Fantastic Potions and How They Helped Albus Dumbledore in HBP
Reconciling the death of Albus Dumbledore with Severus Snape's loyalty to him.
On Aug 12, I revised and vastly expanded the essay and changed the title to “Fantastic Potions and How They Helped Albus Dumbledore during HBP”; it was reworked to include excellent comments from readers, to fill in areas that were unclear, to include my latest ideas ( Read more... )
On the meaning of “Stopper Death”
As Filksinger over on Leaky forums just posted:
“According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of stopper, as a verb, includes, "1. To secure with a stopper". Note that this definition originated with the use of a "stopper" to stop cable in nautical usage, not a bottle. [He is talking about what is termed a stopper knot-a knot in a cable that prevents it from going through a hole.] A stopper is that which stops something, not necessarily a plug for a bottle.
Since this definition includes the word "stopper" as a noun, I then went to the nouns. Of the various definitions of "stopper" as a noun, we have this: " 7. Something that causes to cease or brings to a stand. a. esp. in the phrase to put a stopper on, to put a stop to. colloq. or slang. " The various examples shown in the OED then show as "stoppers" things such as bullets bringing down game, or an obstacle to someone's plans to pursue his "suit."
In other words, the OED says that to "stopper" something can be to simply bring it to a stop as with a stopper, and a stopper can be anything which stops something, period.
Since Snape is bragging about his potions, to "stopper death" must mean "to brew a potion that causes death to cease". This fits perfectly with the definition of the OED. As "Webster's" is a name that means nothing, as any dictionary can claim to be a "Webster's" in the US, I think that the OED carries enough weight to settle this.”
So “Stopper Death” as a phrase meaning “to hold back death” is supported by the world’s greatest English language dictionary, and a British dictionary to boot.
To this foundation, I add the following:
The phrase is listed in a series of desirable things (bottle fame, brew glory, and stopper death), which is another clue to its meaning as a death-stopping potion. Rowling was a Classics major, and she is using a classic rhetorical device here: gradatio consists of arranging words, clauses, or sentences in the order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis.
Would Snape have used the phrase “stopper death” if he had been referring to putting a cork in a bottle of deadly poison as some have argued? I say no. This is a Potions class at Hogwarts; no teacher, even Snape, is going to tell the class that if they aren't dunderheads, he'll teach them to concoct deadly poisons. Dark Arts are not taught at Hogwarts; Defenses Against the Dark Arts are taught at Hogwarts. The closest these students come to poisons is developing antidotes to them as they did in their sixth-year NEWT-level course using Golpalott’s third law. And if the students, especially observant Hermione, had interpreted that phrase as a putting a cork in a bottle of lethal poison, I would have expected a startled reaction from the students. This interpretation would likewise destroy the rhetorical buildup. Which of these fits best in the context of the “wonders of potions” speech?
1) bottle fame, brew glory, even put a cork in a bottle of deadly poison!
2) bottle fame, brew glory, even hold back death!
Snape means his little speech in the “Potions Master” chapter of PS/SS to be a revelation to these first years by his relating potions abilities he does not expect them to know about or have ever considered:
“As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses….I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.” (PS8)
This is a speech intended to amaze and astonish the class. Snape is bragging about his abilities as a Potions Master (the chapter title is "Potions Master"). Every student in that class knew before entering Hogwarts deadly poisons can be made in a cauldron, and as one poster on Leaky pointed out-you don’t even have to be magic to do that. But how many first year students would know that a potion master can make a potion able to hold back death itself?
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(zombie Dumbledore...ok, maybe not)
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