Ahaha, okay, in the end, I guess my issues were mostly with the way you worded things & their associations in my mind-- words like 'morality' (maybe if you'd put it in quotes? heh) and 'Slytherin' and maybe even 'obsessiveness' (and 'passion'?) so on :> :> Like, again I would argue that Gryffs are just as passionate as Slyths, all the way-- like, Harry wasn't 'walking the dark side' by giving in to passion (was James with Lily?), because he -is- honorable and he -wouldn't- ever hurt Ginny (and this is proved by his oh-so-noble speech, natch). Harry's wrestling with his issues... I know it's a no-no to get with your friends sister (and I see the parallel with Remus... man, JKR loves parallels), but the fact is that I don't see it as a moral issue of the sort that separates Boys from Men or Gryffindors from Slytherins, in that it's very personal, and personal codes cross Houses. Hell, even Snape has one. :>
I do wonder about the insanity/death-level obsession in Slytherin, and I think it's because they're just... okay, I think it's because of JKR's overall suggestion that while there are some 'good seeds' in that House, mostly they're a lot closer to being unhinged in terms of personality. It's... I don't know if it's a question of greater levels of dedication/obsession so much as a greater... weakness of psyche, much as I hate to say it. It's not (I believe) that they're more intense as it's more common for them to break, either morally (Voldy) or emotionally (Mrs Black). Gryffs like Sirius-- who I think went through equivalent stresses to his Slyth cousin what with Azkaban-- are just... er... inherently stronger, morally, personally, internally.
As for Tonks-- well, she's not a Gryff, so she walks the middle line, she's sort of a normal person. ^^; She doesn't lose her mind or get dangerous or morally suspect, but neither does she rise to the occasion-- she sort of mopes and loses luster (quite literally). Compared to Draco, I think Draco gets a lot more unhinged (though he's also under greater stress), and it's a lot more dramatic that even under all that stress, he eventually does the right thing (more or less). Tonks, on the other hand, is still pretty much sane and functional, just depressed. A depressed Gryff would deal with things differently... more dramatically. Woo, action! :D
I think Harry's (stupid) 'moral' conflict is important though, yeah-- for Harry. But I don't think it's about 'giving in' to passion, exactly, that concerns him. He gives in to his violent emotions a lot, actually (sayyyy, with Malfoy and other negative instances), but in this case he didn't have justification ready and had to trust himself in the end, just like Dumbledore would've wanted. Or something like that, anyway. I think the lesson here is less that passion is good (it can be silly like with Ron's Lavender thing or dangerous like Merope's), and more that one's personal character is what defines its virtues or lack thereof.
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I do wonder about the insanity/death-level obsession in Slytherin, and I think it's because they're just... okay, I think it's because of JKR's overall suggestion that while there are some 'good seeds' in that House, mostly they're a lot closer to being unhinged in terms of personality. It's... I don't know if it's a question of greater levels of dedication/obsession so much as a greater... weakness of psyche, much as I hate to say it. It's not (I believe) that they're more intense as it's more common for them to break, either morally (Voldy) or emotionally (Mrs Black). Gryffs like Sirius-- who I think went through equivalent stresses to his Slyth cousin what with Azkaban-- are just... er... inherently stronger, morally, personally, internally.
As for Tonks-- well, she's not a Gryff, so she walks the middle line, she's sort of a normal person. ^^; She doesn't lose her mind or get dangerous or morally suspect, but neither does she rise to the occasion-- she sort of mopes and loses luster (quite literally). Compared to Draco, I think Draco gets a lot more unhinged (though he's also under greater stress), and it's a lot more dramatic that even under all that stress, he eventually does the right thing (more or less). Tonks, on the other hand, is still pretty much sane and functional, just depressed. A depressed Gryff would deal with things differently... more dramatically. Woo, action! :D
I think Harry's (stupid) 'moral' conflict is important though, yeah-- for Harry. But I don't think it's about 'giving in' to passion, exactly, that concerns him. He gives in to his violent emotions a lot, actually (sayyyy, with Malfoy and other negative instances), but in this case he didn't have justification ready and had to trust himself in the end, just like Dumbledore would've wanted. Or something like that, anyway. I think the lesson here is less that passion is good (it can be silly like with Ron's Lavender thing or dangerous like Merope's), and more that one's personal character is what defines its virtues or lack thereof.