing.

Pippin:
Molly does not point out, though she might have, that she and Arthur
had known each other for seven years or so at Hogwarts.

It's true that divorce was liberalized in 1923. Women no longer had
to prove aggravated adultery  -- that is, they didn't have to prove
that their husbands had been cruel as well as unfaithful. I'm not
sure what that has to do with this, since no infidelity has been alleged.
People were still very sure that allowing people to divorce because
they were unhappy or had made a mistake would impugn the
sanctity of marriage and be the ruin of the country.


Pippin