The Harry Potter of Shakespeare

What Does Harry Potter have to do with Shakespeare? 

Do we ever tell new stories?  Or are they variations of the same epic tales?  I caught this connection between Harry Potter (Deadly Gallows, Part 2) and Shakespeare's The Tempest.  Try this out.  In Deadly Gallows, Part 2, how does the movie end?  The final turning point is Harry standing on the bridge to Hogwarts.  He's holding the wizard's wand of infamous Valtemort--(a name that has the French word, "mort," for death in it.)  His friends tell tell Harry what he already knows. The possessor of the wand can be invincible.  What does Harry do?  He breaks it...as easy as a twig.  He tosses it off the bridge as the film rolls 19 years into the future.  There's Harry and Mrs. Harry with Harry Jr. on his way to---you guessed it, Hogwarts U to be the next in line.  Old Harry settled down and comes off so much more human.  Magic takes a back seat to his humanity and fatherhood. 

 That's the connection with Prospero the Wizard in The Tempest.  He breaks his wand toward the end of the play to accept his humanity.  Unlike Harry, he completely renounces his magic to step into his humanity.  It is a good thing, because unlike Harry, the magic has only gotten Prospero and a lot of others into trouble.

This was Shakespeare's last play before he died. Scholars speculate that Shakespeare was trying to say that despite his fame, a temptation leading writers astray, Shakespeare claims his own humanity over the magical trance-like lure of success.  Or, just take it as Prospero breaks the wand to free himself from the temptations of the magic--a spell he seemed to be under during the play

 Or with Jesus for that Matter! 

Perhaps the temptation stories in Shakespeare and then Harry Potter have roots in the temptation of Jesus.  The traditional view of the temptation is that Satan tries to get Jesus to use his power for himself--but Jesus uses his power to turn Satan aside.  Just look at this picture!  Jesus with the halo has his divinity on parade for us.  However, there is another way to understand the temptation stories. Madeleine L'Engle, prolific author and story lover, suggests that the temptation is really about denying his humanity.  God ahead and use your power, Satan tempts Jesus, which denies that you are also human.  In turning Satan aside, Jesus breaks the wand of power for power's sake.  His ministry will be the power of love.  
 
Postlude
 Joseph Campbell, in The Power of Myth,  says that we all long to be the hero on the journey in which we find and claim our humanity.  The real power is perseverance and the acceptance of who we discover ourselves to be on the journey.  Perhaps the more human we become, truly being ourselves, the closer we are to the divine in us.