Draco Malfoy: Villain or Victim?
Character development in a story is always an interesting action to observe. How the characters grow and how the actions and people around them influence them is a key part to watching character development. Harry Potter was influenced by Ron and Hermione, as well as his aunt and uncle. Ron was influenced by his parents and older brothers. Draco Malfoy was influenced by his parents. Each character’s upbringing influenced the way they see the world and how they respond to it. It is my opinion that Draco Malfoy was not a villain but, rather just influenced by others to do bad things.
As I mentioned before characters are influenced by the people around them. Draco Malfoy is greatly influenced by his father. Draco only desires to please his father and make him proud even though Draco doesn’t believe in the same thing his father does. As a result, some of the beliefs that Lucius contains rubs off on Draco. “Lucius believes that half-blood and Muggle-born wizards are inferior to pure-bloods, something he no doubt drills into his son” (Pottermore). This is why we see Draco calling Hermione a mudblood. Draco was raised to believe that he was better than everyone else, that is why he treats everyone as inferior to himself.
Pottermore talks about Draco Malfoy’s “true character”. In the sixth book called the Half Blood Prince, Draco is charged with the responsibility to find a way to sneak Death Eaters into Hogwarts and to kill Dumbledore. “This task may have been advertised to Draco as a ‘great honor’, but on closer inspection it looks very much like punishment for his father’s failures — even his mother, Narcissa, can see that” (Pottermore). He can’t say no to Voldemort and this action might redeem his father’s standing in the Death Eater community. Even though he agrees to do it, he is still afraid of the daunting task before him. The story goes on and Draco finds a way to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts, through a Vanishing Cabinet hidden in the Room of Requirement. Now here’s the kicker. Draco managed to do all of this successfully but he couldn’t kill Dumbledore, Severus Snape had to kill Dumbledore instead. This tells us a lot about Draco’s character. When it comes down to it, Draco couldn’t and didn’t want to kill Dumbledore because he was forced to.
Another website mentions again Draco’s upbringing and how this affects how he sees the world. The author mentions how Draco and Harry Potter first met. In the first Harry Potter book, it is mentioned how much Draco reminds Harry of Dudley. Draco was raised to be believe that pure bloods are better than everyone else. He learned that pure blood status is better than others from his father. Draco uses his pureblood status as a reason to torment Hermione Granger and bring down Ron Weasley. In the end, when Draco was supposed to kill Dumbledore, he couldn’t do it, even if it meant losing his status in the death eater community all together. The author of the article says a that even though he tried to redeem himself at the very end, “Draco did far too little, far too late, to be called anything close to a hero” (quora.com). He might not have done enough to be called a hero, but at least he tried to redeem himself at the very end by not killing Dumbledore.
Of all the characters in the Harry Potter series, Draco Malfoy is rated eighth for the amount of screen time in the movies by IMDB. In all of the movies, he has about thirty-one and half minutes. His screen time was the highest in the sixth movie, The Half Blood Prince, because of such a strong role in that movie. He is no longer a side character like he was in the other books. Now he is a key character in the story plot. Some might argue that he was always a key character, that his role in the story became more and more important as the series continued. His strong role in the sixth book was so high because of his role in the story. He was supposed to kill Dumbledore, as well as let Death eaters into Hogwarts. It is my opinion that Draco Malfoy is not a villain, but he is a victim. His actions in the sixth book are a product of misguidance and pressure applied to him. This topic needs to be addressed now because of the confusion in the Harry potter community. Many people believe that Draco Malfoy is a bad character. I would have to agree that he is a bad character, but that is just a result of how he was raised and brought up. This is not a pure reflection on his character. He is just a teenage boy who was influenced by those around him. He was not a Death Eater and he did not want to kill Dumbledore in the every end.
Works Cited Page
“Why Draco Malfoy Isn’t a Typical Villain.” Pottermore, www.pottermore.com/features/why-draco-malfoy-isnt-a-typical-villain.
“Is Draco Malfoy a Hero or Villain?” 17 Answers: Is Draco Malfoy a Hero or Villain? — Quora, www.quora.com/Is-Draco-Malfoy-a-hero-or-villain.
ninewheels0. “Characters By Screen Time: Harry Potter.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/list/ls031310246/.
