Various Aspects of Otherness of the Villain in J

The concept of Otherness has been thoroughly examined on a variety of levels, especially in cultural and literary criticism. Therefore, it is almost impossible to establish one general definition which can encompass all of its aspects concerning origins, language, culture, appearance, religion, beliefs, morality, and ethics just to mention but a few. According to Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “otherness” means “being or feeling different in appearance or character from what is familiar, expected or generally accepted”1. Notwithstanding, the concept of Otherness is much more complex and can be realized in various dimensions. As Lilia Melani suggests:

deemed to be intrinsically repugnant and inassimilable, not only to be kept at a distance as an outcast group of untouchables but veritably to be annihilated.[…] The Other as unmitigated evil is seen as a germ that threatens to infect one's lifeworld and needs to be uprooted 3 .
The scholar also points out that Otherness derives from the "friend-enemy dichotomy with its intermittent invitations to a demonization of the Other" 4 .
Since the category of the Other is widespread and may be related to different areas of study, I decided to narrow my analysis down to a few aspects.In my view, Otherness is a concept of difference embodied by one's identity 5 when the Other may be perceived as a dehumanized inferior person who breaches social and moral conventions.In relation to the literary character, I see Otherness as interference of the forces triggered by him that disturbs the established order in the presented world.Following these definitions, I would like to transfer the concept to the literary area and examine the portrait of the main villain from the Harry Potter novels -Tom Riddle, primarily known as Lord Voldemort.
To begin with, I have to admit that villain's Otherness takes various manifestations which refer to socio-political and ethical-religious aspects.What is more, it has a dynamic nature and can be recognized in two stages: non-magical and magical.The first stage, probably perceived as a minor one, is a non-magical (Muggle) stage, when Tom Riddle grows up in an orphanage and remains unaware of his real identity and wizarding predispositions.However, at a young age, he seems to be very strange and odd, not only to his peers but also to others who happen to encounter him.As we realize in the sixth installment of the cycle, he behaves weirdly enough to notice he does not fit the world of Muggles.Despite the ignorance of his magical heritage, Tom displays extraordinary abilities which exceed that of his peers, even in the wizarding world.Especially, with the unconscious use of magic, Tom bullies other children, tortures animals and steals others' belongings which he treats as trophies.Such behaviour is socially unacceptable and therefore it must be suppressed.The existing standards in the muggle world do not presume the influence of magic, which might explain and justify the behaviour of the young and inexperienced magician.Tom's deeds prove his abnormality at the non-wizarding stage which sounds like symptoms of madness or certain mental disorder.Eventually, at the age of eleven, Tom confides his secrets to Albus Dumbledore (the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry), and the man immediately recognizes boy's true identity: "Hogwarts, […] is a school for people with special abilities" "I'm not mad!" "I know that you are not mad.Hogwarts is not a school for mad people."I knew I was different" […] "I knew I was special" […]"I can speak to snakes-they find me, they whisper to me.Is that normal for a wizard?""It is unusual" said Dumbledore, after a moment's hesitation, "but not unheard of"6 .
That moment may be perceived as a real breakthrough in Tom Riddle's life, as the boy "is almost gleeful when Dumbledore reveals to him that he belongs in a hidden parallel world where his magical ability will be treated as admirable rather than strange"7 .We may expect that when he discovers his wizarding status and enters the wizarding world, he should no longer remain strange or odd, since he must become familiar to other wizards.However, such assumptions turn out to be erroneous.
When Tom enters the magical stage, he undoubtedly appears to be emotionally stable and prudent.Everyone recognizes him as a brilliant and talented boy who seems to be a promising magician.Nevertheless, Tom Riddle makes great use of such widespread belief and cunningly manipulates his allies.One of the teachers, Professor Slughhorn, seems to be even infatuated with him.He perceives the boy as a brilliant one and invites him to participate in special meetings organized for distinguished students.This shows that Tom initially gets acceptance of the magical community.The wizards attempt to discern in him a figure identical with the others they know.For Tom, being like others is equal with being an average person.Already at the starting point, he dissociates himself from the majority and perceives himself as "different" and "special".Although Tom Riddle does not express his Otherness overtly, he aspires to set apart from mediocrity.All in all, Voldemort's perception of mediocrity comes down to his mortality.It may be assumed that any manifestations of his strangeness and oddness begin when the villain decides to re-ject death as something right and natural.At the magical stage, this form of Otherness encompasses three basic fields: the name, the soul, and the body.In particular, he hates his own name because it is too simple and common for him.Eventually, when the character learns his full identity, especially his father's Muggle origins, he decides to change his real name into Lord Voldemort which is an anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle.As Karley Adney and Holly Hassel point out, "Voldemort" is a combination of French words and literally means to "fly from death" 8 , a name quite suitable for this particular wizard, suggesting his "quest for immortality" 9 .This indicates the villain's pathological fear of death in its early phase, which presumably could have already originated from the death of his mother: "My mother can't have been magic, or she wouldn't have died" 10 .As Fenske points out, when Tom Riddle becomes an embodiment of dread, scarcely anyone in the wizarding world dares to call him another way than "You-Know-Who", "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named", or "The Dark Lord" used mainly by Death Eaters and his other supporters 11 .Such efforts serve primarily to lower the degree of fear and potential threat awaiting the person who dares to utter the name of the most dangerous magician.On the other hand, it may be perceived as a taboo, which should not be spoken.As Jean-Paul Sartre points out, any manifestation of the Other makes the one "perpetually in danger" 12 .Even the name of the villain generates the semblance of Otherness arousing a feeling of dread and disgust.In fact, only two characters call him by his exact name: Albus Dumbledore, who rejects the villain's atrocious personality and addresses him "Tom", as if he were a schoolboy, and Harry Potter, who is not afraid of his enemy's name because this would make him feel weaker.
Voldemort's horror concerning his mortality goes far beyond his name.As Scott Sehon notices, character's attempts to escape death build the main axis of the plot of the Harry Potter cycle 13 .The villain uses his personal charm and persuades professor Slughorn to reveal the secret about the creation of an immortal soul: The object which contains a part of the split soul is called a Horcrux15 .Although it can be made from quite anything, Lord Voldemort chooses to use exclusively objects of great significance and importance, so that he can additionally express his powerful status.This also proves his Otherness.He rejects the use of usual items and instead seeks for outstanding ones.Nevertheless, the division of soul is not commonly acceptable in the wizarding world and is generally perceived as a significance of unspeakable evil, since it demands committing a murder.Any experiments with the soul are truly condemned by magicians and recognized as odd and unnatural: "the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole, […] [the split of the soul -AŁ] is an act of violation, it is against nature"16 .However, for the purpose of attaining immortality, Voldemort decides to tear apart his soul six times, though, in fact, he creates seven Horcruxes: Tom Riddle's Diary, Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, Salazar Slytherin's Locket, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, Harry Potter (created unintentionally, when the broken part of his soul implants itself into the nearest living creature), and a snake Nagini.Provided that the soul splits into two each time a Horcrux is made, it can be pointed out that Voldemort's soul must be heavily unstable and almost crushed.On these grounds, the character becomes condemned by the rest of the society .
Not only is the Dark Lord's soul destroyed, but his body seems to be wrecked as well.As Sehon observes, "after […] creating Horcruxes, the handsome young Tom Riddle undergoes a significant physical transformation"17 .First of all, after an unsuccessful attempt to kill the infant Harry Potter, Voldemort is devoid of his physical form and wizarding power.Because of existing Horcruxes, the magician is unable to ultimately die but his flesh is removed.This situation may be compared to some mental disease which, though, does not influence the body directly, it causes gradual changes in the physical appearance.Such deduction is confirmed by Dumbledore who claims that "Lord Voldemort has seemed to grow less human with the passing years, and the transformation he has undergone seemed […] to be only explicable if his soul was mutilated beyond the realms of what we might call 'usual evil'[…]"18 .Thus, the unusual evil reflects his Otherness.The lack of respect for the soul turns into loss of corporeal form.Although Rowling presents the body and the soul as separate parts, it can be seen that the flesh is not able to function properly when the spirit is injured.As a matter of fact, Voldemort tries to perform magic using the body of snakes but such solution is not acceptable to him since he cannot achieve desired objectives.This only proves Voldemort's cruelty, as: it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn, […].Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime.The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price.You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a halflife, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips20 .
What strikes the most is the fact that these words are spoken by Firenze a centaur, who lives in a forest and belongs to the animal world.It may be expected that animal beings should not condemn any acts of wild behaviour.However, such incident evokes abhorrence even in non-human creatures.
In spite of resorting to the extreme, the wizard still does not resemble a human being in this form.After all, the Dark Lord decides to regain his full body.Together with his subordinate Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail), they build the embryonic body that Voldemort uses for travel and performing magic.Nevertheless, he does not feel satisfied with his physical state.He wants to create a new body for himself.To achieve this goal, he needs to make an elixir of specific ingredients: a bone of the father, flesh of the servant, and blood running in his enemy's veins.Peter Pettigrew helps him in this venture and eventually they succeed in restoring a bodily form.After that Voldemort is described as: […] the thin man […] whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's but with slits for nostrils […].His hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness21 .
With such a striking appearance he resembles a walking dead or a creature of monstrous characteristics.The distinctive features of Lord Voldemort create his physical Otherness.He can be compared neither to any human being nor to any animal species.The Dark Lord's physiognomy is beyond the realms of applicable standards.Even one of his most staunch followers, Bellatrix Lestrange, seems to be disconcerted with her master's new figure.
Later, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort tries to kill Harry Potter one more time but the curse rebounds and shatters his body.Meanwhile, the eponymous character, together with his friends, destroy all the Horcruxes.Thus, it is feasible to kill the villain once and for all.Although in the wizarding world it is possible to come back to the world of the living as a ghost, Voldemort is not able to do so.His ill-treated soul enters limbo and is somehow imprisoned.This represents the final expulsion of the Other.The Other is definitively recognized not only as a subhuman but also as a sub-wizard who does not deserve the wizarding membership.He is deprived of a right to fly back, being therefore rejected.
What drives both worlds, muggle and wizarding, is norms and rules.Although the two dimensions operate under different principles, the standards concerning morality are very similar.Both spheres accept humanity with all its aspects, including death.Therefore, monstrosity is rejected and unacceptable because of the general conviction that a monster threatens people.It is the monster buried deep within that makes Voldemort excluded from society.The villain's Otherness is expressed in the rejection of himself as he is.If he does not accept the others, it will become impossible for himself to exist.We can see that Voldemort becomes the Other since he does not accept the duality.The world presented in Rowling's novels is constructed with the concept of binary oppositions.On the one hand, Voldemort is not able to honour the humanity of those not like him and their right to exist.On the other, he fails to accept his mortality.The villain belongs to a considerable minority not only because of his views, but also because of his unusual fear.What may be perceived as a paradox is that Voldemort sees the majority as inferior for not being powerful enough to defeat him.Notwithstanding, the ultimate failure of the Dark Lord is ascribed to his inability to accept love.He is a stranger because he denies its power and misunderstands its actual meaning.Subconsciously, Voldemort seeks acceptance, therefore, he recruits Death Eaters who are not true supporters of the Dark Lord.Mostly, they join the organization because they are overwhelmed by the fear of Voldemort's revenge or they are not strong enough to oppose him.Anyway, the villain never expresses any gratitude for their obedience and loyalty.He is driven by egoistic desires and does not care about anyone but himself.He is unable to create and build true bonds with anybody.However, many of his followers display signs of love and care.One of the morally converted is Narcissa Malfoy who eventually realizes it is maternal love she should trust in.The woman even decides to lie to her master because she hopes to save her son's life.Another striking example is Severus Snape who deludes the Dark Lord into thinking that he faithfully respects his will.One may wonder why such an intelligent and brilliant wizard lets the man trick him.The answer is hidden in Voldemort's nature and disposition.He rejects the idea of disinterested love which governs all Snape's activities and stimulates his behaviour: "Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry."Snape was Dumbledore's, Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother.And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand.You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?[…] Snape's Patronus was a doe, […] the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from the time when they were children.You should have realized, […] he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?" "He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort "but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him"22 .
Voldemort perceives love as something exclusively physical and labile.He underestimates or even does not consider the utmost sacrifice one is capable of in the name of true affection.His emotional Otherness dooms him to complete failure.
Voldemort's capacity for love is paralyzed.Thus, he is unable to fully recognize compassion of the others.During the final clash Harry Potter exhorts the Dark Lord to repent: Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this.Harry saw his pupils contract to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten."It's your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left… I've seen what you'll be otherwise… be a man… try… try for some remorse…"23 .
Unfortunately, he cannot respond properly to an act of mercy as he is emotionally crippled.This turns out to be his actual Otherness.Almost from the very beginning Tom Riddle is stigmatized as the Other.He is begotten under the influence of the love potion and comes to the world as a result of lies and deceit.His birth expresses the disturbance of an ethical code.Merope Gaunt, Tom Riddle's mother, administers a special love elixir to the man she is fascinated with which evokes a false infatuation.When the potion stops working, Tom Riddle's father leaves Merope and their child.True love is never instilled into the wizard.Subsequently, devoid of parental care, Voldemort becomes an outcast of society.However, this is not the immediate reason for his downfall.Both Harry Potter and Tom Riddle are brought up without their parents.They are both great magicians of enormous power.Whereas Lord Voldemort desires to become immortal, Harry Potter voluntarily exposes himself to death in order to save his friends and the loved ones.He is ready to die for the good of the cause.The Dark Lord, quite the opposite, utilizes the most atrocious deeds in order to save himself.The lack of altruistic attitude makes him the negation of 'myself', embodied by the eponymous character.Although, he notoriously desires to get rid of people of different characteristics, it is him who becomes suppressed as the Other.That is why he must be relegated.
Taking everything into consideration, it may be concluded that Rowling presents the concept of Otherness in terms of the psychology of magic, underlying its destructive effect, especially when it is used against the prevailing order and established social norms.Once again the Otherness of the character can be analyzed at two stages.The first one is a harbinger of the villain's actual Otherness.When Tom Riddle is out of the wizarding world, it is magic and cruelty that make him the Other.But in the wizarding world his Otherness comes down to his experiments with the soul and the creation of Horcruxes.The more Horcruxes Voldemort makes the less human he becomes, both emotionally and physically.
Voldemort's Otherness reflects a psychological and artistic complexity of the character.He is not a flat antihero whose villainy is diagnosed at the very beginning.However, he is subject to numerous modifications.His Otherness is not decided once and for all.On the contrary, his Otherness spreads its wings continually, gaining momentum and eventually reaching the ultimate.In fact, it is not the society that is fully responsible for his expulsion.It is Voldemort himself.His self-identification coincide with the dynamism of changes in his Otherness.The physical and mental processes that occur during his development bring him closer and closer to the boundaries that should never be crossed.He gets the opportunity to identify himself with the rest of the community but he wastes the chance.Instead, he decides to separate himself utterly without the option of returning.The Otherness in relation to human beings turns into the Otherness in relation to himself .It becomes evident that he never discovers his true identity and never embraces the human side which he is not deprived of.Unable to recognize his fears and weaknesses, Voldemort becomes the Other for himself.Convinced of his indomitability to the very end, he nurtures inner strangeness, which eventually takes control over him.His full identity hidden deep within and disclosed at the end underlines a complex dimension of being the Other.
The multiplicity of forms of Voldemort's Otherness implies not only the complexity of the character but also of the whole Harry Potter cycle.In fact, Voldemort's development constructs the main plot of the novels which would not be so intrinsically complicated without the meanings implied by the character's Otherness.
For some time he tries to survive on the back of professor Quirrel's head and lives almost like a parasite: See what I have become?[…] Mere shadow and vapor … I have form only when I can share another's body … but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds … Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks … you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest… 19 .

"
But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done … think, and try for some remorse, Riddle…" […] I can make filings move without touching them.I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them.I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me.I can make them hurt if I want to"[…]