[HPforGrownups] Heroes in the Harry Potter Series

[Sharon Hayes]

No: HPFGUIDX 176149



Bart <snip>:
>   The point is that, yes, the heroes in the Harry
>   Potter novels do some decidedly non-heroic things.
>   But to either think that the fact that they are
>   heroes excuses this behavior, or that the behavior
>   makes them less heroic, is to use a definition of
>   heroism by which there are no heroes. They are
>   human, and, being human, they are flawed. They are
>   heroes in spite of these flaws, not because of them.

Sharon:
I actually think Harry, Dumbledore and Snape are more than heroes. In my 
earlier thread about moral choices I made the point that heroes usually rescue 
the goodies and kill off the baddies. In DH Harry saves the goodies AND the 
baddies, which makes him saint-like. And Snape goes without saying, he is the 
biggest hero of them all really, since he took no credit for any of the good that 
he did, at least while he was alive. Dumbledore, too, was heroic in many 
respects.

I agree with you that today people think heroes need to be perfect. The ancient 
greeks knew that heroes were flawed -- most of thir mythological heroes 
participated in some tragic incident.  Oedipus killed his father and slept with his 
mother for instance.