Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
discussion
Sympathy for Draco Malfoy - A scared boy in a man's world
message 51:
by
[deleted user]
(new)
Aug 18, 2011 05:45PM
And catia out guys r totally right
reply
|
flag
Like some of you have said, Draco is just misguided by the people who practically control his life. It was hard for Draco to let the Death Eaters in, and it was impossible for him to kill Dumbledore. You could see the fear and sadness in his eyes because he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he had no choice. It was do or die. I feel very bad for him, because I think that deep down he knows right from wrong. Even though it's hilarious when Hermione punches him for being a jerk, I do feel sympathy. :)
I haven't had a chance to read through all of the comments, so I may be repeating many others, but Yes - I do feel very sorry for him. At first, I thought he was just pathetic, but now it is very obvious that he is trapped by his parents and their need for power and acceptance by Voldemort. He tries to come across so strong, but he is truly very weak in that he can't find it in himself to stand up to his parents and simply choose to go over to the good side (sounds like Star Wars, hehe). But, yes - I feel very sorry for him.
draco should have been like snape and spied on voldmort for dombldor
I feel sorry for Draco and when I watched the last movie I was just begging him to stay with the Hogwart's defenders. :(
i love draco on his own and i feel sooo sorry for him...its not his fault he was put thru all of that stuff...it was lucius's fault...
@ Marsha Draco is strong he just knows that if he stays with his parents he has a betta chance of survival because he is on Voldy's side than if he stayed on the good side...he would b right in the warpath of Voldy
@ Marsha Draco is strong he just knows that if he stays with his parents he has a betta chance of survival because he is on Voldy's side than if he stayed on the good side...he would b right in the warpath of Voldy
I totally get it. I think J.K Rowling wanted to show that children suffer a lot because of their parents misdeeds.I felt that Draco was a conflicted character, caught in between doing what he wanted to do or doing what was good for his family. Also, I think Draco was affected a lot by what happened in his years at Hogwarts, and somewhere towards the end, I had a feeling that he was going to turn out an excellent human being in the future, because Lucius, his father, made almost all the mistakes humanely possible, and Draco, suffering all that he did, learned from it.
I think its interesting because while JK stresses how we are all responsible for our own choices, and we can rise above our past and become better people in the present (eg Harry's an orphan, Snape's an ex death eater, but they all end up fine etc) we have Draco who is being controlled by his parents, yet still fails to protest. So there's two completely opposite moral messages going on, and each character is being threatened by disastrous consequences but react in different ways. I think Draco's purpose is to show how war corrupts all, no matter whose side you are on, what class you are, which background you are from - and maybe allude to how different people are 'used' in war situations of the past (and present). I'm surprised that some people still see him as the enemy though - From the very start, I think we are invited to look at the reason behind why people are the way they are, to empathise with the characters - good and bad, regardless what house they are in. The house stereotypes break down, and in crisis, people work together. That's one thing I didn't like about the movie; they made all Slytherins out to be horrible people, when that would (in reality :P ) be prejudice. Oh and Tom Felton played Draco brilliantly in the 6th movie!
yess tom felton did play him brilliantly in the 6th movie...but i also liked his acting in the 7th movies
i definitely do feel sympathetic for Draco i mean all the poor guy ever did was live try to live up to his parents expectations...i bet if voldemort wasn't in charge of them. he would have turned out better
Vc wrote: "Does anyone else get more and more sympathetic for Draco as the series goes on. ******May contain Spoilers*******
I feel especially sympathetic when Draco is on the top of the Ast..."
i do feel bad for draco (just a little bit) especially in the sixth book. everyone is trying to force him into doing things he doesn't even understand. its like they're trying to make him grow up too fast.
Faith wrote: "Actually Draco Malfoy is one of the characters I like and can relate to.(Unlike Harry , but that’s a whole other story..)I can imagine being Draco Malfoy. He was a very spoiled child and was always..."I totally agree
Draco was one of the best characters in this series.
I feel a lot of sypathy for him he sets his own son Up with a mass wizard killer who kills his own kind to stay ontop. It is really sad. I mean lucios isn't man enough to leave Voldermort so instead he drags his famIly in to work for an evil killer who thinks of lucios as a coward as well as his family so yeah! I only have sympathy because he can't be a Man in a deadly time hed rathert hide.
I think when he was younger, maybe years 1-4, he didn't really know what being a Death Eater was. He just thought he was all that because his dad was one. Then when Voldemort was like "Hey, let's make Draco a Death Eater and have him kill Dumbledore!" he was a bit throw off. I did feel little sympathy in the 6th and 7th book because you could tell after the Dumbledore incident that he really didn't want to be a Death Eater. You could also tell that his parents wanted to be out of it too.
that's true but his parents are cowards so my sympathies rest with their son not them
~DragonRider~ wrote: "that's true but his parents are cowards so my sympathies rest with their son not them"same
Faith wrote: "Tenae wrote: "I feel very sympathetic toward him. He's so broken and lost; he's got to carry the knowledge that he's the only one who can save his parents and himself from certain death. When you l..."
I agree and disagree at the same time. I do agree that Draco was a believable character, however, I think that if JK Rowling would have made Draco appear more in the story that Draco wouldn't have that ego he has now. Sure Draco has potential, but if we knew all the little details about Draco's life he wouldn't be Draco anymore. He was meant to be what he is in the book.
I agree and disagree at the same time. I do agree that Draco was a believable character, however, I think that if JK Rowling would have made Draco appear more in the story that Draco wouldn't have that ego he has now. Sure Draco has potential, but if we knew all the little details about Draco's life he wouldn't be Draco anymore. He was meant to be what he is in the book.
I liked Draco, I think he's one of the most complicated, interesting characters in the stories. If - and I hope she will - JKR goes on to write sequels, I think Draco would be an interesting person to centre them on, maybe he battles his past, but somehow passes all the bad stuff on to his own kids, who are daaaaaARRKK
Jdfield wrote: "I liked Draco, I think he's one of the most complicated, interesting characters in the stories. If - and I hope she will - JKR goes on to write sequels, I think Draco would be an interesting person..."I think it would be more interesting if Draco's kids and Harry's kids become friends. A sort of overcoming their parents prejudices thing. You know, at first they hate each other but then they realise their parents are idiots. Though I ffind it hard to imagine Harry prejudicing his kids against another kid just because of their parents anyway.
Georgie wrote: "Jdfield wrote: "I liked Draco, I think he's one of the most complicated, interesting characters in the stories. If - and I hope she will - JKR goes on to write sequels, I think Draco would be an in..."well hey...doesn't Malfboy sort of like not hate Harry anymore since he saved him from that hidden room that was flamin up????
Smhmk97 wrote: "Georgie wrote: "Jdfield wrote: "I liked Draco, I think he's one of the most complicated, interesting characters in the stories. If - and I hope she will - JKR goes on to write sequels, I think Drac..."I agree, I think Draco and Harry kind of working together to save their kids dallying with some kind of darkness would be reeeeally interesting.
Nah. Severus Snape...now THAT I understand. He was in love with a woman who did not love him back. Draco on the other hand made a bad decision and it's his fault he cries all the time. However, he didn't really choose to side with Voldemort, it was Lucius's fault, so I can imagine I wouldn't exactly like it if that happened to me. He really needs to be braver and stand up to his father. And Tom Felton plays him sooo well!
I don't feel any sympathy for him at all. He had the same choices as everyone else- good or evil. He chose to be a part of the death eaters, he chose to continue in his father's footsteps. He chose to be a snot-nosed puke. Therefore, I feel no sympathy. He chose his actions just like Harry chose his.
Quote from Chamber of Secrets:
And that's pretty much what he acted like through books 1-5. He only started showing humanity in book 6. Quote from Half-Blood Prince:
My thoughts exactly, especially when Harry caught him crying in the bathroom. That was sad.
Harry had heard these rumors about Malfoy's family before, and they didn't surprise him at all. Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy.
And that's pretty much what he acted like through books 1-5. He only started showing humanity in book 6. Quote from Half-Blood Prince:
His animosity was all for Snape, but he had not forgotten the fear in Malfoy's voice on that tower top, nor the fact that he had lowered his wand before the other Death Eaters arrived. Harry did not believe that Malfoy would have killed Dumbledore. He despised Malfoy still for his infatuation with the Dark Arts, but now the tiniest drop of pity mingled with his dislike.
My thoughts exactly, especially when Harry caught him crying in the bathroom. That was sad.
I LOVE him! He deserves sympathy....
I felt for him. He must have been so terrified. At first he was just all talk, how many kids his age are, but when he was faced with reality, he realized the dark course was not what he wanted. He never imagined it would come to what it was. Draco was an unsure teenager, not a killer.
no sympathy. i feel more sympathy for his mom when she really wants him safe. i dont like him at all
i do feel for hime - it shows his vulnerable side, he is not all nasty ass
I don't feel sympathy for him. Even though he had a wrong upbringing, he made his own choices. I think that he was bad inside!
I have a lot of sympathy for Draco. He's a weak brat, but not inherently evil. He has grown up in a volatile environment and with the pressure from his father and Voldemort he wasn't left with many avenues. Had he been stronger he might have been able to fight against them, but his weakness let him down.
Catia wrote: "I DONT FEEL ANY SYMPATHY FOR HIM!! lol... he is just a BIG cry baby..."I felt a little sympathy but not much. I agree he is a crybaby. He is spoilt, a suck-up, a bigot, and he never really learns his lesson. He always still sticks by Voldemort's side despite all the trouble it's brought him. He brought it upon himself.
I do feel a bit of pity for him. I always hated him. But don't forget that he DID lower his wand.
Well, Draco's family standards could be accurately compared to Sirius Black's - and they have chosen different paths. There is no sense in blaming his parents, the choise has always been his, misguided as he was, for sure.
Draco has always been a coward, but I don't think he was a bad person; he was just repeating what he'd heard at home, and we can't blame him for having his parents. Once he saw how terrible Voldemort was, he didn't find it cool anymore. Draco is no hero, but he isn't a bad person either. He can't be blamed for bad upbringing, that's why Rowling gave him a second chance.
I have so much mixed feelings on him. I don't know how I feel. On one hand he's a bully and Death Eater (ish) but on the other he is being forced to do things with the threat of him and his family being killed. I think he may have entered Voldemort's service confident, but now he's not so sure he really wants to be a Death Eater
Catia wrote: "I DONT FEEL ANY SYMPATHY FOR HIM!! lol... he is just a BIG cry baby..."Okay, so you come onto a board about how we feel sympathy for him, and you come in here saying that? Start a hate board if you want, but don't put it here.
message 89:
by
Sara (Living by Booklight)
(last edited Jul 27, 2014 07:08AM)
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
Draco has been my favorite character from his first line to his last, and I continue to love him. This might sound crazy, but I've always thought that he is overall a better person than Harry. He was never evil. Never. He wasn't a bad person. He was a good kid raised in the wrong way, and you can't blame him for that.First of all, he never had any real and true friends. Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and Blaise were all from pureblood families, and Lucius forced him to befriend them.
Second, he tried to befriend Harry. He really did. In Madam Malkin's, in the first book, he started talking to harry in what he thought was a friendly way. He just wanted to make a friend for himself, and Lucius ruined it for him. He had no idea that Harry was the boy who lived, that wasn't the reason for attempting to befriend him. He just wanted a friend.
Third, he tried to save Harry. No real evil person would do that. When asked to say if Harry was actually Harry, he obviously didn't want to say yes. He tried with everything he had to save Harry, he really did.
Fourth, he lived in an abusive household. If you don't believe me, watch the scenes with Lucius and Draco together. Lucius has that snake cane, right? Well, the can has really sharp fangs, and more than once, Lucius stabs Draco in the shoulder with the fangs.
Fifth, he helped the trio in CoS. In the scene in Flourish and Blotts, right before Lucius and the Weasleys talk, he rips a page out of a book. The trio and the Weasleys were right underneath him when he dropped it (he was on the stairs). Later, Hermione finds a page ripped out of a book that talks about the Basilisk. Would Hermione ever rip a page out of a book? No! My theory is that Lucius told him about the Heir and the Chamber, so he knew about the Basilisk, and he tried to help them figure it out.
Sixth, he's not capable of cold-blooded murder. While this might not seem like much, it is. The task of murdering Dumbledore was just too much for him. He was in the bathroom crying. On the Astronomy Tower, he had to kill Dumbledore, but he couldn't. Harry clearly said that he was lowering his wand.
There are so many more reasons that I could list right now, but I feel like I have to end it here with this last statement: Draco hated himself. He really did. After being raised to think that he was the best, he ended up hating himself. So, when he had a son, he "made a better man out of Scorpius than he ever was". Also, I don't think that Astoria, his wife, was pureblood. I'd like to think that she was muggleborn, simply because Draco would definitely do that to spite Lucius. I think, when it came down to choosing who he wanted to spend his life with, he chose someone who made him happy, not one of Lucius' predetermined wife options.
I do believe that he could've been better, but I think that that "could've been better" is really what changed him at the end. He knew he was in the wrong, and he wanted more than anything to make up for that. He was forced to be a Death Eater. Everything that made up who he was in the series was forced. No reader should be blinded by the false person that Draco was forced to be.
Draco suffered something that many young boys suffer: a constant need to make their father proud. The difference is that, for Draco, that means being a horrible person. The other difference is that he has no choice. Why does he always say his father will hear about things? Because it's true. If Draco does anything in Lucius' eyes, Lucius will most certainly hear about it.
If any given reader were to give Draco a chance, they'd find that he really did have a heart to big for his body, and that's why he couldn't resist Lucius. I've seen myself in Draco, and I've seen other people in Draco. He really is just a good kid stuck in an awful position that he can't get out of. Narcissa definitely had a quality that could've made her a wonderful mother if it weren't for Lucius: she lied to the Dark Lord to find out about Draco. I think that he did experience some love, just not enough.
Next time you think of Draco as a horrible person, remember this: "People can only give the love have. Don't judge them by how much love they give -- they might be giving all they have. They just weren't given enough."
I feel sort of bad for him and on the other hand not so sorry for him.
Draco was a pretty nasty piece of work when it was just a school-boy rivalry with the most famous and kind of good-looking (though that is debatable in the movie)boy of his time, possibly of all time. But, when it got serious, involving the returned Dark Lord, and whatnot, you can't help but feel sorry for him. He was threatened, let's not forget, with the lives of him and his family if he failed to kill Dumbledore, which he couldn't do anyway, and he was just desperate. You can see the strain and toll it took on him when he cried in the bathroom, and see how bad it was, talking to a ghost GIRL who was a MUDBLOOD, and definitely not as pretty as Emma Watson. As the series continues, it becomes obvious that he is definitely feeling remorseful, as he knows Harry Potter was the one caught, but still acts unsure. In fact, his worst fault is that he is Slytherin and therefore his life's ambition is to win. He, though greatly fallen out of favor with Voldy, still tried to get back in his good books by trying to capture Harry, but you see how horrified and sad he was when Crabbe died, even though Crabbe became mutinous in the end and nearly killed him as well. And of course, he is a bit of a "two-faced bastard", though in the end he is merely an archenemy with Harry Potter once more.On a different note, who else thinks Tom Felton is not bad looking? My friend definitely thinks he's hot, but I think he's so-so.
Draco is one of my favorite characters. I have plenty of sympathy for him. He's a young boy in situations that were too difficult for him to handle. I love him.
Amanda wrote: "his story makes me want to cry. i feel so badly for him because i feel that its his parents fault because they're scared that they force him to do this stuff. TinaBee: yes i am SO HAPPY that he did..."Me too. I DON'T believe he was ever a bad person.
V C wrote: "Does anyone else get more and more sympathetic for Draco as the series goes on. ******May contain Spoilers*******
I feel especially sympathetic when Draco is on the top of the Astrono..."
This Is one of my favorite scenes in the whole book.
Kate wrote: "Poor Malfoy. It took a long time for me to actually feel this way, but in HBP we see some complexity to his character, and it makes it so much harder to hate him. He is entirely a product of his up..."Tom Felton did an amazing job. It was a pivotal book in the series and definitely one of my very favorites.
Come on! He doesn't even deserve pitty ! Even if he was encouraged to be a death eater he could have chosen to do otherwise. If he wasn't such a coward he could have accepted the help Dumbledore offered him. It wouldn't even have been so hard to run from Voldemort if he had gone with Dumbledore.
Victoria wrote: "Come on! He doesn't even deserve pitty ! Even if he was encouraged to be a death eater he could have chosen to do otherwise. If he wasn't such a coward he could have accepted the help Dumbledore of..."And he nearly did, didn't he? Only Dumbledore got killed right when he decided it was ok.
That wasn't out of courage. He just wasn't able to kill him but he wouldn't have (and he didn't)stopped anybody else who would have done it. He just didn't want to get his hands dirty.
Not necessarily. He cared for his family too, and Dumbledore was never unkind to him, even though he knew exactly what he meant to do, and sympathized him.
Yeah I know but that doesn't change the fact that he was not the best person in the world. But I get your point.
all discussions on this book
|
post a new topic
