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#41
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
I think Peter had a fair amount of bravery - I just wouldn't classify it as "normal" bravery. He was friends with the marauders for almost 10 years, and while traipsing around at night and becoming an animagus, I'm sure he had to show bravery several times. Not to mention the transformation can go "horribly wrong", if I remember Hermione's words correctly. So it was brave for him to do that. And it was also brave (but not "right") of him to turn on his friends. I'm in no way excusing his behavior; I'm just pointing out that, in a way, it's brave to do what he did. I don't see it as cowardly. I just see it as a very different kind of bravery versus what we think of as "brave" normally.
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#42
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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#43
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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#44
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
I was thinking, JKR made Peter's inner animal a "rat". Often a rat is associated with being cunning and betrayal: "sly as a rat" and "ratting one out"; or an untruthful individual: "ratfink", or a negative character in general: "he is a dirty rat!"
It is like poor Peter had no choice but to turn out to be those things. On the other hand, there are also good connotations about rats being small enough to carry out chores and duties that other animals are too big to do - for instance in the series, he was the one that could press the knot and stop the tree. But those things are outweighed by the bad connotations that are usually attributed to rats. I found myself feeling a bit sorry for the rat character Peter was given. JKR said that Peter had a vulnerable and insecure character and that together with his rat-like character just made him a tremendously marked character imo. Thinking back on certain things in the series; I am glad Harry found that he had 'regret' at the end of his life and that both he and James would not have killed Peter for what he'd done. I understand Sirius and Remus wanting to do so (I would have felt like them myself) - but in a way, the character was created with an inner animal that destined him to be, in everyway, 'a rat'. It allows me to feel some empathy for his character under those circumstances.
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#45
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
I disagree that his "inner animal" destined him to do what he did - betray his friends, etc. It was his nature to make such choices and it was that same nature that caused his "inner animal" to be a rat. He always had a choice.
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#46
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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![]() Last edited by wickedwickedboy; October 14th, 2007 at 7:49 am. |
#47
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
What about him makes you feel sad, though? He never had anything really bad happen to him until he was killed by his silver hand.
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#48
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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Finally, in Spinner's End he is described as 'hunchbacked', which he was not before. I am inclined to believe ill-treatment by Voldemort had soemthing to do with that.
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#49
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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#50
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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![]() I was just pointing out that, objectively, he did not profit from his evil, and had many bad experiences which might rouse the pity of some hypothetical person.
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#51
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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![]() I don't feel sorry for him - he had choices right down the line just like everyone else. He was never forced into anything, and if he was afraid during the first war, he could have hidden with the Potters and let Voldemort go hang. He never had to betray them, and he could have gone to Dumbledore for help, but he chose the opposite. Even after that, he could have chosen not to take care of Babymort, or cut Harry to bring him back to life. I was reading the Graveyard scene the other day and came across and interesting thing that Voldemort says about Peter: "he was the able-bodied servant I needed" That just reminded me of the phrase "ready, willing and able," which is what Peter was.
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#52
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
I see all the reasons not to feel sorry for Peter, but I do anyhow. I think that even with all of his bad choices and years of serving Voldemort, there was something within him crying for his decisions for several reasons. I don't think he was redeemed myself, but I do feel a bit sorry for him just because he merits pity in my opinion. At the same time, I, like Remus and Sirius, would have killed him also in the S. Shack - even feeling sorry for him, so I guess that says something about the character of my pity.
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#53
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
Would Peter have remembered that he had a life debt to Harry if Harry had not managed to remind him?
I think eventually that deep magic would have kicked in and taken over, MAKING him let go wheter he personally wanted to or not. What prevented Peter from fleeing Voldemort's side? "Loyalty" or fear? Fear. He had always been the follower, and since he could never own power himself, he sought out whoever at a certain time had the most. In other words, he always wanted to be on the winning side, to save his own skin. Peter realised after a while what it meant to be Voldemort's minion, and wasn't liking it very much, but was too afraid to flee because of the consequences he would get from either Voldemort or the "Good Side". Voldemort "gifted" Wormtail with a silver hand. How much of an impact if any did this have on him? Well, it ended up killing him in the end, didn't it? How ironic and like Voldemort is that. Also, the hand gave Peter confindence, something he'd had little of throughout his life. Did Peter develop throughout the series? If Wormtail liked the choices he made, why did he bite Goyle on the Hogwarts Express? Probably because he wanted to sleep and Malfoy and Co. was making too much noise? ![]()
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#54
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
In PoA, Dumbledore said that Harry would one day be very glad he had saved Wormtail's life. Well, DH came, and when Wormtail was choking Harry with his amazing silver hand, Harry reminded him of this, so he stopped, betrayed Voldemort, and got strangled by his own hand.
For one moment, let's say that Harry doesn't owe Pettigrew a debt, and he had allowed Remus and Sirius to kill the traitor. So there is no debt anywhere. Skip ahead to the Malfoy Manor scene, this rule still in place. When Bella and Narcissa hear Dobby's crack, they have to send someone down there. Seeing as they chose him before to fetch Griphook, this person would very likely be Draco. If Harry and Ron could tackle Peter, then they could certainly take care of Malfoy too; and he didn't have a silver hand to strangle Harry with. So Harry or Ron Imperios him, make him say everything's fine, and go back upstairs and act natural. Then the rest of the chapter could have continued very easily, exactly the same as before. My question is: Why even include this life debt? Things would have been the same without it, and this includes Sirius getting recaptured. They leave the Shreaking Shack after killing Wormtail, Lupin transforms, things go on as usual. So why even include this pointless subplot that lasted about 3 seconds? Everybody thought it was going to be something huge and book-changing, but in the long run, it didn't change much. |
#55
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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I personally agree that Jo could have thought up a believable motive for Peter to take this step. After all, he seems to be a person who would like to be in the least windy place, well sheltered. So it makes littl sense for him to go to Voldemort and throw himself in the lion's mouth (am I talking nonsene? please stop me if I am). What do others think? |
#56
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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Peter is a plot device rather than a three-dimensional character. But I, too, love the manner of his death. ![]()
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#57
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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I don't think Peter ever believed that, if faced with the same situtation, James or Sirius would ever go to such lengths for him. (Which is not to say that they wouldn't just what Peter believed.) From the glimpses we see of the Marauders, it's almost like there's this amazing duo of James and Sirius and these two satellite friends - Remus and Peter. It's a friendship with a hierarchy built into it, especially in Peter's case as he's described as following the other two around and being a hanger-on. Though he's compared to Neville (which was most likely a red herring) I've always thought of Peter as being similar to a Crabbe or Goyle sort. His friendship with James and Sirius being like Goyle and Crabbe's friendship with Draco. (Aside: I love that JKR once again reinforced the James - Draco parallel in DH.) Sure, Draco is genuinely distraught over Crabbe's death, he attempts to save Goyle in the RoR and he cared about both of them. It doesn't change the fact that their friendship wasn't one of equals. Draco also bossed them around, insulted them and made them follow along with his schemes which would end them being polyjuiced into little girls or hexed into slug-like creatures. It's not surprising, especially after getting a taste of power from the Carrows' teachings (and possibly joining the DE) that Crabbe got sick of it. It's not unbelievable that Peter would go the same route. That Voldemort would play on his doubts and weaknesses just like he tried to play on Ron's with the lockets and Peter, not being nearly has strong as Ron, would give in and then revel in having abilities and powers that James and Sirius couldn't imagine. From what McGonagall says, he was never as talented as the others in school but, when it came time to frame Sirius and fake his own death, Peter proves himself a formidable opponent. As for being sorted in Gryffindor, I think sorting just goes with what you most want to be or admire or have chosen. Peter was in Gryffindor because he wanted to be a brave and bold Gryffindor, he admired Gryffindor values and that's what he chose. It doesn't mean he could live up to those values. |
#58
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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We are not told that Peter went to Voldemort and threw himself in the lion's mouth. I think that it happened the other way around - he was approached by Death Eaters and/or Voldemort, who threatened him, and he caved in to the pressure. This is certainly the implication of the line "what was to be gained by refusing him?", that he was ordered to do something, and did not refuse. Peter was a member of the Order (I presume he followed his Marauder buddies into that because they expected it, rather than joining out of conviction and courage). We heard a lot (from Lupin, Molly, e. g. how terrible the times were, people in the Order getting killed left and right, etc.) When Peter was approached, I think he switched sides because he thought that would keep him safe. Proof that while the Sorting Hat is never wrong (interview comment), a Gryffindor can be a coward.
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#59
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
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#60
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Re: Peter Pettigrew: Character Analysis
Thanks for posting that quote. Peter seems to suggest, in my opinion, that he was forced to join the Death Eaters.
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