Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video,
we’re going to be discussing The Dursleys- Vernon, Petunia and Dudley. More specifically,
we’re going to be addressing their perceptions of the world of magic,
and why their hatred of all things magical may actually be..somewhat justified.
Let’s start right at the beginning with Harry’s adoption. When Harry’s parents Lily and James were
murdered on Oct 31st 1981, the decision was made that Harry would be raised by his aunt Petunia
and her family. This decision was made on the basis that Harry would be protected
by the blood of Lily’s sister- Petunia, so long as he called her home his own.
Right from the get-go the Dursleys were massively critical of Harry- largely because they associated
him with the world of magic that they so loathed. They didn’t like anything that was
out of the ordinary- and all of a sudden Petunia was faced with raising her magical young nephew.
They never told Harry about how his parents died, never told him about Hogwarts,
and they failed to even MENTION the magical world to him. They hid Harry’s past from him
because it pertained to a world that they hated- a world that they wanted to pretend
didn’t exist. Don’t get me wrong, the Dursleys hated magic in part due to their personalities-
which certainly can’t be justified, but in this video I want to explore the possibility that-
as a result of the negative impact that the magical world had on their lives-
they were justified in hating it to a greater extent. Let’s take a look at each of the things
that happened to them and determine which may have contributed to a ‘justified’ hatred
towards all things magical. We’re going to look at things from THEIR perspective.
Petunia’s hatred of magic started young- very young.
Petunia Dursley, born Petunia Evans, was an English Muggle woman- the daughter of Mr and
Mrs Evans, the sister of Lily Evans, and the aunt of Harry Potter. Despite her obvious despicable
nature, the cold-hearted, evil Petunia that we’re introduced to in the books and films wasn’t always
so bad. Petunia and her sister Lily pair grew up in the town of Cokeworth, and as they grew older
Petunia’s sister Lily began to show more and more signs of magical ability-where Petunia did not.
LIly’s magical accomplishments started off quite small, and though Petunia didn’t think much of
them at first, she eventually began to feel the onset of jealousy. As Lily’s magic grew stronger,
she received a considerable amount of attention from her parents for her gifts, and I think that
Petunia, who had none, just felt left out. She did not yet hate magic, though I’m sure that
her lack of ability certainly affected her. In the year 1971 Lily received her letter to
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a momentous occasion for the family-
most of them anyway - the youngest daughter of the Evans’ family was a witch! When Petunia saw Lily
receive her letter, she felt a rush of emotions - confusion, anger- but most of all, jealousy,
and despite not being magical, she felt compelled to write a letter to none other than Albus
Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster. Hoping to be a part of the magical school herself, Petunia stated
her case to Dumbledore- and asked if she could study there with her sister. However, given that
Petunia was not magical in any way, Dumbledore had to politely decline Petunia’s request to attend
the school. Though she was declined entrance for a good reason, Petunia felt hurt and left out, and
on this day the jealousy that Petunia felt toward her sister reached new, darker heights. From that
day onward, Petunia denounced magic entirely- it was a world that rejected her- and the pain
that she felt from her rejection manifested itself in the form of anger toward her sister.
This is where the hatred all started for Petunia- and sad as it is,
it certainly doesn’t ‘justify’ her hatred of magic, it just shows that she’s a bit..well,
petty. Jealousy is almost never an excuse to lash out at someone - and to condemn her
sister for possessing traits she was born with speaks to the kind of person that Petunia was.
Starting with the first book, let’s move through the Harry Potter story
and see what else could have contributed to the Dursleys general hatred of magic.
In the Philosopher’s Stone it’s first revealed that Harry’s parents,
the ones who ‘died in a car crash’ were in fact murdered by Voldemort.
In spite of the fact that Petunia and her sister no longer spoke, she still definitely loved her
on some level, and the magical world taking her sister was in my mind, unquestionably,
the nail in the coffin that cemented her hatred of all things magical. Justified.
Next- it is certainly noteworthy that baby Harry was essentially ‘forced’ on the Dursley’s.
Though they ‘took care of him’ (I say that sparingly) - it was certainly not something
that they ever signed up for nor wanted. They weren’t paid for taking care of Harry,
nor were they given much choice. In my opinion on this point they are..somewhat justified.
Next, the zoo fiasco. In the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry uses magic to remove the glass
holding in the giant snake at the zoo. To Harry, this was fairly harmless and in good fun,
but to the Dursleys it put their son Dudley in serious danger. Justified.
Next- the letters. When Harry first got mail at 4 privet drive he didn’t know what to think,
but before he got a chance to open it properly Vernon Dursley intervened- making sure that
Harry would never become privy to the contents of that letter. By preventing
Harry from reading the letter and disposing of it- the letters only started arriving
in greater and greater numbers- Harry would read that letter whether Vernon liked it or not.
From Harry’s perspective Vernon was preventing him from reading something that BELONGED to him,
but from Vernon’s perspective he may just been protecting Harry- trying to steer him away from
the same magical world that killed his parents. The whole situation drove Vernon a bit mad-
and I’m sure it all would have been quite stressful to deal with. Justified...sort of.
In an effort to escape the barrage of letters- Vernon takes the family away from their home.
At this point they meet Hagrid- and after only a brief exchange of words Hagrid is already pulling
out his wand-or umbrella rather- and giving their son a pig tail. In order to have the tail removed
Dudley ended up needing surgery- which was no-doubt a scarring experience. Justified.
Fast forward to book 2, and the next instance of magic raining on their parade is when Dobby shows
up at their house and ruins Vernon’s big business deal. Once again, unexplainable and terrorizing
forms magic have entered his home, and his life, messing with his affairs. Justified.
Next, Vernon tries to stop Harry from leaving the home via the flying ford anglia. As a result,
he falls out of the window- a fall that could have potentially been fatal. Even if Vernon had Harry’s
best interest in mind, this whole fiasco could have been easily avoidable for him. Unjustified.
Fast forward to book 3 and magic is ruining Vernon’s day once again
during a visit from Harry’s aunt Marge.
"But Aunt Marge suddenly stopped speaking. For a moment, it looked as though words had failed her.
She seemed to be swelling with inexpressible anger — but the swelling didn’t stop. Her great red face
started to expand, her tiny eyes bulged, and her mouth stretched too tightly for speech”
In my opinion Marge totally deserved what she got.
If this event made them hate magic even more then that’s entirely unjustified- Marge had it coming.
The vast majority of the Dursleys’ unfortunate encounters with magic
occur in books 1-3, however, a few things still happen to them later on.
In book 4 misfortune strikes Dudley when Fred and George- intent on getting revenge against
the Dursleys- drop a Ton-Tongue Toffee near Dudley, knowing that he won’t be able to resist.
Despite the comical nature of the situation for a wizard, I’m sure that it could have
been quite worrying for a muggle- particularly as Dudley nearly choked to death. Justified.
In book 5 something happens that I think justifies their hatred of the magical world
more than anything else- the attack on Dudley from the Dementors. Of course, Dudley was only
attacked because he was with Harry, but he was attacked nonetheless. An attack by a dementor
is essentially an attack on his life. For them to be ‘thrilled’ about a world of magic that has
creatures which will attack their son in their hometown is entirely unrealistic. JUSTIFIED.
Lastly in book 7, once again as a consequence of the world of magic, the Dursleys are forced out of
their home because of the target on Harry’s back. In this instance the magical world isn’t targeting
them, but rather, it has become much closer to home than they were previously accustomed.
I can certainly understand why having to pack up and leave their home behind
would incite feelings of anger toward the magical world. Sort of justified.
In conclusion, I think that if you look at the Harry Potter story from the perspective of the
Dursleys- unknowing muggles with very little magical knowledge, then parts of their hatred
toward the world of magic are certainly justified. From the wizards perspective,
with additional context and information on magic, then some of these things may have appeared
‘harmless’- but we do have to try to remember how things would look to an outsider.
What can’t be justified is their terrible behaviour and INITIAL- entirely irrational
hatred of magic. I’m not saying that the Dursleys are good-
not at all, but I’m trying to look at the other side of the coin here.
What do you guys think? Were the Dursleys justified in their hatred of magic?
A lot? A little? Not at all? Let me know in the comment section below
I also just wanted to briefly mention that I just started a
new channel called Mythology Man. On that channel I’m going to be covering
greek,roman,norse,chinese,indian,egyptian and all other types of mythology. If that’s your thing,
then check out the link in at the bottom of this videos description.
Until next time
I am not paying for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks