Harry Potter and the failure of the fathers

This project explores the development of identity from a psychoanalytic perspective of the main character, Harry Potter, within J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Focusing primarily on the works and teachings of psychoanalysts Jacques Lacan and Sigmund Freud, I argue that despite the multiple father figures associated with Harry Potter (e.g., James Potter, Lord Voldemort, and Albus Dumbledore) the lack of an effective father ultimately prevents Harry's development of a complete identity of his own. More specifically, the failure of these father figures during the Oedipal complex removes the threat of castration or law of the father required to force Harry to give up his desire for the mother in order to find an effective substitute, which would signal his transition out of the Imaginary and into the Symbolic. As a result, Harry ends the series trapped within the Imaginary, unable to develop a full identity of his own.