cycles of death and rebirth in the harry potter series leslie barnhart
TRANSCRIPT
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Cycles of Death and Rebirth in the Harry Potter Series
Leslie Barnhart
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Revivals, Resurrections, and Reincarnations
• Difference between resurrections, reincarnations, and revivals/ resuscitation:– Resurrection: body was dead and came back to
life as same person– Reincarnation: body died, spirit took on new body
and came back to life – Resuscitation/ revival: body never died, came
close to death but returned to life with new spirit
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BRAINSTORM:REVIVALS WITHIN THE SERIES
Talk to a neighbor or write down all the “revivals” you remember from the series (canon or movies)
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Which are which from your lists• Resurrections
– CS: Fawkes in office– PoA: Sirius at lake– OoP: Fawkes in Ministry– HBP: Dumbledore – Spirit carried
off as Fawkes (returns to heaven)– DH: Harry from Forbidden Forest
• Reincarnations– GF: Lord Voldemort in graveyard
• Revivals•PS: Harry from Hogwarts’ basement•CS: Harry, Fawkes restores health; Ginny: Harry restores life by destroying LV;•CS: 7 beings restored from petrification (Ms. Norris, Sir Nick, Colin Creevey, Justin F-F, Penny Clearwater, Hermione Granger, Ginny…)•PoA: Harry and Hermione restored by the lake•GF: Harry returns from the graveyard to Hogwarts (symbolic death)•OoP: Harry survives LV’s possession•HBP: Draco survives near-death in bathroom•HBP: Harry saved from lake•DH: multiple… pool, fire, killing curse…
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Cycles of Death and Rebirth
• Big picture: Deathly Hallows: Harry returning from “Avada Kadavra” curse
• Each book in canon: Harry goes through a death and rebirth, each one mastering new element (earth, water, air, fire, astral plane, black, white, and red stages)
• Death/near death – rebirth cycles accelerate towards end of canon: multiple events in “Half-Blood Prince” and “Deathly Hallows”
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Drivers of Cycles
• Symbolism – Harry’s path marked by mastery of different elements, immersed in element to master it (come out on top)
• Religious overtones – dying to old self/ understanding, rebirthing to new self/ understanding
• Conversion facilitated when people sense an end is near
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Closer Look at HBP Harry – Insights – Illumination!! Lead-ins: Draco’s near death leads to his conversion –
fiery cross in bathroom, Draco never hurts anyone thereafter
Beginning with Climax of quest (Destroy the horcruxes) – near-deaths for those around Harry leads to his alchemically centered transformation:
Earth: Aragog dies; Water: Inferi – death all around Harry; Air: Dumbledore dies; Fire: Hagrid’s Hut up in flames (near death for Hagrid) Astral plane: Fawkes departs, never to return End of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s lives as students at Hogwarts
Ultimate understanding: everything has an end
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Deathly Hallows: Rebirth after Death
• Begins with Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s departure from World
• Dying to self, being reborn: more common name: baptism
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Deathly Hallows: Earthly Element
• “Baptism” through earthly element• The trio descends into the Ministry of Magic:– Definition of who they are: wizards, their
community, their identity– Nearly caught, stuck in depths of Ministry
• Escape from tainted identity, working together
• Emerge with locket Horcrux – cursed exit
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Deathly Hallows: water element
• Attracted by Sword of Gryffindor – symbol of the cross, the spirit
• Free-willing entrance into water, full immersion, locket/ curse strangles Harry – death imminent
• Rebirth - “Baptism” from Ron, Harry has new insights
• Emerges with Horcrux destroyer
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Deathly Hallows: Air Element• Immersed in air on back of dragon escaping
from Gringotts– Dragon: Symbol of immortality, death to self– Air: breath, time, spirit – – Air is very cold, they hunger, thirst, ache from cold
• Emerge from air together, solidly in purpose, with Horcrux
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Deathly Hallows, Fire Element
• Room of Requirement: Fiendfyre surrounds everyone, kills Crabbe
• Symbolic of fires of hell and death, consuming fire that destroys that which is evil within us
• Trio emerges from fire with another horcrux destroyed, reborn in their acceptance of their parts in the end of LV
• Draco and Goyle revived in turn
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Deathly Hallows, Astral Plane
• In Forbidden Forest, Harry is hit with “Killing Curse”, somewhere between death/ life
• Immersed in Astral Plane – meets up with Albus Dumbledore “in his head”
• Can choose whether to go on to death, or return to life
• Emerges from Astral plane with new understanding, reborn without horcrux attachment
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Conclusion
• Spiraling death/ rebirth cycles throughout series – revival, reincarnation, and resurrection
• One of J. K. Rowling’s main themes -There is life beyond the end
• Entirety of canon summarized through the snitch: Once we accept the inevitability of our own deaths, we are apple to accept the resurrection beyond
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Reflection
• When have you experienced near-death experiences?
• Did they change how you understood the world around you?
• Did it drive you to a more spiritual understanding of who you are?
• Would Harry be who he is without any of the experiences he had at Hogwarts?
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THOUGHTS, COMMENTS