Harry Potter and the Canterbury Tales

This was a short response written for a Humanities course so when I say 'we' I am referring to what was talked about in class. If you are familiar with the Canterbury Tales then you should understand what I am talking about. Although I have realized that the word limit forced me to condense a lot and so this might be hard to follow my train of thought. 

Recently, I was watching all of the Harry Potter movies when I noticed something quite similar between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, specifically in The Pardoners’ Tale.

 The Deathly Hallows Part 1 follows Harry as he leaves school for the first time and sets out in pursuit of the knowledge needed to defeat Voldemort, and ultimately death. I saw Harry’s journey as very similar to that of a pilgrimage, although he is not on this journey because he sinned, he is doing it for life. In analyzing the Canterbury Tales we talked about a pilgrimage being like a road, a metaphor for life. The pilgrims are on their journey to repent for their sins and to find knowledge, much like Harry is on his journey to find knowledge and this is his journey to adulthood, to find life.

We also talked about human suffering being a result of human sin, and this directly applies to Voldemort, whom has ‘sinned’ multiple times not only with murder and torture, but also by cheating death. By this time in the film series you have learned much of Voldemorts past and you know that he suffered as a young child. In Deathly Hallows you can see the transformation this has caused him, he only cares for complete power and the ability to exact revenge on those who caused him to suffer. The Deathly Hallows film focuses a lot on death, and the consequences that can lead one to death, most importantly greed.

This is very similar to the tale that the Pardoner tells. And this is seen most clearly in “The Tale of Three Brothers” scene. The tale, read to Harry in the Deathly Hallows film, shows him what he must do to defeat Voldemort but it also shows him what the consequences would be if he were to choose the wrong path. When the three brothers are approached by Death they each have to make a decision and which decision, or ‘path’, they take will determine their fate. Two of the brothers act on greed and are later taken by Death, but the third brother who takes a different path lives a long life.

In basic terms the decision is black or white, good or bad, and it is very similar to the decisions Harry has to make, and it is much like choosing a path on the road of life. That decision determines what kind of person you are and what your fate will be. In being forced to make these decisions the three brothers and Harry are similarly on the same journey of self-discovery that the pilgrims are on. In the Pardoners’ Tale the three friends are all taken by Death because of their greed for wealth and power, just as two of the brothers from “The Tale of Three Brothers” are overcome with greed. This is also Voldemort’s downfall, his thirst for power and for greed lead to his death.

The themes presented in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, mainly The Pardoners’ Tale, are the same themes in the storyline of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, interwoven between Harry, Voldemort, and the three brothers.