Bureaucracy
In The Goblet of Fire, Rowling depicts for her readers the bureaucratic side of running the magical world, which is embodied by Ministry wizards, primarily Percy Weasley, a recent graduate of Hogwarts and a new hire in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, who obsesses over the tedious work of regulating magical goods. For instance, in the beginning of the book, Percy talks nonstop about his report aiming to "standardize cauldron thickness" (22). And while attending the Quidditch World Cup, Barty Crouch Sr. (Percy's boss), discusses the issue of a wizard from a different region of the world attempting to import magic carpets, which, apparently, have been outlawed in England. Percy and his boss Bartemius Crouch place all of their trust in the rule of law without considering the consequences of those laws, regardless of whether they are net good or net negative. While this depiction of bureaucracy begins as a humorous character portrait of Percy, as the book progresses, Rowling demonstrates how bureaucracy can damage the moral fiber of those who govern and paralyze effective governance.
When Sirius describes to Harry the political downfall of Barty Crouch Sr., he demonstrates how Crouch's hardline stance against Death Eaters actually hurts his popularity in the end. Crouch, in the wake of Voldemort's downfall, gains popularity by handing out life sentences for Death Eaters and suspected allies of Lord Voldemort, often without a trial or any form of due process. He lets the Aurors loose with a license to kill. After Voldemort's reign of terror, the average witch and wizard take comfort in this zero-tolerance approach to dark magic; however, when Crouch sentences his own son to a life sentence in Azkaban, and his son is thought to have died in his cell a year later, Crouch's popularity plummets because people cannot relate to a man who would essentially hand his own son over to Dementors. For Crouch, it is a no-win situation. Sirius sums it up in Chapter 27:
One moment, a hero, poised to become Minister of Magic . . . next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonored, and, so I’ve heard since I escaped, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his father never cared much for him. So Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the Department of International Magical Cooperation. (214)
Crouch's lawfulness follows him to his new, less prestigious department, which is why Percy craves his approval. But Cornelius Fudge, who Harry has always seen as a genial (if a bit stuffy) fellow, demonstrates how he, too, has shrunken into the role of a bureaucrat, caring more about order, or the perception of order, than what is actually good for the health of society. Fudge refuses to believe Harry and Dumbledore when they say that Voldemort has returned because he is afraid of spreading hysteria throughout the magical world. He doesn't want to believe that Voldemort's return is possible. Dumbledore reproaches Fudge in direct terms, saying to him, "You are blinded ... by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! ... I tell you now—take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever known. Fail to act—and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!” (286). This distinction between "action" and "inaction" is key to understanding the dichotomy of bureaucrats versus Aurors, the warrior-radicals of the Ministry whose only job is to hunt down Dark wizards. Mad-Eye Moody is glorified along these lines, and it is through this lens that Harry and his friends are taught about the "real" world versus the world that people like Cornelius Fudge choose to believe in, i.e. a safer kind of world where Voldemort has not risen again.
International Cooperation
The Goblet of Fire includes two major sporting events—the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament—which both demonstrate the diversity and expansiveness of Rowling's wizarding universe—elements of the universe that do not, prior to book four, get any attention. Even Harry seems rather dumbstruck by the omission of other cultures from his own perception of the wizarding world. Rowling writes, "Harry laughed but didn’t voice the amazement he felt at hearing about other wizarding schools. He supposed, now that he saw representatives of so many nationalities in the campsite, that he had been stupid never to realize that Hogwarts couldn’t be the only one" (34). Rowling describes the campsites of wizards from different parts of the world. She introduces magical customs and goods from different cultures in the wizarding world; for instance, Arthur Weasley discusses with Crouch the grievances of a wizard named Ali Bashir regarding Crouch's "embargo on flying carpets" (36).
Dumbledore emphasizes that the purpose of the Triwizard Tournament is for students to engage with other students across cultures and national borders. Book four introduces the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which works in tandem with the Department of Magical Games and Sports to organize the tournament. The expansion of her wizarding universe comes at a convenient time, right as Voldemort rises to power again, in order to contextualize the scope of the threat that he poses, not just to English wizards, but to the entire globe.
Intolerance and Oppression
Another new dimension of the Potter series introduced in book four is its self-reflectiveness, through the character of Hermione, about the problematic relationships between human witches and wizards and other non-human participants in wizarding society. The race upon which Hermione chooses to focus her activism is that of house-elves. She creates an organization called S.P.E.W., or Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. House-elves are kept as slave labor in the wizarding world, primarily by rich, pure-blood legacy families like the Malfoys. The existence of house-elves is introduced in book two when Dobby, the Malfoys' former house-elf, tries to protect Harry from the chamber of secrets. Harry facilitates Dobby's freedom, but the broader implications of house-elf slavery are not addressed. Rowling returns to the issue in the fourth book, when Hermione takes issue with the way Barty Crouch Sr. treats his house-elf, Winky. Crouch's ownership of an elf further complicates the issue because he is not a Death Eater or a fascist of the wizarding world; in fact, he is the very opposite, the prosecutor of crime, the ultimate rule-follower. But, since house-elves are "legal," he has zero qualms about keeping Winky. (That is, until she embarrasses him).
The issue is further complicated by the fact that Sirius—who is not lawful, is supposed to be fully sympathetic, and acts unwaveringly in the interest of the "greater good"—also owns a house-elf (for whom he harbors a great deal of disdain). Hermione's activism in book four falls short of addressing the broader problem of supremacy in Rowling's universe. Hermione refers to the general perception of giants as being violent and fearsome creatures as baseless bigotry, but Ron is not convinced that this is the case (175). There seem to be plenty of non-human creatures, like Veelas and leprechauns for example, that lack total agency or seem in some way subjugated by human witches and wizards. Rowling reinforces the theme by having the students study "the goblin rebellions" in History of Magic throughout the book, another example of a non-human magical race fighting against subjugation.
At the same time, Rowling's goblins seem to veer towards anti-Semitic representation. Some scholars, like Christopher Hitchens, argue that "the prejudice against bank-monopoly goblins is modeled more or less on anti-Semitism," but one could also argue that Rowling's representation of goblins as brutal money-lenders, especially in the context of a pre-existing history of goblins as anti-Semitic representations in fantasy literature, is not a commentary on anti-Semitism, but anti-Semitism manifest. The way that the group of goblins in Chapter 24 threateningly hound Ludo Bagman for his gambling losses, the way Ron jokes about Hermione starting an organization called S.P.U.G. (Society for the Protection of Ugly Goblins), the way that goblins are, ultimately, portrayed as cheats and cons when they refuse to honor Harry's victory in the Triwizard Tournament, suggest that they are rightly loathed by the characters who are supposed to be most sympathetic and "good."
Memory
Memory is a recurring theme throughout the Harry Potter series. For Harry, memory is especially important because his parents die before he is really even old enough to start forming memories. So, the memory of his parents is therefore constructed only from what he's told by his guardians, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Their testimony turns out to be nothing but lies, and so Harry has a rather fraught relationship with memory to begin with.
The Pensieve, a famous device of the Potter series, is introduced in book four. Its purpose is to store memories so that they can be revisited in exact detail later on, toured as a third-party observer, or shared with another person. Harry falls into Dumbledore's Pensieve and therefore experiences a few of Dumbledore's memories of trials at which he was present shortly after the fall of Voldemort in the early '80s. He says, of the Pensieve, "One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form" (242).
The Goblet of Fire also deals with collective memory; Voldemort's reign of terror is known throughout the wizarding world because it left no community untouched. Therefore everyone remembers the pain and suffering inflicted by his regime, even those who were born after he fell, because the horror exists and is passed down by a collective memory. This is why the reappearance of the Dark Mark at the World Cup elicits such an immediate panic response from the crowd, despite the fact that the crowd is made of witches and wizards from all over the world. The reason why Fudge doesn't want to spread the word that Voldemort has returned is because he knows the collective response to that information will be mass panic and hysteria.
Forgiveness
The concept of forgiveness is explored from a few different angles in The Goblet of Fire. Rowling depicts adolescent quibbling between friends that requires humility and forgiveness from the main characters, but she also explores instances of forgiveness where the stakes are much higher. On the "adolescent quibbles" side of things, conflict arises between Harry and Ron, Ron and Hermione, and Harry and Cedric, among others. Ron, jealous of Harry's permanent place in the limelight, refuses to believe that Harry didn't enter his own name in the Goblet and accuses him of seeking even more attention than he already has. The reality is quite to the contrary; Harry does not want to be competing in the tournament, and the person who enters his name does so to the express purpose of sacrificing him to Lord Voldemort. Ron and Harry fight about it for weeks, but after the first challenge, Ron realizes the gravity of the situation and believes Harry. Harry is quick to forgive him. Hermione forgives Ron for accusing her of "fraternizing with the enemy" when she attends the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum. These are small conflicts among friends that escalate only as a direct result of the emotional connection between the participants.
On the other hand, Rowling presents other scenarios that are harder to forgive and the consequences of that forgiveness. For instance, in book three, Harry shows mercy to Peter Pettigrew, even though Pettigrew sold his parents out to Lord Voldemort. Harry has the opportunity to kill Pettigrew, but he decides not to. He still plans on turning him in and sending him to prison, so it isn't a full forgiveness, but it is a mercy. Ultimately, this mercy allows Pettigrew to facilitate Voldemort's resurgence. Pettigrew also kills Cedric Diggory, which he obviously could not have done had Harry killed him the year before. And when Voldemort's followers join him in the graveyard in Little Hangleton, they all beg for forgiveness, and he monologues about all the ways in which they are unworthy of his forgiveness. However, the fact remains that Voldemort needs some followers. So, Rowling demonstrates how sometimes forgiveness is conditional. Sometimes, like forgiveness among friends over trifles, it is inevitable. And sometimes, it is about doing the right thing, even when it produces disastrous results.
News Media
Rowling critiques news media, particularly "tabloid news," as represented by The Daily Prophet journalist, Rita Skeeter. Skeeter specializes in salacious half-truths, uses a "Quick-Quotes Quill" that, instead of transcribing interviews, embellishes and invents quotes to the purpose of stirring drama, and spies on her subjects, using illegal methods of surveillance to get her scoop.
Rowling demonstrates how Skeeter's writing (and, by extension, salacious tabloid-style news) infiltrates domestic environments and divides people who have no real reason to oppose each other. For example, when Skeeter publishes her first piece about Harry, it reinforces Ron's misconception about Harry's involvement in the Triwizard Tournament. When she publishes an article about how Hermione supposedly breaks Harry's heart by leaving him for Viktor Krum (Hermione and Harry are not a romantic object in the first place), Mrs. Weasley treats Hermione differently, with a degree of suspicion and disappointment. (Harry later clarifies to Mrs. Weasley that he and Hermione were not a "thing" to begin with.)
Though Skeeter is often used to comic effect, Rowling also demonstrates the way her deceitful reporting directly obstructs efforts to quell the resurgence of Voldemort's evil regime and reinforces negative stereotypes and emphasis on race and blood purity in subtle ways, like following every instance of Hermione Granger's name in her article with the distinction that she is "Muggle-born" (206, 127). At the end of the book, when Fudge refuses to believe Harry's testimony about the return of Voldemort, Fudge cites suggestions that Harry is unreliable and unstable, prone to making things up. Harry says, from his hospital bed, “you’ve been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge" (285). Fudge "reddens slightly," but maintains his stance. Had Skeeter not published those articles about Harry, perhaps the Minister would have given his story more consideration, or at least would have had less of an excuse to ignore it. Skeeter also publishes an article "exposing" Hagrid for being a half-giant; her article is rife with negative stereotypes of giants.
Growing Up
There is a "loss of innocence" element to The Goblet of Fire that makes it, along with the circumstances of the plot, a watershed installment in the Harry Potter series. An overall tonal shift to darkness and bleakness reflect the characters' frequent reference to the "dark times" that lie ahead. This imminent darkness is first suggested by Dumbledore and then repeated by his faithful followers. When Harry gifts Fred and George his Triwizard winnings as seed money for their joke shop, he cites his feeling that "we're going to need [laughs] more than usual before long" (296). And when Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit Hagrid for the first time after the Tournament, Hagrid fully admits that he always knew Voldemort would return. His take is rather optimistic; he says, “What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does" (290). But the fact that it ends on this note of optimism, there is no denying that the fourth book takes on heavier subjects than its predecessors, and the darker tone reflects this, especially in the second half of the novel (though also as early as the first chapter, when Rowling portrays the murder of Frank Bryce in Little Hangleton).
The heavier subjects come with the territory of adulthood, and it is true that Harry and his friends find themselves in more "adult" situations than in previous installments. On a social level, romance becomes a factor in their lives and relationships. Romance comes with jealousy, as is demonstrated by Ron and Hermione's dynamic when Hermione goes to the Yule Ball with Krum. Harry's crush on Cho becomes more of a pressing issue with a school dance on the horizon. The very introduction of the Yule Ball is proof that the "Boy who Lived," as Harry is known because of his having survived Voldemort's attack, is on his way to becoming the Man who Lived, as proms and dances are often posed as "proving grounds" for adolescents to explore more adult dynamics among their peers.
Then there are the decidedly un-fun elements of growing up: facing mortality, and confronting the cruelty of the world and the cruelty that people are prepared to perpetrate against one another. Harry watches Pettigrew murder his friend Cedric in cold blood, mere feet from where he's standing. He then has to carry his friend's corpse back to Hogwarts to return to his parents, who don't even know that he's dead yet. Harry learns the truth about Neville's parents, who were Aurors until they were captured by Death Eaters and tortured into a state of permanent insanity; they still reside at St. Mungo's hospital and when Neville visits them, they have no idea who he is. Harry and his friends learn what Aurors are; they are essentially Ministry secret service, employed in one task, and one task only: hunting down Dark wizards. This coming-of-age is even reflected in their coursework. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Moody focuses on hexes rather than magical creatures in order to bring the students "up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other" (85).
Rowling reinforces this emphasis on age with obvious references to Harry's youth. The "age line" that restricts wizards under seventeen from entering the tournament, the fact that the other champions are older than Harry, that Fleur calls him a "little boy" when she learns that he is competing. The fact that Harry succeeds at the young age of fourteen just reinforces the idea that he and his friends are growing into the responsibility thrust upon them by their circumstances.
