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Chelsea Snyder
Dr. Vause
LIT 395
November 23, 2015
The Triumph of Female Heroes within the Harry Potter Series
Throughout the history of literature, heroes have always held a special place within the
readers imagination. In engaging with a text with such idealized characters, we are able go on
some of the most amazing journeys and experience worlds that are completely separate from our
own. We grow up with legendary heroes such as Achilles, Odysseus, Theseus and Hercules who
all embark on epic adventures away from home while making encounters with fantastical forces,
winning numerous victorieswhile losing othersand return home with newfound purposes
and powers. These mythological heroes have accepted challenges, courted disaster and faced the
most tragic of wars but they still continue to influence the heroes that appear in literature today.
Writers of this generation have turned their attention away from the immortal gods and towards
mortal men who live courageously in defiance of the pain that they suffer. The heroes that
literature now provides us with strive to fulfill a mission to protect those they care for and are
therefore, in return, recognized and admired for their courage, extraordinary achievements and
determination to be successful.
Some of the most prominent texts within the modern literary world are the Harry Potter
books written by author J.K Rowling. Within the novel are villains, monsters, mystical creatures,
witches, wizards and most importantly, heroes. Harry makes himself a hero who completes the
tasks and conquers the difficulties that the world puts in his way (Cherland 4-5). Although this
is true of Harrys character, what about the females characters who are constantly by his side
fighting the same battles as him? The strong females within Rowlings series such as Hermione,

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Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley all at one point or another, if not multiple times,
provide Harry with the assistance and encouragement he needs in order to continue through his
journey and eventually all three of them play a role in saving the day that ends up being just as
big as Harrys role by the conclusion of the series. Even though Harry is the title character of the
Rowlings books, without the logical insight and consistent guidance of the women that surround
him, he wouldnt have been the boy who lived for very long. The lead female characters within
J.K Rowlings magical world should be considered true heroes because they not only succeed in
masculine terms but defy typical gender stereotypes, pick up the areas where their male
counterparts lack and rise to powerful positions within the Hogwarts Hierarchy.
A very important female within the Harry Potter series whose character easily gets
overlooked is Rons mother, Molly Weasley. She is the wife of Arthur Weasley and mother to
their seven children. From the moment that Molly guides Harry in crossing the barrier through to
platform 9 in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, she takes on almost a mothering role to
Harry and assumes a very prominent part within his life by loving him as one of her own
children. One of Mrs. Weasleys most important and significant roles within the Potter world is
her function as the matriarch of her large family. Her exceptional mothering skills are showcased
in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when the powerful love she has for Harry and her
instinctive understanding of just the thing he needs to feel better is captured in a single moment:
Mrs. Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her
arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though
by a mother. The full weight of everything he had seen that night seemed to fall in
upon him as Mrs. Weasley held him to her. His mothers face, his fathers voice,
the sight of Cedric, dead on the ground, all started spinning in his head until he

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could hardly bear it, until he was screwing up his face against the howl of misery
fighting to get out of him. (Mrs. Weasley 5)
Since Harrys own mother has passed and his Aunt Petunia can be considered anything but a
mother to him, Molly Weasley takes it as her responsibility to raise Harry like one of her own
and give him the guidance and love he needs to continue along on his journey.
Following the return of Voldemort, Molly became a member of the revived Order of the
Pheonix and participated in the final battle of the Second Wizarding War. Probably one of the
most significant moments for Mrs. Weasley was when she dueled with Death Eater, Bellatrix
Lestrange, who fired a killing curse just an inch away from her only daughter, Ginny, in Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It goes to show that even though Molly Weasley is known for
her household spells and healing magic, when one of her own is threatened she is equipped to
strike back and not hesitant to kill. Because of Mollys ability to maintain control over her
household, claim Harry as her son and transition into a warrior to protect what she believes in,
she plays very important role within the Potter books and therefore earns the title of hero to add
to her long list of significant roles.
Another female character that exhibits heroic-like qualities is Minerva McGonagall, Head
of the Gryffindor House and eventual Headmistress of Hogwarts. Even her very name reflects
her character as Minerva is also the name of the Roman goddess of warriors and wisdom. During
Harrys first couple of years at Hogwarts, McGonagall assumed the position of Harrys professor
for Transfiguration class. As a teacher she is known for her strict discipline and ability to
maintain control of her students with a stern hand but way before she was ever a professor, she
was a student at Hogwarts and known well as the most exceptional student within her year. By
the end of her education at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall had achieved an impressive record:

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top grades in O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, Prefect, Head Girl, and winner of the Transfiguration
Today Most Promising Newcomer award (Professor McGonagall 14). Perhaps it was her love
for learning and attaining knowledge that allowed her to excel way past the capabilities of her
fellow male classmates and break traditional gender roles when she succeeds in rising to a
powerful position within the Hogwarts Hierarchy years later under the watchful eye of her
mentor, Albus Dumbledore.
Minervas warrior traits really kick in during the final battle in Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows when she takes charge of the school againafter driving Snape away during a
dueland secures the grounds against Voldemort to ensure Harry can fulfill his mission from
Dumbledore. This is the scene where she steps up and organizes for underage students to be
evacuated for their safety and leads the rest of the students, staff of Hogwarts, and members of
the Order of Phoenix into a battle against Voldemort and his army. The final book showcases
Professor McGonagalls heroic qualities and because of her ability to step up and take the reign,
she was able to lead her army into a victorious battle against one the most powerful wizards of
all time, and by the end of the series the readers of the beloved books learned to value Professor
McGonagall as much as Dumbledore himself.
Without Hermione by their side, Harry and Ron would have never made it through their
first year at Hogwarts. From the very moment that the friendship between the three is established
in the first book, it is very clear that Hermione is not only the brains of the group, but she is also
the one who is able to make sure their missions are carried out successfully through the use of
her books and cleverness. Due to her logical insight and dedication to learning, Hermione is a
hero in the sense that she is able to utilize her knowledge through spells while also occasionally
deviating from her own moral structure and break the rules every once in a while in order to

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complete the mission that is laid out before her. She is also a hero because while she is able to
maintain her personal strength, she often subverts traditional gender roles, playing on
stereotypes and stretching their limits by incorporating characteristics that are typically
associated with both genders into her actions (Bell 98). In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban, Hermione revealed to Harry that all year long she was using a Time-Turnerpresented
to her by Professor McGonagallin order to attend more classes during her third year than time
would allow. She utilized this magical time piece in order to carry out her heroic act of helping
Harry save both Sirius Black and Buckbeak from their certain deaths. Hermiones extreme
dedication to helping Harry is consistent throughout the entire series and whatever it is that she is
called to do; she is willing to step up and risk her life by fighting alongside Harry against
Voldemort to reinstall order back into the wizarding world.
Throughout Hermiones development through the seven books, she goes from a gifted
Muggle-born to one of Hogwarts bravest. She transitions from a know-it-all nightmare (as Ron
refers to her in the first book) to a heroic warrior, providing a good role model for young female
readers to look up to by the end of the series, not by giving up her gift of inconceivable wisdom,
but by proving that she is much more than just an intellectual student. Hermione doesnt stick to
typical stereotypes placed on her gender and proves multiple times throughout the series that she
can be just as good, if not better, than her fellow male students. When placed into pressing
situations she is able to use quick thinkingnormally seen as a masculine traitin order to
come up with a plausible situation such as when Dolores Umbridge threatens to use the
Cruciatus Curse on Harry in order to get information out of him. She uses her quick thinking to
trick Umbridge into entering into the Forbidden Forest in search for the secret weapon that
Dumbledore has hidden because she knew she had to save Harry and did so by distracting

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Umbridge with what she desired most. Throughout her multiple acts of quick thinking and use of
magical spells and persuasion to save multiple lives, Hermione gets to prove herself through
what is essentially Harrys journey and deserves her hero title just as much as Harry by the end
of the series.
These three female characters of the Harry Potter seriesthrough their heroic actions
demystify the idea that only males can be heroes and by asserting their power within the
patriarchal society of the Hogwarts hierarchy, they succeed significantly not only on masculine
terms but female ones as well by caring and protecting others. By being just as brilliantly heroic
as Harry and just as experienced and wise as Dumbledore, they contradict some of the most
demeaning of culture stereotypes for females. In the article entitled Harry Potter, Radical
Feminism, and the Power of Love, Anne Collins Smith States that a group of feminist scholars
believe that Rowling provides a balanced view of the sexes that includes strong female
characters and an egalitarian magical society and offers good role models for young readers
(Smith 81). Even though some of the most powerful positions within Rowlings magical world
are held by men, women have just as much of an equal opportunity to hold those positions as
shown by all three of the above characters. Molly is the Matriarch of her family and member of
the Order of the Phoenix while Professor McGonagall is also a member of the Order and
eventually becomes the position of Headmistress. Hermione, on the other hand, after her years at
Hogwarts, attains a high position in the Ministry of Magic, first through the Department for the
Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and later the Deputy Head of the Department of
Magical Law Enforcement which stems directly from the cause that she believes in most, The
Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (S.P.E.W.). In her article, Dr. Rivka Kellner dives
deeper into Hermiones role in fighting for the rights of elves and states that:

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Since house elves remind us so much of un-emancipated women in chauvinist
societies, it is no surprise that Hermione Granger, the central female protagonist
in the Harry Potter books, is bothered by the social injustices concerning the
house elves, issues which do not bother Harry or his other best friend Ron. (8)
Hermione, unlike her male friends, is deeply concerned when it comes to the treatment of house
elves as slaves and makes it her mission to research the issue and even attempts to raise public
awareness. The feminist in Hermione comes out when she does such and not only is she
responding to the predicament of house elves she is also unconsciously responding to greater
feminist issues and the way that she is treated because she is a female. This act of Hermione only
strengthens the hero within her as she fights not only for the rights of elves but for her rights as a
female as well.
The heroes that literature now provides us with, such as those within the Harry Potter
series, break traditional hero stereotypes while still allowing them to make every attempt to
fulfill their missions in order to protect those they care for and should therefore, in return, be
recognized and admired for their courage, extraordinary achievements and willingness to
sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Although Harry Potter is definitely a hero within his
own journey, the characters that were constantly at his side helping out also deserve the title of
hero, even if they are untraditional. J.K Rowlings fantasy world creates a place where young
readers can escape and learn at the same time. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and in
providing strong females within the series, the female heroes within these fantastical books go to
show that a set of social expectations cant force identities onto people and it is possible for
females to achieve the status of a hero through their bravery, courage and willingness to do what
is right.

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Works Cited
Cherland, Meredith. "Harry's Girls: Harry Potter And The Discourse Of Gender." Journal Of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.4 (2008): 273-282. MLA International Bibliography.
Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Kellner, Rivka Temima. "J.K. Rowling's Ambivalence Towards Feminism: House Elves--Women
in Disguise--in the 'Harry Potter' Books." The Midwest Quarterly 51.4 (2010): 367+.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Kniesler, Sarah Margaret. Alohomora!:Unlocking Hermiones Feminism. Hermione Granger
Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts. Ed. Christopher E. Bell.
Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2012. 87-103. Print.
Rowling, J.K. "Pottermore - Mrs Weasley's Defining Moments."Pottermore. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
Rowling, J.K. "Pottermore - Professor McGonagall." Pottermore. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
Smith, Anne Collins. Harry Potter, Radical Feminism, and the Power of Love. The Ultimate
Harry Potter and Philosophy Hogwarts for Muggles. (2010): 80-93.