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The Characters Of Harry Potter

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The Harry Potter book series has sold over 450 million copies and is currently translated into almost every language on the face of the earth (“Harry Potter”). Millions have faithfully followed the story about this magical world and have fallen in love with the many enchanting characters. What most readers do not recognize is the prominence that classical Greek/Roman mythological allusions play in the beloved roles in Harry Potter through their names and personality attributes. The importance of names is extremely significant to a person’s identity, especially in literature where words are meant to bring stories to life. Rowling continues this concept through her characters by linking her characters names to classical folklore charismas that share similar personas. Rowling does a fantastic job with cleverly connecting her characters to classical Greek/Roman mythological figures through the etymology of their names and similar personality traits to their wizard counterparts, such as Professor McGonagall and Filch. An apparent allusion to a classical mythological figure is the Hogwarts’ transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall. Professor McGonagall is an extremely intelligent woman, which is seen because she is tenured teacher who is respected by both her students and fellow professors. She is also known as an excellent strategist in wizard duels, which can be seen clearly in Rowling’s last installment when McGonagall duels and defeats Snape when he is in search of Harry

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