Saturday, July 09, 2005
5. The Half-Blood Prince - Good or Evil ?
The much-discussed extract from Book Six describes a man of lion-like appearance:
βHe looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp.β
Many, if not most, commentators believe that this refers to the eponymous Half-Blood Prince.
For various reasons, we can probably assume that the Half-Blood Prince is on the side of good. A half-blood would hardly somebody that Voldemort would want to acknowledge as a prince (even though a half-blood himself) β although that in itself would not preclude the existence of such a prince. But with the series drawing to a close it is unlikely that Rowling would introduce a prince on the side of evil - that would throw too huge a spanner in the works for the likes of Harry and Dumbledore. The positive connotations of the words 'keen' and 'grace' also point to this conclusion. But probably the most noticeable thing about the description is the word 'lion'. Lions are well-known in art and literature as a symbol of good and of Christ in particular and they are also associated with the idea of kingship; 'The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe' is a famous twentieth-century allegorical example. We already know that the series centres around the theme of good and evil, and so the use of the lion imagery means this really can't be anybody but a Half-Blood Prince who will be acting on the side of good. His name suggests in fact that his role might not merely be that of helping Harry to overcome Voldemort, but rather that his recognition by the wizarding world - or possibly his reinstatement? - may be the ultimate good towards which Dumbledore is working; i.e. that his appearance is the really big news.
But who is he?
The much-discussed extract from Book Six describes a man of lion-like appearance:
βHe looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp.β
Many, if not most, commentators believe that this refers to the eponymous Half-Blood Prince.
For various reasons, we can probably assume that the Half-Blood Prince is on the side of good. A half-blood would hardly somebody that Voldemort would want to acknowledge as a prince (even though a half-blood himself) β although that in itself would not preclude the existence of such a prince. But with the series drawing to a close it is unlikely that Rowling would introduce a prince on the side of evil - that would throw too huge a spanner in the works for the likes of Harry and Dumbledore. The positive connotations of the words 'keen' and 'grace' also point to this conclusion. But probably the most noticeable thing about the description is the word 'lion'. Lions are well-known in art and literature as a symbol of good and of Christ in particular and they are also associated with the idea of kingship; 'The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe' is a famous twentieth-century allegorical example. We already know that the series centres around the theme of good and evil, and so the use of the lion imagery means this really can't be anybody but a Half-Blood Prince who will be acting on the side of good. His name suggests in fact that his role might not merely be that of helping Harry to overcome Voldemort, but rather that his recognition by the wizarding world - or possibly his reinstatement? - may be the ultimate good towards which Dumbledore is working; i.e. that his appearance is the really big news.
But who is he?
# posted by Nahs & Nai @ 12:10 PM 
