This essay was written quite a while ago and no longer fully represents my current thinking. See the revised version of this page.

Why does Hogwarts tolerate the Sytherin House at all? More than one Harry Potter fan must have asked that question. Do we really need a house that's so at odds with the spirit of the school? On the Quidditch field, the Slytherins show poor sportsmanship, committing fouls when they can't win by fair means. Draco spends much of his time going out of his way to taunt other students who are only minding their own business. Slytherin House has produced more wizards that have gone bad than any other. Many of it's members are blatently Death Eaters or at least on the side of the Death Eaters. Draco Malfoy is on record of warning Harry to be more "polite" or end up like his parents. In the last book he even more blatently tells Harry that he is on the wrong side. At the final feast of the term, when everyone is giving Harry a standing ovation for his heroism in fighting Lord Voldemort, "Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and many of the other Slytherins ... remained defiantly in their seats, their goblets untouched." Not only is the present generation of Slytherins trouble, they have always been trouble. The very founder of the house, Salazar Slytherin, built the Chamber of Secrets to be opened by his heir in order to kill "mugbloods," wizards and witches whose parents were muggles. Gryffinder, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff pull together. Slytherin stands alone.

But without Slytherin House, where would the sorting hat put those who belong in that house? They would otherwise be placed in the other three houses. Where would Draco go? Gryffinder? Ravenclaw? Hufflepuff? Perhaps the school wants to keep them in their own house where they can be keep apart from the rest, sort of containing the problem. But what is the problem? If Slytherin is part of the whole school, it is, perhaps, analogous to the Jungian shadow, the part of our psyche that we have trouble acknowledging. But refusal to acknowledge our shadow deprives us of vital energy. The shadow has something we need and so may it be with Slytherin. As Matthew Fox said, the "very act of entering darkness, to befriend it, becomes a profoundly healing event."

The four houses seem to correspond to the four elements, the four directions, four seasons, etc. Gryffinder is obviously Fire, South, Summer, the three firey signs of the Zodiac, Aries, Leo and Saggitarius. Ravenclaw corresponds to Air, East, Spring, the signs of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Hufflepuff corresponds to Earth, North, Winter, and the signs Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. That leaves Slytherin with Water, West, Autumn and Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Lest those of those signs be offended, water signs are not, per se, as negative as the Slytherin have appeared to be. They obviously manifest the lowest form of those signs, not the typical examples of them. Water is very mystical and intuitive. It is a beautiful element. But one can see how, even in it's negative form, Slytherin bears the characteristics of Water. Subtle, indirect, deep and sometimes underhanded, Water can take the form of ice, rain, steam, a rushing stream, the mighty ocean or a deadly potion.

Clearly, all four elements are needed for the sake of completeness. A witches circle cannot ignore one of the four directions and neither can a magical school. We certainly don't want to push away all the Slytherins and send them to Durmstrang where they'll be encouraged to study the Dark Arts.

Since we need all the elements and therefore all the elements are "positive" on a fundamental level and, since a certain number of young wizards every year is going to be Slytherins at heart, it behooves Hogwarts to keep them close. (Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.) But they should not be allowed to openly parade their allegience to the Death Eaters. Would neo-nazis have been allowed to wear swasticas to school in post-war Germany? They should be given intense moral training to change their allegience. Slytherin House should not be allowed to be a festering sore in the body of Hogwarts. If Professor Snape can not or will not provide the necessary leadership to turn the house around, somebody else should become house leader. Snape sets a bad example in many ways. He misuses his authority as a teacher to persecute students he doesn't like and to unfairly take points off other houses like Gryffinder while turning a blind eye to all the mischief his charges make in starting trouble with students outside of Slytherin. What allows Professor Dumbledore to continue trusting Snape? The fact is that Snape was once a Death Eater and, before Voldemort lost his power, Snape turned against them and acted as a spy on them. Many people wonder if his favoritism of Draco Malfoy is more of the same. Future books will provide the answers. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what comes of Harry's observations while he was in the hands of the Death Eaters, namely that Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy's parents were all still in the circle. Fudge will probably choose not to believe Harry, disgusting politician that he is. Far be it from him to stick his neck out and make enemies of rich, influential men like Malfoy.

Meanwhile, we have the continuing tension of having people we know are mortal enemies right in our midsts and pretend to have a civilized relationship with them while waiting for the knife in the back at any time. (Constant vigilance as the pseudo-Moody would say.)

music
more music

Links


View My Guestbook    Sign My Guestbook




Return to Harry
Hermione the Heroine
Gryffinder
Hufflepuff
Ravenclaw
Tributes
Floo Powder
Return to What's New