Use of scapegoating in Harry Potter - Research Paper Example

When someone talks about a character being human and fallible, one is talking about the type of character that the audience is going to be most likely to relate to, rather than a hero who is perfect and doesn’t make any mistakes they can learn from. And being used by others as a scapegoat is often a part of life, and growing up. This essay looks at how two characters from the Harry Potter series, Harry himself and the female foil Hermione, work as examples of this type of scapegoating, which makes the characters have more relation to the audience because they are not perfect, or because they have flaws that make people blame them, and turn them into martyrs.

“The archetype of the scapegoat has, like all the others, has different aspects. One can be a martyr in giving oneself to a cause, or one can be a martyr in that one forever feels one is being abused or used by others. There may be a sense of being asked too much by those around you or by the events of life” (Archetype, 2010). The two books that this report will concentrate on are Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, both of which contain the recurring characters, Harry and Hermione, who are both studying at Hogworts.

It is the basic assumption of this essay that these characters demonstrate the above assertions regarding scapegoating, but that in such, it is not totally negative. There are positive lessons that can be learned from their actions, and their tendency to be used and made martyrs by others (and in Harry’s case, by himself). The characters learn life lessons in their process of scapegoating, which mainly takes place externally to them, in the form of Hogwarts politics and factionalism. hero of the books and the series, he still has problems of being a scapegoat for various factions at Hogwarts, and these are problems that children