He Dares to Speak Evils Name ~
No one dared to utter ‘Voldemort’, the villain’s name, but Harry. Instead people referred to the demonic entity as ‘You-Know-Who’ or ‘He Who Must Not Be Named’. For so terrifying was he, that people were fearful to even speak his name. Doing so would be too much of a confrontation with malevolence. In using such indirect, ambiguous, or hazy terms people placed a cloud of obscurity between evil and themselves, an insurmountable distance between that which they could have conquered and the conqueror they could have been. Harry, in saying ‘Voldemort’, brought the monster which plagued mankind from the darkness, the shadows, the haze, into the light. Only then could evil be seen, scrutinised, understood, and ultimately overcome.
He Was Marked by Evil ~
Having murdered Harry’s parents, Voldemort strikes at Harry, though the curse rebounds, instead striking Voldemort himself. Such a rebound shatters Voldemort's soul, and a piece of it latches onto the only living thing in the room — Harry Potter. Thus Harry, unlike any other, is touched, marked, and infected by evil, for a fragment of Voldemort's soul, more depraved than anything else, resides within him. This is why Harry has mastery over the dark art of conversing with snakes, which symbolise wickness, immorality, and treachery. Such a symbolism has biological and religious bases. Biologically snakes are a significant predator, being poisonous and noxious. Religiously, it was the snake which the devil embodied, leading humanity astray. Being marked by evil is a prerequisite to transcending it. Having become one with it, having digested and absorbed it, only then can you transcend it. In the words of Jordan Peterson, unless you can understand evil, you are defenceless against it.
The Psychology of Speaking Evils Name and Being Marked by Evil ~
Harry's speaking of evil and being marked by evil symbolises a crucial psychological process — the confrontation of the shadow. The psychoanalytical discipline outlines that the psyche (the mind) is composed of consciousness (that which you are aware of) and the unconscious (that which you are unaware of). The shadow resides within the unconscious and contains the parts of you that are so dark that you hide even from yourself. Paradoxically, in order to be good, truly good, one must face the shadow. As Carl G. Jung notes ‘One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.’ Only in shedding light to the devil within you, only in becoming conscious and aware of your dark side, are you properly incentivised to be good. Without earnestly fearing the hell you could unleash, you have nothing to move you to be good.
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