Essay Questions

What is the effect of Slughorn’s behavior on the students he surrounds himself with?

Horace Slughorn gathers students like a collector would gather prized and rare items, like jewelry or artifacts. He collects students from wealthy, old wizarding families, or those who are especially famous or academically successful (such as Harry and Hermione). In isolating these students, whether it’s by pulling them aside on the Hogwarts Express or hosting special dinners for them, he places them on a pedestal above other students. In the case of students like Blaise Zabini and Cormac McClaggen, this only succeeds in inflating their egos and making them feel like they’re better than everyone else. In the case of students like Hermione and Harry, however, it makes them feel uncomfortable to be singled out, and also makes Ron, a student who’s decently average, resent the attention they’re getting and feel inadequate.

How are the romantic relationships that the characters develop over the course of the book (Harry and Ginny, Hermione and Cormac, Ron and Lavender) significant to the development of the novel and its characters?

Harry and his friends are teenagers, who are undergoing normal teenage development and emotions throughout the course of The Half Blood Prince. Although they’re also in the middle of fighting a war, that doesn’t stop the normal progression of their development: they develop crushes, have relationships, and experience breakups. Their romantic relationships are representative of the novel’s message of hope in the face of chaos and disaster, as Harry, Ron and Hermione all find moments of happiness and hope in the middle of a looming war, ultimately believing that in spite of the threat of violence, happiness is still possible. Furthermore, their relationships (and the comings and goings of their personal lives, such as school and exams) are symbolic of the fact that life goes on, even in the middle of war. Even in times of danger, people are people, and they go about their lives as normal as they can. In the case of Harry and his friends, that normal progression of life is shown through their development of romantic relationships.

Draco Malfoy is a complex character, who makes destructive decisions while also appearing to have regret about them. Is he ultimately a villain or a victim of circumstance?

Draco Malfoy is a victim of circumstance. At the onset of the Harry Potter series, his home life is revealed to be toxic: his father is cruel and difficult to please, and constantly puts his son down when he tries to discuss his plans and thoughts. Lucius Malfoy is notorious as a former Death Eater, who supposedly repented but clearly still has attachments to Voldemort, and Draco’s mother, Narcissa, is the sister of Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the most infamous Death Eaters in known history. Draco comes from a family of violence and parental pressure, and so when his father tells him to kill Voldemort, it makes sense that he leaps at a chance to do it. He wants to prove himself to an overly demanding father. However, as his actions over the course of The Half Blood Prince show, he doesn’t actually want to kill Dumbledore: the assassination methods he devises, such as the poisoned package he sends up from Hogsmeade, are not ones that will likely succeed, and when Harry stumbles upon him in the Slytherin bathroom, he’s crying because he doesn’t want to go through with the plan. When it finally comes time for him to kill Dumbledore, he can’t do it, because his guilt is too strong. Draco Malfoy is no evil villain who’s bent on murder. He is a victim of circumstance whose cruel parental upbringing influenced him to make violent decisions, and who ultimately does not want to kill people who helped him in the past.

How do Dumbledore’s positive qualities eventually become the end of him?

Dumbledore is a deeply trusting person, who sees the best in everyone, including people like Snape and the Malfoys, who the rest of Wizarding society have dismissed as completely untrustworthy. At the end of the novel, he’s betrayed by the people he wanted to trust, which results in his death. Even though he’s one of the few people who adamantly advocated for Snape’s innocence, Snape is the one to eventually kill him, and before that happens, Draco is poised to do so, even though Dumbledore also maintained that the Malfoys were innocent of any charges brought against them. Dumbledore is also very driven – he takes on the act of hunting down the Horcruxes and defeats multiple attempts to remove him from Hogwarts – and this driven nature is what causes him to hunt down the locket, even though he’s old and weak and likely will not survive the attempt. In the end, what kills him are two of the traits that drew people to him in the first place.