It would be a lie for me to say that I really understood what “melodrama” meant before having read the excerpt from ““Harry Potter, the War Against Evil, and the Melodramatization of Public Culture.” I mean I’ve always enjoyed reading the typical teenage book series (Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.) but I never really realized just how prominent melodrama was in these series. I just always kind of accepted the fact that good prevailed, and well bad didn’t. However, I now do understand that these “victimized misunderstood hero’s” that really do seem quite “paranoid and delusional to others,” are not just simply characters in teenage book series, but are in fact a part of something bigger. While I agree with the other posts on Harry Potter, and have myself read the Harry Potter series, I have decided to instead use a more recent book series which I think really exemplifies melodrama; that book being Divergent.

Divergent, a book that focuses on the dissolution of a so-called utopia focuses on the life of Beatrice, an ideal example of a “victimized misunderstood hero.” The world in which Beatrice lives in is portioned into five factions, each one devoted to a particular ethic. Each citizen is placed into a faction, either by choice or by test. From the beginning of the book we get a sense that there are “revolutionary working class insurrections,” something that is characteristic to melodrama. Beatrice explains to the reader that she does not feel as though she belongs anywhere, especially not Abnegation (the faction she is in at the start of the book). She talks about how her “instincts are not the same,” and how “it is so easy for him (her brother),” and that “it should be easy for [her].” The faction system in Divergent is meant to keep order within the society, and those who do not fit into a faction, are either factionless, or in some cases divergent, meaning that they fit into all the factions. Beatrice, of course realizes that she in fact divergent, and as melodrama says, “ she doesn’t change but [her] circumstances change, or [her] true identity is revealed.” After her identity is revealed, we learn that divergent's are in fact being hunted down by the authorities, and as is mentioned in the article, “Melodramatic hero’s are misunderstood by authority.” Throughout the book we are left to wonder who is causing such chaos within the society, and while Beatrice believes it is the Erudite's, most of those around her think she is crazy. However by the end of the book we realize that Beatrice was in fact right and as is said in the article, “the hero’s reward is an acknowledgment that he was right all along, however paranoid, irrational, and antisocial he seemed throughout the plot.” In the end of the series, “goodness is at last recognized,” and we are left satisfied as readers.

Harry Potter and the Melodramatic Hero

"The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry... and Harry stared back into the face that had haunted his nightmares for three years. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils... Lord Voldemort had risen again." (Goblet of Fire, p.643).

This is one of many melodramatic quotes that appear in J.K. Rowling's famous Harry Potter series. Many melodramatic passages came to mind when I was thinking of which one to choose, and several had already been mentioned by previous students, most notably "The Man With Two Faces", mentioned by Joey, and Chang's passage detailing the revelation of Lupin's werewolf identity. The scene quoted above is closely preceded by Cedric Diggory's death during the Triwizard Tournament, and like that scene, this one is especially melodramatic in that you are expected to gasp at the return of the infamous Lord Voldemort. Harry once again comes face-to-face with his arch-enemy, and therefore, Rowling exploits this opportunity to be melodramatic.

Simply put in non-melodramatic words, this passage would read: Lord Voldemort emerged out of a cauldron and stared at Harry. But would that be good literature? This passage could have easily been written the way I wrote it above, but without Rowling's eye-catching details and build-up, this passage would simply be boring. Perhaps melodrama, especially in a teenage/children's book like Harry Potter, is a necessary "evil".

I also wanted to respond to Saher's earlier passage detailing Snape as the true hero. In Dr. Bousquet's article, Harry's heroism is often called into question. "Hermione in the final three novels becomes increasingly visible as a tutelary agent moving Potter from self-absorption to actual interest in others" (Bousquet, 191). I think it's interesting that Saher brought Snape into the picture. Was Snape good or evil? In the end, it appears that he was good, but does that excuse his earlier actions, such as killing Dumbledore and being a death-eater? I think this article and Harry Potter in general begs us to consider why we tend to view things as black and white, when really, most of life is a whole lot of gray.

Harry Potter Post

“But somebody else had spoken Snape’s name, quite softly.

“Severus . . .”

The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.

Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.

“Severus . . . please . . .”

Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

“Avada Kedavra!”

A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape’s wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry’s scream of horror never left him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.” Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Although the Harry Potter series is centered on the life, struggles, and triumphs of Harry Potter, was he the real hero of the book? After further review of the definition of a melodramatic hero, I would argue that Severus Snape was the true hero of the series. Throughout the novel, Snape is misunderstood. He is a paradox, portrayed as both good and evil relative to the other characters. The melodramatic passage above describes the climatic moment when Snape makes an irreversible jump from good to evil. His action is utterly monstrous, especially in context as he is killing Harry’s father figure in front of his eyes. Harry is forced to watch in silence as someone he looked up to falls into an abyss “like a great rag doll”. 

The passage is dripping with melodramatic themes as someone who would be considered a “black hat” and supporter of an oppressive state government kills the leader of the opposition. It seems clear at this point in the novel that Snape represents evil and Harry is the hero, who is pure and good. Yet, at the end of the series, it is revealed that Snape was living a façade all along in order to protect Harry and was completely unaware of the facts of the prophecy. It was Snape’s sacrifice that allowed Harry to slowly become the hero that he is at the end of the novel.

Quirrel's Comments on Melodramatic Rhetoric

      “The Man with Two Faces,” the 17th chapter of the first Harry Potter book, has already been pointed out as essential in the book's development as a melodrama. Professor Bousquet's article says that “the corollary to the revelation of the hero's identity is the revelation of the villain,” and that such a revelation occurs when the seemingly helpless and innocent Quirrel turns out to be the servant of Lord Voldemort. Furthermore, Natalie describes in her post how Snape is often thought to be on Lord Voldemort's side, yet by the end of the series is shown to be “one of [Harry's] biggest protectors.” Though Natalie was commenting on the series as a whole, the same happens in the first book-- Snape is suspected of trying to harm Harry, particularly during the Quidditch match described in chapter 11, but in Chapter 17 it is revealed that Snape was all that kept Harry from being thrown off his broom.
      However, shortly after Quirrel admits to being in league with Voldemort, he says something particularly relevant to our topic that it seems nobody has commented on yet. The passage may contain one of the most-quoted lines in the whole series, and is as follows: “A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it... since then, I have served him faithfully.”
      This little monologue shows that Quirrel is aware he's on what most people would see as the wrong side of a good/evil dichotomy, but believes that the dichotomy doesn't really exist, and doesn't consider himself to be any worse a person than those who would protect Harry and fight Voldemort-- people like Snape. Quirrel completely rejects the system melodrama is based on (summed up in Professor Bousquet's article as “pure good versus unmitigated evil”), and, in doing so, shows just how unmitigatedly evil he actually is. Rowling makes sure not to confuse her readers by giving Quirrel his own sense of what is right or good, which could make the readers wonder if his side deserves some sympathy, and instead portrays him as disregarding the concept of goodness altogether. Quirrel makes it clear that while in his youth he did, in fact, possess a moral compass, he is now concerned only with serving Voldemort, who, with his appellation “Lord” and his preoccupation with power, seems to fit beautifully into the mold of an aristocratic villain.
      By putting a statement contradicting melodramatic rhetoric in the mouth of an unquestionable villain, J. K. Rowling actually reinforces the clear boundary between good and evil, and strengthens the melodramatic motifs that, as Professor Bousquet's article points out, so strongly characterize the first few Harry Potter novels.

Snape As A Victim Hero

""I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter"

"But this is touching, Severus," said Dumbledore seriously. "Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?"

"For him?" shouted Snape. "Expecto Patronum!"

From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe. She landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office, and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.

"After all this time?"

"Always," said Snape." Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

An important aspect of melodrama is the idea that the hero is “victimized” and “misunderstood” by the public only to be revealed as “good” at the resolution of the novel (Bosquet, 178). No literary hero exemplifies this archetype more than Harry Potter. Throughout the series he is continually seen by the public as “paranoid” and “delusional to others” only to end up following his gut and saving the wizarding world from itself in the nick of time (178). In the fifth book, Harry is cast out from the wizarding world altogether and targeted by the government and mainstream media for telling lies.  While the reader knows that Harry is telling the truth, the conflict of his own pain over being treated as a liar and troublemaker drive much of the conflict. As the ‘Harry Potter and the War Against Evil’ article pointed out, the Harry Potter series rely on “continuously recycling the revelation plot” that “Harry is, indeed, good, right, and virtuous after being mistaken by family, friends, the wizarding public…” The literary device is also repeated throughout the novels for other characters, like “Quirrel” “Tom Riddle,” “Sirius Black” and the final, biggest reveal of the true heroism of the character Severus Snape (190).

Although the Harry struggles to convince himself again and again that Snape is truly good, it is not until the sixth book that he and the reader finally conclude that he is evil. As Harry watches, Snape murders Harry’s father-figure Dumbledore. One book later in the cited passage, Harry watches from within Snape’s own memory as Snape reveals that Dumbledore and he planned it all, and that Snape had protected Harry out of love for his mother. This moment in the book comes at a climax, as Rowling continues her “reliance on the melodramatic economy of revelation.” Snape develops his character through the reveal of information, not development of character (189). This passage represents the ultimate reveal, in which Severus Snape is yet another “misunderstood” hero that has been “victimized” by the wizarding world and even Harry himself.  

Beyond exemplifying a plot device of melodrama, the passage itself is told in a melodramatic way. Instead of replying that simply that no, Snape has not grown to care for Harry, Rowling writes that Snape casts a spell showcasing his Patronus as a doe, which represents Lilly, Harry’s mother. Snape also utilizes melodramatic language, saying that Dumbledore has “raised” Harry “like a pig for slaughter.”

Melodramatic Harry Potter

Quote: 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, p.344-345

“Professor,” Harry interrupted loudly, “what’s going on — ?”

But he never finished the question, because what he saw made his voice die in his throat. Lupin was lowering his wand, gazing fixedly at Black. The Professor walked to Black’s side, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.

Harry felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach.

“I DON’T BELIEVE IT!” Hermione screamed.

Lupin let go of Black and turned to her. She had raised herself off the floor and was pointing at Lupin, wild-eyed. “You — you —”

“Hermione —”

 “ — you and him!”


“Hermione, calm down —”


“I didn’t tell anyone!” Hermione shrieked. “I’ve been covering up for you —”


“Hermione, listen to me, please!” Lupin shouted. “I can explain —”


Harry could feel himself shaking, not with fear, but with a fresh wave of fury.


“I trusted you,” he shouted at Lupin, his voice wavering out of control, “and all the time you’ve been his friend!”

This paragraph can be rewritten into a non-melodramatic way with one simple sentence: Harry and Hermione were surprised and disgusted when they saw Professor Lupin hug Sirus Black, feeling that they shouldn’t have trusted him.

While reading the Harry Potter series, one would be struck by Harry’s unvarying goodness. Not only is he good in the first place, but also he knows exactly which camp he belongs to when he meets with evil power late on. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,  Harry is told at first place that Sirius Black is a ruthless murderer who is a servant of Voldemort. Therefore when he sees Lupin, his friend and professor whom he always respects, showing a brother-like intimacy with Black, he becomes shocked and furious. Rowling uses melodramatic techniques such as repetitions of word fragments like “You – you –”, as well as phrases like “bottom dropped out of his stomach” and “ a fresh wave of fury” to emphasize the great extent of his astonishment. Harry then classifies Lupin to be one of the evil camp and immediately steps away from him. This is symbolically melodramatic since the opposition between good and evil is explicitly clarified. This paragraph surely illustrates that the novel “reveals over and over again that Harry is, indeed, good, right and virtuous.” (Bouquet 189) Another important feature for melodrama is the victimization of the hero. Although Harry is not victimized in this paragraph, Lupin and Black are. Black is mistakenly considered by the whole world of magic to be a super-villain, and Lupin is misunderstood by Harry because of his closeness with Black. But later on, they were both proved to be good as the story “drives relentlessly toward clarification and recognition.” (Bousquet 180)

How the Harry Potter Epitomize the Real Society

All about magic world! Magic might sound complicated for people living in the real world. However,  we can find most things happen in the magic world shadow the reality. For example, The Ministry of Magic, the highest official of magic world, has the similar structure as a real country's government. The minister are elected, required education background, tested and are guarded. Similar to the real government,  the department of defense, education, justice, and even foreign affairs under the Ministry of Magic all have their own responsibilities and rights to benefit and regulate the "citizens". Under this condition, we can easily understand the how the system work and the stories in the magic society.  Further more, stories of abusing power, briber, colluder all epitomize the dark side in real world. As a result, not only we read the story itself, but we relate the reality. Evils would not have good result eventually and merits deserve rewards. These two points show the typical features of melodrama: allude the society and fight against evils.

The heroes are from different levels of class. Ronald Bilius is from a  pure blood family, while Hermione Granger has muggle parents. From the first volume, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, we can easily learn that regardless of family background, everyone has relatively autonomy, which is encouraged and supported in real world  for decades. 

"I mean, a dog will bite if yeh bait it, won' it - but Thestrals have hust got a bad reputation because o' the death thing- people used ter think they were bad omens, didn't they? Just didn't understnad, did they?" This is said by prodessor Rubeus Hagrid during a Care of Magical Creatures class. 

“We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.” This is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Quite straightforward, equality and autonomy are important moralities. When the little Harry Potter was taught to treat everyone equally, other than moved by the scene, Harry Potter also teaches readers. Melodrama sends the positive messages subtly.