(Kyle Frost/The Daily Northwestern)
The story of the boy who lived came alive this quarter in a new Weinberg freshman seminar.
Jackie Murdock, a graduate student in the English department, teaches “Harry Potter’s Medieval Origins”, an examination of the parallels between J.K. Rowling’s popular series and the medieval literature that may have inspired it.
Setting down her own pair of dark, horn-rimmed glasses next to a paperback copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, Murdock said she started discovering connections between the books and the medieval literature she was studying shortly after the final book came out.
Murdock said when she was studying for her oral exams, she noticed the similarities between Rowling’s work and medieval texts.
“There was one text, which we’re doing in the class, called ‘Havelok the Dane,'” she said. “He has this scar; he’s the chosen one; he’s kicked out of his house and raised by other people. To me it just resonated a lot with what happens to Harry.”
Students are assigned the sixth and seventh books to read, in addition to excerpts from the first five, alongside medieval works such as Sir Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur” and Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” Close readings of the texts reveal the parallels set between Harry and King Arthur, and between the magic of Hogwarts’ Forbidden Forest and medieval England.
Despite the copious number of pages, Murdock said she doesn’t have a problem making sure students keep up with the reading. All of the students come having already read the books, and sometimes that means they notice details she admits she missed.
“They know them better than I do, which is honestly, for a teacher, very intimidating,” she said.
Clayton Webb, who is currently taking the class, said she was fascinated with the idea of taking a series she had grown up with and discussing it on a higher level. Recently the class looked at how Harry’s journey in the seventh book connects to that of Lancelot’s and King Arthur’s-something the McCormick freshman said she didn’t pick up on before.
“Today we discussed a passage about Harry retrieving a sword from inside this pool of water, which is similar to King Arthur retrieving his sword,” she said.
Reading Harry Potter for homework doesn’t seem to have many downsides, Medill freshman Jazmyn Tuberville said. She said although she hasn’t read the books, a class like this would be an interesting place to start.
“That would actually make it a bit more interesting having to read it in that sense and not just take it at face value,” she said. “Doing it in a class setting could make me think about things more.”
Looking at aspects of the novels students might have missed when they were 10 or 11 years old is part of the purpose of the class, Murdock said. Harry Potter has his roots in the same quest many medieval characters faced.
“The stories are becoming richer for them in a lot of ways, so it’s more than just that they’re great stories and great characters” she said. “There’s a lot of depth that goes into them that we’re uncovering as we look through it.”[email protected]
