Montague & the Capulets Re: Did Snape set up the Pensieve scene?

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 170014

> >Carol
> <snip>
> >Until Montague tells his Slytherin friends that he was trapped  in
> limbo between Hogwarts and B&B, no one even knows that he was in
the
> Vanishing Cabinet (except, of course, the Twins and their
friends,  who
> don't bother to tell Madam Pomfrey this important information)
don't bot
> doesn't even tell his Slytherin cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, that
he's
> fixing the Vanishing Cabinet in HBP. Neither they nor Snape know
what
> he's up to in HBP. They just think, as the other Slytherin kids
do,
> that Montague's adventure was an entertaining story.
> <snip>
>
> Nikkalmati
> You know what that means don't you?  If Hermione had followed her
good
> instincts and revealed how Montague was injured, there would in
all likelihood
> have been steps taken to secure the cabinet.  There would  have
been no repaired
> cabinet, no DEs in Hogwarts and no death of DD.
> I think Jo would want her readers to see this little slip, the
rejection of
> the good impulse, leads to bad consequences.
> Nikkalmati
>


That's a great point. It does seem like JKR links these small moral
failures to larger consequences in the future. Sort of like karmic
justice. And maybe this truly explains why Montague's entrapment is
mentioned so often in the novel. It's not really the apparition, or
the side effects, that matter. JKR just wants to remind us, again &
again, of the actual consequences of Fred & George's prank.

It's a bit like Hermione's hexing of Marietta. When it's first
mentioned, the reader cheers Hermione - what a clever trick! Then
Cho criticizes' Hermione's decision - the reader ignores her. Then
Marietta is brainwashed by DD & co. so that she can't
mention the hex - perhaps justified, but it's still a little bit
creepy. Did Marietta deserve that? Then, it's mentioned again,
months later, & the reader starts to feel some unease - wait, this
girl is still hexed? Is that fair? The novel slowly draws the reader
from cheering the action, to feeling moral unease about it.

The same thing happens w/Montague. Fred & George initially justify
the action because Montague was docking points as a member of
the "Inquistorial Squad." Because we know that the IS is bad,
readers are encouraged to see this as deserved punishment. They seem
to think he'll turn up OK, & no one contradicts them. Plus F & G are
the good guys, so if they're not worried about it, why should
the reader? But then, the novel repeatedly reminds readers of the
real consequences of this action - first Montague turns up stuck in
a toilet, then we hear he would have died without a risky
apparition, then we see that his parents are called, then we see
that he's STILL in the clinic, months later. Hermione worries that
they should tell the truth, but no one does. Finally, that prank
allows Death Eaters to enter the school. So, the Montague prank
goes from "oh well, he deserved it," to a real recognition &
grappling w/the moral consequences of this action. JKR doesn't let
us forget Montague, as Fred & George did. She shows where revenge &
cruelty toward an enemy can lead.

I don't think his name is a coincidence. "Montague" was the last
name of one of the feuding families in Romeo & Juliet. Romeo
Montague takes revenge on Tybalt Capulet, before finally dying
himself as a result of the feud. The Slytherins & Gryfindors are
like the Montagues & Capulets - both engaging in violence
& revenge in an endless cycle. With Montague, JKR is showing where
that cycle leads: death & destruction. By taking revenge on
Montague, F&G unwittingly allow death to enter Hogwarts, and destroy
their own world. All are punish'd.

At the end of Romeo & Juliet, the Prince bemoans the death &
destruction that has resulted from the ancient feud.
"Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I for winking at your discords too
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd."

But this is a rather bleak end - all enemies fallen & destroyed by
the cycle of revenge. I'm hoping that the Harry Potter saga doesn't
end this way! What other way out is there? How else can the cycle be
ended? "Montague" is mentioned in another famous soliloquy from
Romeo & Juliet, in which Juliet muses about what the name actually
means:

 "'Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot
Nor arm nor face nor any other part
Belonging to a man.

O be some other name.
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."

She realizes that "Montague" is just a label, just a name, and she
looks beyond that name to see the actual person. Juliet &
Romeo actually fall in love with their enemy. They replace hatred
with love, and thereby succeed in ending the cycle of revenge
between their families. I think "Montague" symbolizes both the
dangers of the Hogwarts feud, and the possible solution. Instead of
using revenge & violence, Harry will have to use kindness &
forgiveness. Like Juliet, he'll have to learn to
see beyond the label. In the end, I think Harry is going to be
called upon to love his enemies, however difficult that may be.
That's the only way out of the cycle.

lizzyben04