HBP Chapter 4: Horace Slughorn [for the community read-along]
Before the release of HBP, I'd often heard it said that by the end of the series, Harry would surely have to come to terms with the idea that Slytherin House is not evil, whether because the fan in question was hoping for redemption (in Harry's eyes) for a particular character -- generally Draco or Snape -- or because they simply found it preposterous that a quarter of the magical population should be consigned to a life of wickedness at age eleven.
When I reached the point in Chapter 4 where Horace Slughorn tells Harry he was Head of Slytherin, I confess I got a little twinge of This is it. This is where Harry figures it out. The way it played out in the rest of the book, I wouldn't say Slughorn represents the grand Slytherin epiphany some of us have been waiting for, but his introduction does mark a distinct shift in Harry's relationship to Slytherin House. sistermagpie has very helpfully explained the ways in which HBP is the Slytherin book. It certainly shifts the focus onto Slytherin characters, but also onto the Slytherin tendencies of Harry himself.
What immediately struck me about Slughorn is that, unlike many of the Slytherin characters we meet, he embodies the quality the Sorting Hat tells us in GoF is supposed to exemplify Slytherin House: ambition. Not cruelty, not wickedness, not thuggishness -- simply the tendency and ability to advantage oneself.
threeoranges astutely pointed out that Slughorn is very probably based on Francis Fortescue "Sligger" Urquhart, a don at Oxford University in the 1920s who had the same habit of "collecting" well-connected and talented students, even down to the detail of surrounding himself with their photographs (as Slughorn has done in this chapter). Also like Slughorn, Urquhart preferred to do his string-pulling behind the scenes rather than use his influence to gain the spotlight for himself.
An important point here is that Slughorn's ambition does no one any harm. Unlike Gilderoy Lockhart, whose ambition takes a destructive form, Slughorn is merely forging social connections, probably beneficial to the students as well as to himself. Hermione admits that she has a good time with Slughorn; this brand of socializing may not be to Harry's taste, but for those who enjoy it, it's harmless.
Slughorn also expresses regret, which is notable because so few characters in the HP books ever do -- especially Slytherins! In modifying his memories, he seems not only worried about being judged for not recognizing Tom Riddle's wickedness, but deeply ashamed at the role he played in enabling it. By contrast, Dumbledore, who was arguably more responsible for what happened with Tom (since only he knew what had gone on at the orphanage) expresses no significant remorse.
On the whole, Slughorn strikes me as one of Rowling's more squarely realistic characters, well within the realm of the ordinary rather than the extreme or grotesque. Even his prejudices are moderate -- he's hardly a pureblood supremacist, but clearly sees talented Muggleborns as exceptions rather than the rule. I expect we all know people who are prejudiced to this extent; I certainly do.
Harry initially isn't sure whether he likes Slughorn or not. His assessment of the man ("pleasant in his way, but he had also seemed vain and, whatever he said to the contrary, much too surprised that a Muggle-born should make a good witch" [HBP 75 UK]) is fair and grounded in fact, not knee-jerk reactionism. This is unusual. Harry rarely reserves judgment, but rather goes with instant gut reactions to the people he meets, which are often strongly positive or strongly negative (e.g. Hagrid, Dumbledore, Lupin -- Snape, Lockhart, Umbridge). Harry accepts Slughorn from the start as a possibly ambiguous character, and never comes to like him or despise him.
What Harry does do is use Slughorn, and employ Slytherin methods to do it. He cheats ruthlessly in Slughorn's class, guiltlessly accepting credit for the Prince's work. This is a point of personal ambition for Harry: he needs do to well in the class to qualify for Auror training. After cheating in this way to win the bottle of Felix Felicis from Slughorn, Harry uses it to ruthlessly manipulate him, first getting him drunk and then using the painful memory of Lily's death to guilt him into telling what he knows.
In both instances, Harry seems unaware of the nature of his own behavior. He denies that it's cheating to pass someone else's work off as his own (wouldn't Lockhart agree?), and attributes the incident at Aragog's burial to Felix. Even as it's happening, Harry feels like the potion is telling him what to do, rather than (as it reads to me) bringing out Harry's own innate cunning. But Felix isn't telling Harry anything he doesn't already know -- Harry knows Slughorn likes to drink, and that Hagrid does too, especially at emotional moments. Harry knows Lily was one of Slughorn's favorite students, and that Harry reminds him of her. The point is made for us when Ron only believes he's been given the potion: all it does is give a person the confidence to use their skills.
Harry doesn't feel bad that he's used these means partly because he sees his ends as noble, and partly because he doesn't think Slughorn deserves any better. Neither does Dumbledore, who, despite his pretense of friendship, freely admits that he "coerced" Slughorn into giving him the altered memory using Veritaserum [HBP 348 UK], and twice sets Harry on him to get what he wants, knowing Slughorn's weakness for young men of status.
It strikes me, too, that Harry and Slughorn are both holding fast to flawed viewpoints, despite evidence to their contrary. Slughorn meets people like Lily and Hermione and each time is pleasantly surprised that a Muggleborn can be talented. Harry has met Slytherins who did right and Gryffindors who did wrong, and responds the same way -- by making exceptions for those who don't fit his prejudiced worldview, rather than eliminating the prejudice.
Slughorn is not just a Slytherin, he was the Head of Slytherin, possibly for a long time. He must have taught at Hogwarts for at least thirty years, to have had both Tom Riddle and Lily Evans. Depending on when he became Head, he may have been in charge of Slytherin during Voldemort's entire rise to power, when Slytherin pupils were turning to the Death Eaters in great numbers. How much more interesting it becomes when we consider that the person with the greatest influence in Slytherin House was not a foaming-at-mouth extremist like Voldemort, but a well-meaning moderate who did too little. And he may be Head of Slytherin again in Book 7, if he stays on after Snape's departure.
In the final book, Harry will certainly have to face his longtime Slytherin foes -- Draco, Snape, and Voldemort -- and it will be fascinating to see how he does that, and whether he recognizes his own Slytherin abilities and accepts them as useful, as he's started to do with Slughorn. Maybe we've been waiting for the wrong thing: not Slytherins seeking Gryffindor redemption, but rather Harry finding the Slytherin in himself.
When I reached the point in Chapter 4 where Horace Slughorn tells Harry he was Head of Slytherin, I confess I got a little twinge of This is it. This is where Harry figures it out. The way it played out in the rest of the book, I wouldn't say Slughorn represents the grand Slytherin epiphany some of us have been waiting for, but his introduction does mark a distinct shift in Harry's relationship to Slytherin House. sistermagpie has very helpfully explained the ways in which HBP is the Slytherin book. It certainly shifts the focus onto Slytherin characters, but also onto the Slytherin tendencies of Harry himself.
What immediately struck me about Slughorn is that, unlike many of the Slytherin characters we meet, he embodies the quality the Sorting Hat tells us in GoF is supposed to exemplify Slytherin House: ambition. Not cruelty, not wickedness, not thuggishness -- simply the tendency and ability to advantage oneself.
threeoranges astutely pointed out that Slughorn is very probably based on Francis Fortescue "Sligger" Urquhart, a don at Oxford University in the 1920s who had the same habit of "collecting" well-connected and talented students, even down to the detail of surrounding himself with their photographs (as Slughorn has done in this chapter). Also like Slughorn, Urquhart preferred to do his string-pulling behind the scenes rather than use his influence to gain the spotlight for himself.
An important point here is that Slughorn's ambition does no one any harm. Unlike Gilderoy Lockhart, whose ambition takes a destructive form, Slughorn is merely forging social connections, probably beneficial to the students as well as to himself. Hermione admits that she has a good time with Slughorn; this brand of socializing may not be to Harry's taste, but for those who enjoy it, it's harmless.
Slughorn also expresses regret, which is notable because so few characters in the HP books ever do -- especially Slytherins! In modifying his memories, he seems not only worried about being judged for not recognizing Tom Riddle's wickedness, but deeply ashamed at the role he played in enabling it. By contrast, Dumbledore, who was arguably more responsible for what happened with Tom (since only he knew what had gone on at the orphanage) expresses no significant remorse.
On the whole, Slughorn strikes me as one of Rowling's more squarely realistic characters, well within the realm of the ordinary rather than the extreme or grotesque. Even his prejudices are moderate -- he's hardly a pureblood supremacist, but clearly sees talented Muggleborns as exceptions rather than the rule. I expect we all know people who are prejudiced to this extent; I certainly do.
Harry initially isn't sure whether he likes Slughorn or not. His assessment of the man ("pleasant in his way, but he had also seemed vain and, whatever he said to the contrary, much too surprised that a Muggle-born should make a good witch" [HBP 75 UK]) is fair and grounded in fact, not knee-jerk reactionism. This is unusual. Harry rarely reserves judgment, but rather goes with instant gut reactions to the people he meets, which are often strongly positive or strongly negative (e.g. Hagrid, Dumbledore, Lupin -- Snape, Lockhart, Umbridge). Harry accepts Slughorn from the start as a possibly ambiguous character, and never comes to like him or despise him.
What Harry does do is use Slughorn, and employ Slytherin methods to do it. He cheats ruthlessly in Slughorn's class, guiltlessly accepting credit for the Prince's work. This is a point of personal ambition for Harry: he needs do to well in the class to qualify for Auror training. After cheating in this way to win the bottle of Felix Felicis from Slughorn, Harry uses it to ruthlessly manipulate him, first getting him drunk and then using the painful memory of Lily's death to guilt him into telling what he knows.
In both instances, Harry seems unaware of the nature of his own behavior. He denies that it's cheating to pass someone else's work off as his own (wouldn't Lockhart agree?), and attributes the incident at Aragog's burial to Felix. Even as it's happening, Harry feels like the potion is telling him what to do, rather than (as it reads to me) bringing out Harry's own innate cunning. But Felix isn't telling Harry anything he doesn't already know -- Harry knows Slughorn likes to drink, and that Hagrid does too, especially at emotional moments. Harry knows Lily was one of Slughorn's favorite students, and that Harry reminds him of her. The point is made for us when Ron only believes he's been given the potion: all it does is give a person the confidence to use their skills.
Harry doesn't feel bad that he's used these means partly because he sees his ends as noble, and partly because he doesn't think Slughorn deserves any better. Neither does Dumbledore, who, despite his pretense of friendship, freely admits that he "coerced" Slughorn into giving him the altered memory using Veritaserum [HBP 348 UK], and twice sets Harry on him to get what he wants, knowing Slughorn's weakness for young men of status.
It strikes me, too, that Harry and Slughorn are both holding fast to flawed viewpoints, despite evidence to their contrary. Slughorn meets people like Lily and Hermione and each time is pleasantly surprised that a Muggleborn can be talented. Harry has met Slytherins who did right and Gryffindors who did wrong, and responds the same way -- by making exceptions for those who don't fit his prejudiced worldview, rather than eliminating the prejudice.
Slughorn is not just a Slytherin, he was the Head of Slytherin, possibly for a long time. He must have taught at Hogwarts for at least thirty years, to have had both Tom Riddle and Lily Evans. Depending on when he became Head, he may have been in charge of Slytherin during Voldemort's entire rise to power, when Slytherin pupils were turning to the Death Eaters in great numbers. How much more interesting it becomes when we consider that the person with the greatest influence in Slytherin House was not a foaming-at-mouth extremist like Voldemort, but a well-meaning moderate who did too little. And he may be Head of Slytherin again in Book 7, if he stays on after Snape's departure.
In the final book, Harry will certainly have to face his longtime Slytherin foes -- Draco, Snape, and Voldemort -- and it will be fascinating to see how he does that, and whether he recognizes his own Slytherin abilities and accepts them as useful, as he's started to do with Slughorn. Maybe we've been waiting for the wrong thing: not Slytherins seeking Gryffindor redemption, but rather Harry finding the Slytherin in himself.