Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows
Name – Shital D Italiya
Assignment Paper no – 13 (New Literature)
Topic – Significance of
Deathly Hallows
Roll no – 29
Enrolment no – PG13101012
Submitted to – Smt. S.B. Gardy
Department of English
M.K.
Bhavnagar University
Bhavnagar
Introduction
“J.K. Rowling is the creator of the Harry Potter
fantasy series, one of the most popular book and film franchises in history.”
Rowling was born in Yate,
United Kingdom in 1965, to Peter and Anne Rowling. Together with her mother,
father, and younger sister Dianne, she moved to Winterbourne, Bristol and then
to Tutshill near Chepstow. She attended secondary school at Weyden
Comprehensive, where she told stories to her fellow students.
As a single mother living in Edinburgh, Scotland, Rowling
became an international literary sensation in 1999, when the first three instalments
of her Harry Potter children's book series took over the top three slots of The
New York Times best-seller
list after achieving similar success in her native United Kingdom. The
phenomenal response to Rowling's books culminated in July 2000, when the fourth
volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
became the fastest-selling book in history.
The seventh and final book in the
series is markedly different from the first six in one specific way. With the
exception of some final chapters, Harry is not attending Hogwarts. He has
outgrown his role as “student” and instead steps fully into the role of “hero.”
The question throughout the entire novel is whether our hero will have to
sacrifice everything or not.
Before we enter in to the Deathly
hallow in harry potter we have to understand the general meaning of what is
Deathly hallows?
Ø According to
urban dictionary meaning
Deathly Hallows are featured in the
seventh instalment of the Harry Potter book series by JK Rowling. They are a
trio of objects fabled to have been
Made by
Death. Anyone who possess all three hallows is supposed to become the
"Master of Death."
Ø The Hallows
are:
The Elder
Wand: The most powerful wand in the world, nearly unbeatable.
The Elder Wand will only be truly powerful if its current owner took it
themselves, by force, from the previous owner. Contrary to popular belief, you
do not have to kill the previous owner to win the wand's allegiance.
The
Invisibility Cloak: This hallow has been duplicated and many
cloaks now exist, but this one is special. It renders the wearer completely
invisible. It is not hampered by spells and will never wear out over time. It
also offers protection, which no other invisibility cloaks do.
The
Resurrection Stone: A stone that will call the dead back into the
world of the living. But they will not be truly like they were; they still
belong to the world from which they came. Most who call them back are
unsatisfied.
The symbol of
the Deathly Hallows is a circle (symbolizing the stone), sliced down the middle
with a line (symbolizing the wand), and surrounded by triangle (symbolizing the
cloak).
Harry Potter
is the only one who is able to unite the hallows because he is the only one
worthy. But he drops the stone, and puts away the wand, never to use them
again.
"Harry
Potter managed to unite all three Deathly Hallows! Now he is the Master of
Death."
"I think
the most useful of the Deathly Hallows is the Elder Wand."
Three items in the Harry Potter
series: Harry Potter's invisibility cloak (passed on from the original
creator), the Elder Wand (also known as the Wand of Destiny), and the
Resurrection Stone. Supposedly the possessor of all three becomes master of
death.
Lord
Voldemort’s sought the Elder Wand, one of the Deathly Hallows, so he could
never lose a duel.
Harry
Potter slipped the invisibility cloak around him so that none
could see him anymore.
Harry
Potter turned the Resurrection Stone in his hand three times and then appeared his late parents, his
godfather Sirius Black, and his
friend/teacher Remus Lupin although they were neither living nor completely
ghost.
Ø Deathly
Hallows and Christianity
According to Grindelwald's
forces and the Nazi Party
"As a symbol, the Deathly
Hallows resembles the swastika. Both were originally positive symbols from a
spiritual/mythological background that acquired extremely negative connotations
after being adopted by evil political movements."
Deathly Hallows symbol isn't even close to
a swastika, neither in appearance nor in background. Any resemblance between
Grindelwald's philosophies and Nazism is in
spite of
the symbols. Nazism didn't get started as a fairy tale about conquering death,
and nowhere is it stated that the Deathly Hallows were ever "positive
symbols" in the way the swastika was (and is). At best you could say that
both Nazism and the Deathly Hallows were about power, but that has little to do
with the symbols.
"As objects, the Deathly
Hallows resembles the Holy Grail. Both are items which convey supernatural
powers upon those who acquire them; Both can only be achieved at the end of a
'Quest;' and both
are considered mythological, yet are the basis for a number of mythical and
pseudo historical studies."
These parallels are less
disputable than "Deathly Hallows = Nazism", but they still stink of
original research. There are so many artefacts (fictional and nonfictional)
that fit these characteristics that might as well compare the Hallows to all of
those. The author conveniently glosses over the fact that the Holy Grail is one
artefact, not three, and that the stories about it do not resemble that of the
Hallows at all (this is all the more obvious because Rowling uses the
Philosopher's Stone pretty much as - is).At best one might claim that the
Hallows are possibly inspired by the Holy
Grail, but that's original research at its finest.
“Symbol holds a status similar to a swastika"
Did Grindelwald
truly possess the wand?
It's actually not clear
from the book whether Grindelwald was a "true" possessor of the wand
according to the criteria set out by the books, since he merely stole the wand
by stealth and did not defeat its previous owner by force. This would explain
why Dumbledore was able to defeat him in a duel, and why, when Voldemort came
to interrogate him about the wand, Grindelwald says in the book:
"So,
you have come. I thought you would ... one day. But your journey was pointless.
I
never had it."
On the other
hand, Harry interpreted this as a lie “to stop Voldemort going after the
wand" and the ghost of Dumbledore (or whatever that apparition was
supposed to be) apparently agreed, saying "perhaps
that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends". Also, if
Grindelwald wasn't the true possessor of the wand, then I suppose ownership
wouldn't have passed to Dumbledore and thence to Malfoy and Harry; It would
have still resided with Gregorovitch and thus been taken by Voldemort when he
overpowered Gregorovitch.
Yet again, even if Grindelwald
wasn't truly the owner of the wand, perhaps it had "forgotten" about Gregorovitch
by that time and took a liking to Dumbledore because he took the wand by force
in a spectacular duel. After all, there is no reason to think that the
characters' theories about the rules of wand ownership are intended to be taken
as infallible, as the characters themselves indicate that they aren't always
sure.
Ø Deeper
meaning of Deathly Hallows
The noun hallow means
“a holy person or saint.” “Hallows” is a word that refers to “the shrines or
relics of saints.” The verb “to hallow” means “to make holy, to sanctify, to
purify” or “to honour as holy, to regard and treat with reverence or awe” as in
the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name…”
The October 31st celebration of Halloween is also known as All Hallows Eve, or
the Eve of All Saints.
Then of course there is the
Christian mythology of the quest for the Hallows of the Holy Grail in the
Arthurian legends. Typically, the Grail Hallows is identified as:
1. The Sword
of King David or, (alternately) the Sword that beheaded John Baptist
2. The Dish
of the Last Supper
3. The Holy
Grail Cup
4. The Spear
of Longinus (also referred to as “the Spear of Destiny”)
Ø Triangular
Deathly Hallows symbols
The cup,
dish, and the spear are part of a larger collection of objects known as the Arma
Christi, or Articles of the Crucifixion of Christ. When the title of the
final Harry Potter novel was released, the Grail Hallows and their
correspondences with the four suits of the Tarot (swords, disks, cups, and
wands), then looked for parallels in Harry’s world. Sword of Gryffindor to play
an important role in the final book, and it did. The dish or disk has a
Parallel in the Locket of Slithering, and the cup is present as the Cup of
Hufflepuff. But what of the spear? Parallel with the four suits of the Tarot,
and realized that a wand would be a suitable quest object in this story about
wizards. I expected the Spear of Destiny would have a parallel as the Wand
of Destiny in the wizarding world.
The Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail Cup
of Arthurian Legend have their origins in the Crucifixion of Christ. The legend
of the Spear of Destiny developed from a passage in the Gospel of John, in
which Jesus is found dead on the cross: “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced
his side with a spear and at once blood and water came out.” (John 19:34, NRSV)
Tradition derived from the no canonical Gospel of Nicodemus gave this Roman
soldier a name: Gaius Cassius Longinus. A sculpture of the legendary saint by
the brilliant Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598‑1680) can be seen in
Saint Peter’s Basilca in Rome. Longinus is depicted holding the Holy Lanch his Right
hand.
In 326 A.D. St. Helena, the mother of
Constantine the Great, discovered relics thought to be theArma Christi while
on a pilgrimage in Jerusalem. Among the relics were the True Cross of Christ’s
crucifixion, the crown of thorns, the pillar at which Christ was scourged, and
the Holy Lance. A legend later associated with this Holy Lance claimed that
whoever possessed it would be able to conquer the world. A group of knights
found a lance believed to be the Lance of Longinus beneath St. Peter’s
Cathedral in Antioch during the First Crusade. Possession of the alleged Holy
Lance spurred the crusaders on to victory.
ü Hermione discovers the tomb of Harry’s ancestor
Ignotus Peverell in Godricʹs Hollow.
The legend of
the “Thirteen Treasures of Britain” also known as the “Thirteen Hallows of
Britain” describes an impressive collection of magical objects that would not
seem out of place inHarry’s world. The twelfth treasure, for instance, is a
magical chessboard with “living” chess pieces, not unlike the Wizard’s Chess
game that Ron Weasley is so fond of playing.
ʺI’ll be a knight, ʺ said Ron.
The
thirteenth hallow in this collection is known as “The Mantle of Arthur” with
the power to make the wearer invisible. This is very much like the Invisibility
Cloak that was given to Harry by Dumbledore during his first Christmas at
Hogwarts, the cloak that is the third of the Deathly Hallows.
Harry received the Invisibility
Cloak for Christmas during his first year at Hogwarts.
Rather than four Grail
Hallows or thirteen Hallows of Britain, Rowling creates a trinity of
Deathly Hallows, represented by a vertical line and circle contained within a
triangle.
Sign of deathly hallows
"Witness that knuckleheaded young man at your
brother's wedding who attacked me for sporting the symbol of a well-known Dark
wizard! Such ignorance. There is nothing Dark about the Hallos at least, not in
that crude sense. One simply uses the symbol to reveal oneself to other
believers, in the hope that they might help with the Quest."
According to
Xenophiles Lovegood
The Sign of the Deathly Hallows is
a triangular mark used as representation of the Deathly Hallows, three
legendary objects that allegedly, if united, would make one the "Master of
Death". The sign is actually composed of three separate marks that,
united, make up the sign. The Elder Wand is represented by the straight
vertical line, the Resurrection Stone by the circle surrounding it, and finally
a triangle enclosing them both to represent the Cloak of Invisibility.
Ø History of Deathly hallows in Harry potter
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
"That is a children's tale, told to amuse rather than to instruct. Those of
us who understand these matters, however, recognise that the ancient story
refers to three objects, or Hallows, which, if united, will make the possessor
Master of Death"
According to Xenophiles Lovegood
In The Tales
of Beadle the Bard, the author presented his own version of the origin of the
Hallows. Hundreds of years ago, the three Peverell brothers were travelling at
twilight, and reached a river too dangerous to cross. The three brothers, being
trained in the magical arts, simply waved their wands and created a bridge
across the river. They were then stopped by Death himself, who felt cheated
that they had gotten across the river, as most travellers drowned in it. Death,
a cunning liar, then pretended to congratulate them on being clever enough to
evade him, and offered each of them a powerful magical item.
The first brother, Antioch
Peverell, wished to have the most powerful wand out of his combative
personality; Death broke
a branch off a nearby elder tree and created for him the Elder Wand, a wand
more powerful than any other in existence.
The second brother, grave; Death then took a stone
from the riverbed and created for him the Resurrection Stone, a stone capable
of bringing the dead back to the living world.
The third brother, Ignotus Peverell, who was a
humble man, did not trust Death and asked to go on from the river without being
followed by Death; Death then
gave him his own Cloak of Invisibility, an invisibility cloak that never lost
its power through curses or age. The three legendary objects, (the cloak, the
wand and the stone) together make up the Deathly Hallows.
““[...] I think it more likely that the Peverell brothers were
simply gifted, dangerous wizards who succeeded in creating those powerful
objects"
Albus Dumbledore's speculation.
Instead of being rewards for
their cleverness, the Deathly Hallows was actually part of a cunning plan by
Death to kill off the Peverell so he could take them for his own.
However, Albus Dumbledore felt
that it was more likely that the Hallows were actually created by the very
talented and powerful brothers, and that the story of their origins as objects
fashioned by Death sprang up around them as result of the powers they
possessed.
Ø Movement of the Hallows
Antioch's murder
“So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more
powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its
owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death!"
-Antioch Peverell
In time, the brothers went their
separate ways. Antioch Peverell travelled to a wizarding village where he
killed a wizard he had once dueled with, he then boasted of the power of the
Elder Wand, that it was unbeatable and in his possession, invoking envyamongst
the many wanting to possess it for themselves.His throat was sliced in his
sleep by a wizard who stole the Elder Wand.
Cadmus' Unfortunate Death
"Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided
that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to
recall others from Death"
-Cadmus
Peverell
Cadmus travelled back home and
used the Resurrection Stone to bring back the woman he loved, but was dismayed
to find that it was only a pale imitation of her: the dead did not truly belong
in the living world. In the end, Cadmus committed suicide by hanging himself so
he could truly join her.
Ignotus' Unusual Friend
"It was only when he had attained great age that the
youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his
son."
—Ignotus Peverell
Ignotus used the cloak to remain
hidden from Death for a long time. When he was an old man, he passed the cloak
onto his son, greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him to the next
world.
The cloak continued to be passed
down through the descendants of the Peverell (although the name became extinct
in the male line). The wand passed from wizard to wizard, nearly always by the
murder of its previous owner. The wand, during its passing from wizard to
wizard, has been called "The Death Stick" and the "Wand of
Destiny". On an interesting note, no witch is ever stated to have held
possession of the wand. The stone was also passed down through the Peverells'
descendants. It eventually ended up in the possession of the House of Gaunt,
and was later stolen by Tom Marvolo Riddle, neither Tom nor Marvolo Gaunt were
aware of the powers of the stone, nor was that it a Hallow. Marvolo was solely
concerned with the "noble origins" of the stone, made into a ring,
and thought that the Hallows symbol on it was the family coat of arms. Lord
Voldemort could not have been aware of the stone's true origin either, as he
transformed the stone into a Horcrux.
"There is nothing Dark about the Hallows at least, not in
that crude sense. One simply uses the symbol to reveal oneself to other believers,
in the hope that they might help one with the Quest."
—Xenophiles Lovegood
The Hallows played a particularly
important role in the lives of Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and Harry
Potter.
"I was fit only to possess the meanest of them, the least
extraordinary. I was fit to own the Elder Wand, and not to boast of it, and not
to kill with it. I was permitted to tame and to use it, because I took it, not for gain, but to save others
from it."
- Albus Dumbledore
Harry Potter first observed
this sign in a memory seen in Albus Dumbledore's Pensive, though he did not
recognise it at the time. The sign was featured on a ring owned by Marvolo
Gaunt, though Gaunt himself was unaware of what the sign represented, nor the
fact that his ring actually contained the Resurrection Stone inside it. He
instead referred to the sign as "Peverell coat of arms" in an attempt
to bolster his credentials as a pureblood. Harry would later recall seeing the
mark after learning about the Hallows from Xenophilius Lovegood and this, in
turn, would lead him to realise that Albus Dumbledore had hidden the
Resurrection Stone inside the Golden Snitch that he had granted him in his
will. Harry next observed this symbol at Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's
wedding on 1 August, 1997, hanging around the neck of Xenophilius Lovegood as a
necklace. At the time, Harry thought the symbol looked like a triangular eye. A
bit later, however, he was confronted by Viktor Krum, who wanted to know if
Harry Weaslknew Lovegood well. Harry asked why, and Krum stated that he would
duel Lovegood for wearing the sign, were he not a guest of Fleur's. He explained
to a puzzled Harry that the sign was Gellert Grindelwald's mark, which he had
carved into a wall during his time at Durmstrang Institute. Some students later
copied it into their books and clothes, thinking to shock and to make
themselves impressive. Others who had lost family members to Grindelwald,
including Viktor, corrected them. Harry, thinking it highly unlikely that
Xenophilius would be involved in any sort dark magic, suggested that perhaps he
did not know what the symbol meant and thought it instead to be a cross section
of a Crumple HornedSnorkack or something of the sort. Krum, however, remained
unconvinced and later confronted Xenophilius.In December of that year, Hermione
Granger was reading over The Tales of Beedle the
Bard,
when she saw the sign drawn over the title of one of the stories. She asked
Harry to have a look at it, but Harry was reluctant, as he had never studied
runes. Hermione, however, pointed that the sign was not in the Spellman's Syllabary. Harry consented to examine the sign more
closely and said that it looked like the sign that Xenophilius was wearing
around his neck, which Hermione agreed with. Harry explained how Krum had said
that the sign was Grindelwald's mark, but this did not make sense to Hermione,
as Grindelwald was not known historically to have any Particular mark.A while
later in the month, as Harry and Hermione took a trip to Godricʹs Hollow; they
chose to visit the graveyard where Harry's parents were buried. Here, Hermione
discovered the grave of Ignotus Peverell (the original owner of the Cloak of
Invisibility) and found the Sign of the Deathly Hallows marked upon it, though
she did not pay much attention to it at the time due to Harry's desire to find
his parents' grave. Towards the end of the month, following the discovery of
the Sword of Gryffindor and Ron Weasley's return to the group, Hermione was
examining a copy of Albus Dumbledore's letter to Gellert Grindelwald in The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore when she noticed that
Dumbledore had replaced the "A" in his signature with aminiature
replica of this symbol. Seeing this led her to decide that it was important
that she and the others pay a visit to Xenophilius Lovegood, whom she was sure,
could tell those more about the sign. Harry was less convinced, but was
outvoted by her and Ron. When asked, Xenophilius explained that one wears the
sign to identify oneself to other believers in the hope that they might help
with the Quest to the find the Hallows. Since, however, the group was not
familiar with the Hallows, Xenophilius had Hermione read them The Tale of the Three Brothers from The Tales of Beedle the Bard to explain. He then drew first the
straight line, then the circle and finally the triangle to create the mark and
represent the three Hallows. He later stated that the appearance of the symbol
on Ignotus Peverell's grave was considered proof that the Peverells were in
fact the brothers described in the Tale of the
Three Brothers.
Here it is
The Elder
Wand,” drew a straight vertical line upon the parchment."The Resurrection
Stone,” added a circle on top of the line. "The Cloak of Invisibility,
enclosing both line and circle in a triangle, to make the symbols that so
intrigued Hermione “Together," he said, "the Deathly Hallows."
v Symbolism
Ø Important Symbols in Deathly Hallows
The Deathly Hallows symbol appears
to be made up from the Greek letters Δ and Φ , transliterated into English language and
letters this appears to spell the word D + Phi . Together these letters appear
to spell phi or Defy; therefore this would make sense since the Deathly Hallows
enables the user to defy or conquer death himself.
D + Ph =
Dphi, defy
Isn't Δ
actually "delta" which would make it Delta phi... which wouldn't make
sense...however, D + P = DP = Dr. Pepper, obviously it means that Dr. Pepper is
the official drink of Harry Potter.
Thus in this
way we can interpret the significance of Deathly Hallows in the 7th
series of Harry Potter.
