Courage - Facets of the virtue

sareeta thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#1
Hey Everyone,

Just like y'all who frequent this forum and many others around the world, I am an ardent fan of the Harry Potter series. Although I haven't been too active on the forum for nearly a year now, there has been a topic that I have always wanted to talk about on this forum, seeing that there have been such interesting topics in past and decided to finally talk about it today.

My apologies if this topic has been discussed already before. I have tried to look for posts on similar topic but found none and so decided to do it today!

Courage is a virtue and yet a seldom understood virtue at that! Every man who once walked the earth , or does now, or will do in the future, would possess the virtue albeit in different shades or the less unfortunate to let this virtue be masked by the vice that fill their hearts, or so we believe.

Harry Potter series is filled with characters that seem to have been defined on the scale of this virtue and their attitude towards Death.

All through, reading the harry potter series ( a series that I have read and re-read several times and yet found myself pondering over each time I read them - Courage - What is it? )

Some say Harry is the most courageous, and some others Sirius, some believe Dumbledore to be! It may be inappropriate to compare them against each other, but courageous they all are!

But how do we really convince ourselves that one is courageous? Is it because one is ready to lose all and face death, or is it sacrifice (is there such a thing at all? I'd rather leave that for another discussion!), or is it that dare with which you accept a challenge?

What then is courage according to you? What do you believe are the different facets of this treasured virtue?

It would be really wonderful to know your thoughts!

-Sareeta

PS - I rather thought , that posting my views at first shot would rather seem imposing and decided to wait until others chipped in.

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shellytt thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#2

Well I guess I would be the first to respond to this post.

What is a virtue? It can be defined as that which is morally good, therefore courage that exhibits that added incentive of being morally right is considered a virtue.
There were many characters in the novels that showed their bravery, but were in no way virtuous. Bellatrix and Voldermort to name the most prominant.
They can be viewed as brave because they stood for what they believed in the face of strong opposition. However their fight was not one of virtue and therefore their courage, though very real was not a virtue.
To me, the ultimate character that exhibits the the slogan "Courage is a virtue" and who in turn possess that virtue is Dobby. Dobby understood from early on what the moral right was and he stood against teh Malfoys, his masters, in his attempt to stand for that right. That is courage. When one stands against those who oppress, for a moral purpose that is inherently good, then he exhibits courage of the highest order. He understands the severe consequences that he would endure, yet he still acts. These points relate to his role in COS.
As an ultimate act of courage though is shown n DH, where he places danger second to that of loyalty and friendship and thinks not of himself but of those he can help, he makes the ultimate sacrifice for the "greater good".
As you stated in your post some ppl consider Dumbledore to be the bravest or Harry or Sirius, but I think that that honour should fall on Dobby, whose courage is a virtue!
cezzurockz thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#3
wow this is really a good topic to discuss n i totally agree with shellt wht she wrote abt dobby
i thk tht courage is a virtue doesnt mean to accept death n gv away ur life infact its the love tht md u sacrifice ur life for ur love ones
the courage of love is the actual virtue (according to me) cz to hate, to blame sm1, to point out sm1's weaknesses etc r very easy thgs but to love sm1 wholeheartedly n care for him/her more thn ur life or self is the main courage
dobby gv his life to save his eternal master bcz according to him harry potter ws a gr8 wizard who defeated voldemort more thn twice n contribute to gv a little bit rank to the houseelves society
the courage of love cud b seen in sirius's ch he ws just harrys godfather nt his actual father but still he waited for 12 yrs n finally gv his life for his godson
n this courage is best reflected in the characters of ron n hermoine.... harry potters faithful sincere n best frnds. why they dare their lives for harry, y they didnt complete their 7th yr, y they faced the deatheaters, y they left their families n all sort of comfort n start get goin on a path who's destiny ws nt known.........the ans of all these questions is "love" they love their frnd so much tht it gv them the courage to risk thier lives.its the love of which dumbledor always talk abt
anuradhasharma thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#4
i think
"the biggest courage is to realise one's own mistake and try to improve it."
ron....who first thought dat harry was worng in goblet of fire.....wen realised dat he is wrong...he came back to harry.......helped him....
in last book cozz of dat locked he was forced to think otherwise....wen relised dat he is worng...he put up his corouge and came back to harry.........not bothering abut his life...
sareeta thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#5
THanks for replying people. I am rather in a bit of a rush at the moment,. Will return later and reply in detail!!

Thanks again!
mad-about-Rajat thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#6
Nice post Sareeta.....!! I feel courage is to stand up to ppl even when the whole world is on d other side......u knw dat u r alone...but u still stand up for what is right........
Der r many characters dat touched my heart wid dis virtue......
Harry - As dumbledore had told in HBP...harry culd always turn his back on d prophecy if he wanted to....harry knew dat d path to resist and kill voldemort was full of obstacles......n yet he decided to go on it.....simply bcoz he had lost so many loved ones coz of him...n culd not bear to see sum1 else dead.....
den ron n hermoine......as cezzurockz said.....they culd have remained at home enjoying d comforts dere...but still went wid harry....coz he they were best friends......even tho they knew they culd possibly die any tym.....
den dumbledore......he was d champion of d muggles.....even tho der were many muggle-haters who didn't support his decisions.....!
but i feel.....d most courageous man wuld be Snape.....as harry told his son albus in d end......snape stood up against voldemort n was on dumbledore's side.....knwing dat he was in immense danger.......n dat was to protect harry......tho he despised harry...he still protected him till his last breath.....but he did it to not let lily's dying efforts to be left in vain......bcoz dat is wat "Love" is all abt.....
rv_annie thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#7
courage is a result of strong determintion
sareeta thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#8
@everyone - THank you for your detaied comments, and apologies for the delay in posting my comments - I guess I wanted to do justiceto the topic itself and didnt have the time for it either owing to some horrible

But yeah, well getting back to the topic -

Reading all your comments, there is just one thing atleast for me that stood out, that courage is what one realizes, when one is in the face of what he fears most, or when he understands fear.

For Dobby, it was the Malfoys he feared , feared going against them... and yet he overcame that.

Whether it was Severus, Sirius , Dumbledore or Harry - there was something they feared not being able to do, or feared facing... if not both, that they faced despite all with courage.

Virtue or vice, courage I guess eventually , just boils down to facing what one fears that most and stand !

Apart from just the characters of Harry Potter, if one were to look at people in general, then everyone of them is courageous in their own way, only some of us see it, some of us dont -

Death is something many of us fear, or dont want to face, but those who do face it with all bravado are seen as courageous...

And on that note, thank you... for penning your comments and adding in different points of view - 😊
sentimentalfool thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#9
Hmm this was such an interesting topic, missed it before, but I was just having some thoughts about this. This might be a little off-topic,
JKR has said time and again that according to her, courage is the BEST virtue one can possess. I think this shows in her books as well.
Gryfindor-courage (the 'cool' house to be in LMAO!:P)
Slytherin-ambition
Hufflepuff - hardwork
Ravenclaw-intelligence
Do you really believe courage is the best virtue like JKR?
OR
Do you think that there is no such thing as a 'best virtue'? Every trait has greatness in it's own right?
@Sareeta, sorry for being a kinda off-tangent,
so guys, what do you think?
missindia26 thumbnail
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Posted: 16 years ago
#10
For me, there's some words from the Princess Diaries, dont know where the quote's from originally, but it's said by Mia's dad: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something is more important than your fear" I think that really sums up the virtue of courage and that's why I think all the characters such as Dobby (who was scared of the Malfoys but mamaged to go against them), Harry, Severus, Sirius, Dumbledore, Harry and Ron were all courageous And in answer to the q above ^^, out of the 4 qualities, I do think courage is the most important, as you will be able to do actually anyhting if you can face your fears

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