Draco, insane? Not quite buying it. Confused, yes. Conflicted, perhaps unconsciously. Ignorant? Absolutely. But not insane. Gothic themes or no, (and we all know that JRL has a history of mixing her themes) Draco has never struck me as being crazy.
Draco always has seemed to be as a mirror of other characters. Perhaps because he's not sharply defined like Harry or Snape, Draco seems more to take on characteristics associated with other main players, occasionally (and rarely) acting in a way which no other would. Draco's role seems to be to facilitate the plot primarily, and act as a shadow/foil/whathaveyou second. His truth telling and his ability to read others seem to be his few gifts that he shares with no one else in the series. He does speak some unpleasant truths, but I more subscribe that to his being a reasonably intelligent kid who can't keep his mouth shut. If Draco is one thing, it's opinionated and he hardly hesitates before sharing said opinion with anyone.
But the inability to keep quiet isn't the same thing as being insane. Don't forget that the cat scene in CoS was shortly after the bit where Hermione accused Draco of buying his way onto the Quidditch team. We know that the boy is one to hold grudges; Hermione had then become the one in his sights due to her comment. Given Lucius' words in the B&B scene, is it any wonder that he'd be on edge regarding halfbloods when he hadn't particularly seemed to care the year before? A quick 'they were *our* kind?' is all we hear of him on the subject, if I recall correctly. The end of the year train scene in GoF cannot be explained away as easily, but I will add that Draco is extremely naive. It's highly unlikely that he knew who the cloaked figure in HPPS was, just as it's unlikely that he's associated the Dementors with the Death Eaters. If anything, that scene has always struck me as being vaguely OOC. Draco, as far as we know, is loud mouthed but not stupid. Commenting in private that he wants to see Hermione dead is something far different than screaming on a train "Woot, the Dark Lord!!" Even in Order the train scene had a reason: he was going for revenge. But alas, I digress.
Draco has spent much of the books shrieking or cackling, or other not particularly pleasant terms. I've always seen this as a way for JKR to further express her dislike of the boy, not necessarily as a sign of madness. He's also extremely dramatic as we see over and over again, and thus it would make sense that the terms used to describe his actions would be more flamboyant than most. As for the irony of his being 'potty' himself, it appears to me to be far more a reflection of Draco's innate ability to empathize with others, and then take advantage of it. He's shown repeatedly at being about to psyche out others; calling Harry crazy when Harry isn't all that certain of his sanity is one of the best ways Draco could strike out.
Then again, nearly every character in HP is insane in one form or another. The quirks that make up wizardry are many and generally pointed out to the reader's amusement. Moody's extreme paranoia would be, in a strictly Muggle environment, enough to look at paranoid schizophrenia. Luna's a conspiracy theorist with a seemingly poor grasp of reality. Hermione is obsessive. Sirius, as you mentioned, acts recklessly and almost seems to loose his maturity over the course of his storyline. Hagrid's got his issues (of which there are far, far too many for me to name here, please don't get me started lest the fiery Hagridhate I bear take over the post). Dumbledore, to me, is extremely machiavellian and is using kids to achieve his aims. Characters in HP wouldn't be wizards if they weren't in one way or another insane. The only Muggles we see who have names and roles are the Dursleys, each of whom strive to be 'normal', to root out any eccentricities that mark the wizards that surround them.
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Date: 2004-08-02 08:19 pm (UTC)Draco always has seemed to be as a mirror of other characters. Perhaps because he's not sharply defined like Harry or Snape, Draco seems more to take on characteristics associated with other main players, occasionally (and rarely) acting in a way which no other would. Draco's role seems to be to facilitate the plot primarily, and act as a shadow/foil/whathaveyou second. His truth telling and his ability to read others seem to be his few gifts that he shares with no one else in the series. He does speak some unpleasant truths, but I more subscribe that to his being a reasonably intelligent kid who can't keep his mouth shut. If Draco is one thing, it's opinionated and he hardly hesitates before sharing said opinion with anyone.
But the inability to keep quiet isn't the same thing as being insane. Don't forget that the cat scene in CoS was shortly after the bit where Hermione accused Draco of buying his way onto the Quidditch team. We know that the boy is one to hold grudges; Hermione had then become the one in his sights due to her comment. Given Lucius' words in the B&B scene, is it any wonder that he'd be on edge regarding halfbloods when he hadn't particularly seemed to care the year before? A quick 'they were *our* kind?' is all we hear of him on the subject, if I recall correctly. The end of the year train scene in GoF cannot be explained away as easily, but I will add that Draco is extremely naive. It's highly unlikely that he knew who the cloaked figure in HPPS was, just as it's unlikely that he's associated the Dementors with the Death Eaters. If anything, that scene has always struck me as being vaguely OOC. Draco, as far as we know, is loud mouthed but not stupid. Commenting in private that he wants to see Hermione dead is something far different than screaming on a train "Woot, the Dark Lord!!" Even in Order the train scene had a reason: he was going for revenge. But alas, I digress.
Draco has spent much of the books shrieking or cackling, or other not particularly pleasant terms. I've always seen this as a way for JKR to further express her dislike of the boy, not necessarily as a sign of madness. He's also extremely dramatic as we see over and over again, and thus it would make sense that the terms used to describe his actions would be more flamboyant than most. As for the irony of his being 'potty' himself, it appears to me to be far more a reflection of Draco's innate ability to empathize with others, and then take advantage of it. He's shown repeatedly at being about to psyche out others; calling Harry crazy when Harry isn't all that certain of his sanity is one of the best ways Draco could strike out.
Then again, nearly every character in HP is insane in one form or another. The quirks that make up wizardry are many and generally pointed out to the reader's amusement. Moody's extreme paranoia would be, in a strictly Muggle environment, enough to look at paranoid schizophrenia. Luna's a conspiracy theorist with a seemingly poor grasp of reality. Hermione is obsessive. Sirius, as you mentioned, acts recklessly and almost seems to loose his maturity over the course of his storyline. Hagrid's got his issues (of which there are far, far too many for me to name here, please don't get me started lest the fiery Hagridhate I bear take over the post). Dumbledore, to me, is extremely machiavellian and is using kids to achieve his aims. Characters in HP wouldn't be wizards if they weren't in one way or another insane. The only Muggles we see who have names and roles are the Dursleys, each of whom strive to be 'normal', to root out any eccentricities that mark the wizards that surround them.