The Legacy of Early Modern Magic. An Examination of Hermione Granger and Bellatrix Lestrange

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,9, University of Bonn, language: English, abstract: It seems like people have always been fascinated by the concept of magic. Looking at the early modern period in Europe, magic used to have another meaning for people. Its aim was not to entertain others, nor was it something fictional. Magic was real and existing. Today, magic is still something people are surrounded by whether through performances or by being addressed in fantasy books, magic is entertaining people today.

Joanne Rowling is a British author who is best known for the Harry Potter series. With more than 500 million sold copies worldwide, the Harry Potter series is the bestselling book series of all time. The fantasy series consists of seven books and they allow the reader to discover the magical world that Rowling created.

This paper will show that early modern ideas of magic can be found in the Harry Potter series and that on this basis, J.K Rowling reframes the fight between good and evil, which gives her the opportunity to humanize and demonize characters. The focus will be on the characters Hermione Granger and Bellatrix Lestrange. Focusing on the Harry Potter series, this paper will analyse how Hermione and Bellatrix are presented compared to the image of early modern practitioners of magic.

First, a general overview of the early modern concepts of magic and religion will be given. After that, the focus will be on the early modern concepts of white magic and black magic, addressing the key concepts that will be important for the analysis. Lastly, the theory part of this paper will have a look at the specific concepts of witches that were present in the early modern period.