Alchemical Drama in Harry Potter
Alchemy is primarily the study of elements and transmutation. Transmutation involves the change in the atomic structure of an element. The original process included four steps which are shown in the colors black, white, yellow and red. Black, also written as nigredo, is indicative of Sirius Black. White, also known as albedo, is shown in the character Albus Dumbledore. And Red is shown in the Character Rubeus Hagrid, as it is also known as Rubedo. Yellow is not as evidently shown in the books, but Wormtail, or Peter Pettigrew is a traitorous coward, cowardice is often associated with the color yellow, as in yellow-bellied. The first verbal spell used in the books is the one that Ron used to try to turn “Scabbers'' yellow. As his pet rat was later shown to be Peter Pettigrew, a rogue shapeshifter and evil backstabbing death eater, calling him yellow wouldn't be too far fetched.
The number of steps is also important, as four is the number of champions in the triwizard tournament, again, the three intended, and Harry as the unintended. Also the four houses of hogwarts each seen as distinct groups that are pitted against each other for quidditch and the house cup
Later iterations of the alchemical process feature seven steps, the same number as school years in hogwarts. It is also the same number of horcruxes made by Tom Riddle aka Voldemort. Six intended ones, and the unintended horcrux Harry Potter. This is further seen in the fact that the alchemist “spiritually” inhabits the material they are working with, making the horcuxes almost word for word references. In a more meta sense, there are also seven books in the series.
Three is also an important number in alchemy as it stands for the body (mind/soul), and spirit. It also refers to three substances; salt, sulfur, and mercury. While the substances are only seen in trace amounts throughout
The books, the number three is shown in the number of wizarding schools, The number of unforgivable curses, and in the number of main characters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
The central role that the phoenix plays in saving Harry's life in the chamber of secrets, as phoenixes represent death and rebirth and are important symbols in alchemy. Likewise the snake is a symbol of infinity, often shown as an ouroboros. This is seen in the death eater tattoo where it shows a snake making a figure eight or an infinity.
The least favorable outcomes to the transatlantic courtship plot
The 1800’s romance fiction had a subset that was dealing with landed gentry in england forming unions with affluential women across the atlantic ocean. This is titled the Transatlantic courtship plot. The major works that showcase the worst outcomes of the transatlantic courtship plot are Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Shuttle and A Fair Barbarian. The failures are centered around the class schism and interest in wealth as opposed to matrimony.
Jane Eyre shows a broken transatlantic marriage between Rochester and Bertha Mason. The purpose of this marriage was for Rochester to avail himself of her families fortune as her husband. She is removed from her family in much the same way as Rosalie in the shuttle, except Bertha seems to undergo a psychotic break. This is not entirely a surprise as the situation she is in places her under immense mental and emotional distress. All while Her “husband” pretends he isn't married and tries to cover up her existence from any potential suitors.
In the Shuttle, Burnett uses the character of Rosalie and her marriage to Sir Nigel to showcase the negatives of matrimony and to provide the main character, Bettina, with a raison detre to cross the atlantic, where she finds her own union with Mount Dunstan. The latter union is in sharp contrast to the horrible treatment that Rosalie undergoes at the hands of Sir Nigel. His entire reason for marrying an American woman is solely for money and does not even entertain the thought that he would marry solely for love. This is seen when he comments that he would not marry unless he got something out of it.
In a fair barbarian, Sir Barold is attempting to get Miss Octavia Bassett to marry him. He finds her brash american nature to be a fresh respite from the dull life in slowbridge. She similarly finds him engaging and more societally averse. The difference is that he finds himself enamored with her beauty and americanisms while she is not as keen on marriage, unless it is to her fiance back in america. This fact is purposefully kept from the audience and slowbridge until the very last chapter. Barold is left without any marriagepropositions while his friend burmistone is married to Lucia and Octavia’s is revealed. This shows less of an immediate break down of one of the characters, and more of a slow build up to an ineffectual proposal built on the building blocks of Sir Barold’s Narcissism and Ego.
The Narrowing and Amelioration of the Word “Fairy” through Time
Firstly, the word fairy has undergone lexical narrowing, which means that it has come to define a small subset of creatures that are only a part of what were originally referred to as faeries, fair folk, or fae. The Fae are largely magical beings with a deep connection to nature. There are two subsets, which are defined by their interactions with humans. Simply put, there are Fae that react in a positive or neutral way and those that react negatively.
While the small winged pixies like tinkerbell and navi are part of the Fae, so were changelings, boggarts, and will o'wisps. Changelings were thought to be fae that took the place of a child and were said to be the reason babies acted apart from what was considered normal. Boggarts were house spirits that caused strange household occurrences, such as missing socks and all around minor mishaps. And Will o’Wisps were said to lead travelers off of roads or trails to get lost and even die in the wilderness.
In Shakespeares A Middsummer Nights Dream, the entire plot is driven by the fae, specifically by Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, at the behest of the Fairy King Oberon. The Fae featured in this play were not malevolent and helped mend the relationships between the main characters. But then the affair where Oberon schemes to cull favor with his wife Titania by using a human to make her come back to him. In that tale, the human in question is largely not helped nor hurt, but used as a pawn to aid the machinations of the fae. This shows the neutral regard for humans.
Another tale of a fae interfering in human affairs, there is the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight. In the story, a knight clad in green filigree tromps into arthur's court, insults them and then proposes a game. The game involves each person taking a turn cutting off the head of the other. When this is done to the Green knight, he does not die, but rather picks his head up off the ground and promises that in a years time, he will take his turn. The facts that he is functionally immortal is indicative of magic, and the green saturated armor specifies fae magic. This is doubled down when the reason that the game was put on was to get revenge on Gawain, in which retribution is a common fae theme. The Darker fae and this seeming indifference to humans has been largely lost and absorbed under terms such as monster, while the term fairy has been narrowed and ameliorated by time and fiction stories.
The Difference in Dialect between Athens and Sparta
Language can vary in small ways depending on the locale of the target area. Common dialect differences are rural v. urban. The region of Attica is most well known for Athens, and is located on the east side of the main grecian peninsula. To the south of the peninsula lies the region Laconia, which is where Sparta lies. While Sparta and Athens are historically conjoined, they are different in both politics and values. This shown in the existence of unique dialects in both regions. Athens has the Attic dialect while Sparta has the Laconian, or Doric, dialect.
Attic Greek acts as a control group in greek dialects. Attic greek is also the surviving dialect and is believed to be the dialectical standard of the time. This is because of two reasons, one being that Athens, the main city-state in Attica, was less reliant on land conquest and standing armies. Athens was more well known for their navies, which came with their own dialectical challenges. This would have changed more in the language if, like sparta, Athens was a more martial state. Athens is more well known for its academical pursuits than its military affairs. The importance of education and proper oration acts as a buffer to dialectical change rather than a catalyst for it.
Laconian or Doric Greek originates in the laconian region. The people of Sparta who called this region home had a society based around their military and had a unique dual-monarchy. With a large concentration of military personnel to civilians, any large military changes affected the whole culture. Meaning that military jargon would be culturally understood and used by and with civilians, which consisted of mostly just the women and children. The dialect was largely shaped by the conquest against the doric people, for which the dialect is named. Conquest is a very common reason for a change in both dialect and vocabulary. It creates an influx of foreign speakers and a necessity for dialogue between the conquered peoples and their conquerors. The victors’ vocabulary would remain largely unchanged, with most of the difference showing in the paralanguage or unwritten parts of the language. The Doric peoples were assumed to have originated in either northern greece or macedonia.
The main reason that the dialect in a language would be different between two physically close city-states such as Athens and Sparta is because of the education systems found in each area. Athens has a education system that is said to be equal parts military training and formal education, usually in the form of tutors or a early form of public schooling. The education is largely undefined but it could be a form of trickle down education centered around the athenian tradition of open debate. Sparta however has a education system that is quite different and not balanced at all. The system is called agoge, which consisted of a brutal boot camp for young spartan boys to whip them into shape for the military. The only kids who were not taken were the women and political firstborns.
Alchemy is primarily the study of elements and transmutation. Transmutation involves the change in the atomic structure of an element. The original process included four steps which are shown in the colors black, white, yellow and red. Black, also written as nigredo, is indicative of Sirius Black. White, also known as albedo, is shown in the character Albus Dumbledore. And Red is shown in the Character Rubeus Hagrid, as it is also known as Rubedo. Yellow is not as evidently shown in the books, but Wormtail, or Peter Pettigrew is a traitorous coward, cowardice is often associated with the color yellow, as in yellow-bellied. The first verbal spell used in the books is the one that Ron used to try to turn “Scabbers'' yellow. As his pet rat was later shown to be Peter Pettigrew, a rogue shapeshifter and evil backstabbing death eater, calling him yellow wouldn't be too far fetched.
The number of steps is also important, as four is the number of champions in the triwizard tournament, again, the three intended, and Harry as the unintended. Also the four houses of hogwarts each seen as distinct groups that are pitted against each other for quidditch and the house cup
Later iterations of the alchemical process feature seven steps, the same number as school years in hogwarts. It is also the same number of horcruxes made by Tom Riddle aka Voldemort. Six intended ones, and the unintended horcrux Harry Potter. This is further seen in the fact that the alchemist “spiritually” inhabits the material they are working with, making the horcuxes almost word for word references. In a more meta sense, there are also seven books in the series.
Three is also an important number in alchemy as it stands for the body (mind/soul), and spirit. It also refers to three substances; salt, sulfur, and mercury. While the substances are only seen in trace amounts throughout
The books, the number three is shown in the number of wizarding schools, The number of unforgivable curses, and in the number of main characters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
The central role that the phoenix plays in saving Harry's life in the chamber of secrets, as phoenixes represent death and rebirth and are important symbols in alchemy. Likewise the snake is a symbol of infinity, often shown as an ouroboros. This is seen in the death eater tattoo where it shows a snake making a figure eight or an infinity.
The least favorable outcomes to the transatlantic courtship plot
The 1800’s romance fiction had a subset that was dealing with landed gentry in england forming unions with affluential women across the atlantic ocean. This is titled the Transatlantic courtship plot. The major works that showcase the worst outcomes of the transatlantic courtship plot are Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Shuttle and A Fair Barbarian. The failures are centered around the class schism and interest in wealth as opposed to matrimony.
Jane Eyre shows a broken transatlantic marriage between Rochester and Bertha Mason. The purpose of this marriage was for Rochester to avail himself of her families fortune as her husband. She is removed from her family in much the same way as Rosalie in the shuttle, except Bertha seems to undergo a psychotic break. This is not entirely a surprise as the situation she is in places her under immense mental and emotional distress. All while Her “husband” pretends he isn't married and tries to cover up her existence from any potential suitors.
In the Shuttle, Burnett uses the character of Rosalie and her marriage to Sir Nigel to showcase the negatives of matrimony and to provide the main character, Bettina, with a raison detre to cross the atlantic, where she finds her own union with Mount Dunstan. The latter union is in sharp contrast to the horrible treatment that Rosalie undergoes at the hands of Sir Nigel. His entire reason for marrying an American woman is solely for money and does not even entertain the thought that he would marry solely for love. This is seen when he comments that he would not marry unless he got something out of it.
In a fair barbarian, Sir Barold is attempting to get Miss Octavia Bassett to marry him. He finds her brash american nature to be a fresh respite from the dull life in slowbridge. She similarly finds him engaging and more societally averse. The difference is that he finds himself enamored with her beauty and americanisms while she is not as keen on marriage, unless it is to her fiance back in america. This fact is purposefully kept from the audience and slowbridge until the very last chapter. Barold is left without any marriagepropositions while his friend burmistone is married to Lucia and Octavia’s is revealed. This shows less of an immediate break down of one of the characters, and more of a slow build up to an ineffectual proposal built on the building blocks of Sir Barold’s Narcissism and Ego.
The Narrowing and Amelioration of the Word “Fairy” through Time
Firstly, the word fairy has undergone lexical narrowing, which means that it has come to define a small subset of creatures that are only a part of what were originally referred to as faeries, fair folk, or fae. The Fae are largely magical beings with a deep connection to nature. There are two subsets, which are defined by their interactions with humans. Simply put, there are Fae that react in a positive or neutral way and those that react negatively.
While the small winged pixies like tinkerbell and navi are part of the Fae, so were changelings, boggarts, and will o'wisps. Changelings were thought to be fae that took the place of a child and were said to be the reason babies acted apart from what was considered normal. Boggarts were house spirits that caused strange household occurrences, such as missing socks and all around minor mishaps. And Will o’Wisps were said to lead travelers off of roads or trails to get lost and even die in the wilderness.
In Shakespeares A Middsummer Nights Dream, the entire plot is driven by the fae, specifically by Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, at the behest of the Fairy King Oberon. The Fae featured in this play were not malevolent and helped mend the relationships between the main characters. But then the affair where Oberon schemes to cull favor with his wife Titania by using a human to make her come back to him. In that tale, the human in question is largely not helped nor hurt, but used as a pawn to aid the machinations of the fae. This shows the neutral regard for humans.
Another tale of a fae interfering in human affairs, there is the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight. In the story, a knight clad in green filigree tromps into arthur's court, insults them and then proposes a game. The game involves each person taking a turn cutting off the head of the other. When this is done to the Green knight, he does not die, but rather picks his head up off the ground and promises that in a years time, he will take his turn. The facts that he is functionally immortal is indicative of magic, and the green saturated armor specifies fae magic. This is doubled down when the reason that the game was put on was to get revenge on Gawain, in which retribution is a common fae theme. The Darker fae and this seeming indifference to humans has been largely lost and absorbed under terms such as monster, while the term fairy has been narrowed and ameliorated by time and fiction stories.
The Difference in Dialect between Athens and Sparta
Language can vary in small ways depending on the locale of the target area. Common dialect differences are rural v. urban. The region of Attica is most well known for Athens, and is located on the east side of the main grecian peninsula. To the south of the peninsula lies the region Laconia, which is where Sparta lies. While Sparta and Athens are historically conjoined, they are different in both politics and values. This shown in the existence of unique dialects in both regions. Athens has the Attic dialect while Sparta has the Laconian, or Doric, dialect.
Attic Greek acts as a control group in greek dialects. Attic greek is also the surviving dialect and is believed to be the dialectical standard of the time. This is because of two reasons, one being that Athens, the main city-state in Attica, was less reliant on land conquest and standing armies. Athens was more well known for their navies, which came with their own dialectical challenges. This would have changed more in the language if, like sparta, Athens was a more martial state. Athens is more well known for its academical pursuits than its military affairs. The importance of education and proper oration acts as a buffer to dialectical change rather than a catalyst for it.
Laconian or Doric Greek originates in the laconian region. The people of Sparta who called this region home had a society based around their military and had a unique dual-monarchy. With a large concentration of military personnel to civilians, any large military changes affected the whole culture. Meaning that military jargon would be culturally understood and used by and with civilians, which consisted of mostly just the women and children. The dialect was largely shaped by the conquest against the doric people, for which the dialect is named. Conquest is a very common reason for a change in both dialect and vocabulary. It creates an influx of foreign speakers and a necessity for dialogue between the conquered peoples and their conquerors. The victors’ vocabulary would remain largely unchanged, with most of the difference showing in the paralanguage or unwritten parts of the language. The Doric peoples were assumed to have originated in either northern greece or macedonia.
The main reason that the dialect in a language would be different between two physically close city-states such as Athens and Sparta is because of the education systems found in each area. Athens has a education system that is said to be equal parts military training and formal education, usually in the form of tutors or a early form of public schooling. The education is largely undefined but it could be a form of trickle down education centered around the athenian tradition of open debate. Sparta however has a education system that is quite different and not balanced at all. The system is called agoge, which consisted of a brutal boot camp for young spartan boys to whip them into shape for the military. The only kids who were not taken were the women and political firstborns.
