Harry And Voldemort Analysis

This essay will explore how Harry and Voldemort’s wand in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, and subsequent novels, are the epitome of a dyadic pair. It will explore how Rowling uses the reader’s presuppositions of good and evil and how these human traits are represented within the wands that ‘choose’ (p. 63) Harry and Voldemort. Barry states that ‘narrative structures are founded upon [...] underlying paired opposites, or dyads [such as] looking and doing’ (p. 45) . Rowling uses many dyadic pairs within The Philosophers Stone to emphasis to the reader that the most simplistic meaning and theme behind the novel is Good vs. Evil, which in itself is another dyadic pairing. One such pairing is seen in the contrasts and similarities between Harry and Voldemort’s wands. The reader first learns of the connection between Harry and Voldemort’s wand through Ollivander advising Harry that ‘it is very curious indeed that [Harry] should be destined for this wand when it’s brother [gave Harry] that scar’ (p. 65). The reader is informed that ‘it’s [..] the wand that chooses the wizard’ (p. 63) . It is because of this idea that the reader is presented with the notion that the wand is an extension of the holder’s inner personality, or in the case of Harry Potter, the
The dyadic pairing of the Harry and Voldemort’s wands foreshadow things to come in the later novels, but more importantly, draws upon the readers’ preconceptions of good and evil, or light and dark. It is because of the pairing between Harry and Voldemort’s wands, that the reader is able to fully understand both the character of Harry, and the reasoning behind his choices. Because his wand, which is a part of his identity, is completely connected to the evil, or darkness, that is Lord Voldemort, he makes sure that throughout the rest of the novels, his choices reflect good, or