Dumbledore's Agony- The emerald potion |
 Jul 4 2007, 03:49 PM
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Being Eaten by the Pea Soup Posts: 34 Joined: 6:02am July 1, 2007  |
Think back to the scene in the 'Cave' where Dumbledore drinks that shimmering green liquid. He obviously undergoes some significant mental, physical and spiritual crisis. This takes the form of a kind of trial or inquisition. At first I thought that DD was encountering Voldemort. Dumbledore tells Harry that Voldemort would
"not want immediately to kill the person drinking the potion - he would want to find out how they managed to penetrate his defences" Yet surely the scene is too morally significant for it simply to be one of Voldemorts traps. Dumbledore is so utterly vulnerable here. He is stripped of all power and all defences. Surely this is not play acting so he can fool an evil monster? The Inquisitor(s) seem to have absolute authority. Dumbledore (the greatest wizard that ever lived) is almost childlike in their presence. He admits culpability for something, "It's all my fault, it's all my fault, I know I did wrong..." His keenest agony is in witnessing the suffering of others; "Don't hurt them, please, it's my fault, hurt me instead..." Is this simply deadly, dark magic at play or is there an "older magic" here. Is Dumbledore, spiritually naked, coming face to face with his own conscience? Is the green draught a kind doorway to purgatory , that will exorcise 'sin'? This means that an 'evil' wizard would be able to consume the potion with very few side effects. Only someone as loving and compassionate as Dumbledore would suffer so greatly. I think Dumbledore was already dying as he reached the lightening struck tower. He'd already made the sacrifice. |
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