Harry Potter and the gypsy changeling

Ever since the last Harry Potter book has been released we have been coming across sites where J. K. Rowling and her work and the Brontës and their work are compared. Most of the times in passing, other times in depth. Thus we bring a couple of posts belonging to the latter category.

(BEWARE: Harry Potter spoilers ahead!)

Let's begin with Harry's tale, as Slytherykin has done:

Plot synopsis of the beginning of Jane Eyre goes as follows:

* A ten-year-old orphan named Jane Eyre is living with her mother's brother's family. Slight divergence here, what with it being his mother's sister's family, but the effect is the same.

* His wife and children neglect and abuse Jane. IT'S DUDLEY AND VERNON, GO HIDE.

* One of the children is bullying Jane, who retaliates. Jane is blamed for the ensuing fight, and Mrs Reed locks her up in the red-room. Compare Harry, the boa constrictor and the cupboard, although Harry rarely hallucinated. Well, at the time.

* They are both sent to boarding school. It is at this point they radically diverge, as Harry was blissfully happy (some of the time) at school whereas Jane was underfed, bullied and then her best friend died of consumption. MELODRAMA!

Snape's sad story also seems to owe something to Emily Brontë's Heathcliff according to Slytherykin.

Secondly, I've really got to agree with the Snape fan who suggested that someone needs to ask JKR just how many times she's read Wuthering Heights... The similarities aren't so obvious, but human beings love a bit of tragedy and girls adore an anti-hero. Admittedly my anti-hero tastes are for the shallow blond ones, but hey, tall dark and brooding seems popular.

* Their relationship is primarily told through flashbacks. Pensieve, anyone?

* Cathy and Heathcliff meet as children; Heathcliff is an outcast, an abandoned child. Cathy's brother disapproves of him. They are inseparable. BFF, even though my sibling haets u!

* Cathy marries a rich bloke that Heathcliff hates. Oh James, James, James, you're a twat.

* Cathy has a child and promptly dies.

* Heathcliff never gets over it. His dark and brooding nature continues to destroy the lives of those around him. He longs for death and union with Cathy. He experiences supernatural visions and dreams of reconciliation with his beloved childhood companion. (Patronuses, Erised?, etc). He dies alone but leaves a younger generation with hope of a richer life.

Obviously, Snape never married anyone's sister and then beat her up a lot, Lily was a considerably nicer person than Cathy who is pretty much Queen Bitch of the entire universe, and James had a hell of a lot more attitude than Linton, but JKR draws from the Brontës rather than plagiarises so to moan about that would be pointless and a little insulting... It's just a great plot, really romantic and twisted.

...However, from now on I'm going to claim that Lily's middle name is Catherine ;)

Hikari as not seen on TV has more to say on this matter:

Now that I think about it, the similarities between the Harry Potter characters and Wuthering Heights is phenomenal. Severus is Heathcliff. An ugly, black-haired, black-eyed boy who wasn't loved. Severus began to love Lily as a child. Heathcliff began to love Catherine as a child. Catherine is Lily. Severus called Lily names, insulted her, but begged her to be his friend. Heathcliff was an utter prat to Catherine at times, but still they were close. Then James/Edward got mixed in and Lily/Catherine fell for him instead of Heathcliff/Severus. And they suffered for it. Severus resented James all those years for having married Lily and Heathcliff resented Edward.

Of course, it doesn't all fit. Heathcliff was a gypsy brat. Severus was as pure-blooded as could be (I think so, anyway). Lily was, as we know it, a good person. Catherine was a selfish twat.

Yet the only redeeming quality Heathcliff has throughout the entire book is that he loves Catherine fiercely. The only redeeming quality Severus has is that he loves Lily, and he insists Dumbledore never tell.

Actually, Snape is NOT pure-blood, as shown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which opens yet another door to comparisons and similarities. If that theory about Heathcliff being Mr Earnshaw's illegitimate child is borne in mind, that would make both Heathcliff and Snape 'half-bloods'.

As at least one half of BrontëBlog likes Harry Potter we find all these posts all too teasing and intriguing. Food for thought.

In the past we have read J. K. Rowling mentioning the Brontës, so the connection between Harry Potter and Jane Eyre/Wuthering Heights is not too far-fetched then, though of course her favourite writer is - famously - Jane Austen.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights