Harry, Crucio, and emotion in spellcasting (WAS: Re: Blowing his cover)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 181496

CJ:
> I appreciate these remarks, Mike. In turn, I believe JKR's intent here 
> was to show that Harry wasn't perfect, which I certainly don't object 
> to. I wouldn't even have objected so strenuously to the Cruciatus if 
> Harry had given some hint of recognition of moral difficulty with his 
> action which, in turn, would have allowed me to say to my daughter -- 
> hey, Harry made a mistake -- even good guys aren't perfect -- but he 
> realizes what he did was wrong, and that's why he's still a good guy. 
> Instead, we get Dirty!Harry blowing the smoke out of his gun barrel 
> after blowing away a baddie. And to add insult to injury, McGonagall, 
> that paragon of virtue, calls her student's use of a UC "gallant"!

Pippin:
But that isn't the end of the story. Nor is it the beginning. Harry's 
confusion  about vengeance and righteous anger goes back at 
least to PoA, where he wanted revenge on  Sirius but couldn't bring
bring himself to kill.  The cruciatus curse seemed to be an answer: 
the next time he had someone to avenge, he tried to use it on Bella 
but he failed  because "righteous anger won't hurt me for long." 

After Dumbledore died, he tried again but Snape blocked him. 
Snape claimed that Harry lacked the nerve or the ability to do the 
curse. But this wasn't true, as Dumbledore had already discerned:
Harry had a powerful desire for revenge. He also wanted, of course, 
to make sure that his friends would be safe and that evildoers would 
regret what they had done. But he did not, could not, understand 
the distinction between these motives.

It's not until Harry succeeds in using crucio that he gets it.
Vengeance is about making the avenger feel good, and only 
this feeling will power the curse. Nobler motives, those based on
concern for others,  have no effect.

The next time such rage and anger course through Harry, after the
death of Fred, he realizes that he must make a choice: 

"But Harry knew how Ron felt: pursuing another Horcrux could not
bring the satisfaction of revenge; he too wanted to fight, to punish
them, the people who had killed Fred" --DH ch 32
 
What shows Harry's virtue , IMO, is that once he understands the
distinction between vengeance and righteous anger, he chooses to act on
the righteous feeling rather than   the base one. Once
he understands that the need for revenge is separate from the
need to protect his friends or  prevent more harm, he does not
pursue it. 

While overall JKR makes it easy for the reader to see that by the
end Harry has foregone revenge, she doesn't make him regret his
past desire for it. That would be guilt, and IMO, JKR has little use
for it.  Lupin's guilty feelings make him feel bad, but aren't strong 
enough to make him change his ways. JKR seems to be saying that 
if his guilty feelings were strong enough to combat his temptation, 
he never would have succumbed in the first place, so what good
were they? What is guilt, except taking revenge on yourself?

Remorse is a different story -- but that's for realizing the damage
you did to an  innocent person. Harry does feel remorse on occasion,
but not for Amycus, who was hardly innocent. Nor was there  a more
impartial or less vengeful person available to whom Harry could
have left the matter. I think that is the point of having McGonagall
approve.

There is a point here about taking the law into your own hands.
Even good guys cannot be impartial nor can they trust themselves
to  put vengeance completely aside. Only the absence or breakdown
of  civil authority can justify the risk. 

Harry doesn't reflect on all this, he just lives it.  It's for the reader to 
reflect on what he does and why. 

JKR has no great love for self-reflection, as the Mirror of Erised shows.
In her world, all self-reflection can tell Harry  is what he wants. Whether 
that is  good for him or bad, real or even possible, Harry can never 
learn by looking inward. 


Pippin