Goblet of Fire
I recently stretched the idea of mind, body, and spirit characters into mind, body, and spirit societies. Now I am going to take the idea of mind, body, and spirit symbolism one step further.
I have already discussed mind, body, and spirit characters in the Harry Potter series. In this post, I am going to take a deeper look at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - specifically, the three tasks in the Triwizard Tournament.
The purpose of this task was to test the champions' strength and agility. Harry completed the task in the least amount of time by relying solely on his athletic ability when it comes to flying. Cedric Diggory tried a bit of deception by turning a rock into a dog, but he ended up relying on his agility when his dragon's attention was drawn away from the dog and back to Cedric.
Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum tried attacking their dragons directly, evidently trying to put them out of commission so they could easily swoop in and claim their eggs. Fleur tried to put hers in a trance and Krum tried to give his an eye infection.
Whether they played to their own strengths or tried to weaken the dragon, their efforts were all body-based.
After stealing the egg from the dragon, each champion had to solve the riddle inside before they would be able to effectively compete in the second task. Once the riddle was solved, accomplishing the task should have been comparatively simple. All the champions had to do was think of a way to breathe under water for extended periods of time.
The purpose of the maze, although not stated outright, was for the four champions to overcome fear. Harry faced a boggart in the form of a Dementor, Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts (which were a source of mild terror for Hogwarts students throughout the book), a mysterious mist that left him completely disoriented, and a gigantic spider. Even the sphinx, which gave him a riddle to solve, threatened to attack if he got the answer wrong. Overcoming fear goes beyond the mental and the physical and tests the champions' nerve.
The three tasks are designed to test the champions' mind, body, and spirit, and is just another way mind, body, and spirit symbolism can be brought into a story.
I have already discussed mind, body, and spirit characters in the Harry Potter series. In this post, I am going to take a deeper look at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - specifically, the three tasks in the Triwizard Tournament.
The Body Task: The Dragons
The purpose of this task was to test the champions' strength and agility. Harry completed the task in the least amount of time by relying solely on his athletic ability when it comes to flying. Cedric Diggory tried a bit of deception by turning a rock into a dog, but he ended up relying on his agility when his dragon's attention was drawn away from the dog and back to Cedric.
Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum tried attacking their dragons directly, evidently trying to put them out of commission so they could easily swoop in and claim their eggs. Fleur tried to put hers in a trance and Krum tried to give his an eye infection.
Whether they played to their own strengths or tried to weaken the dragon, their efforts were all body-based.
The Mind Task: The Egg
After stealing the egg from the dragon, each champion had to solve the riddle inside before they would be able to effectively compete in the second task. Once the riddle was solved, accomplishing the task should have been comparatively simple. All the champions had to do was think of a way to breathe under water for extended periods of time.
The Spirit Task: The Maze
The purpose of the maze, although not stated outright, was for the four champions to overcome fear. Harry faced a boggart in the form of a Dementor, Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts (which were a source of mild terror for Hogwarts students throughout the book), a mysterious mist that left him completely disoriented, and a gigantic spider. Even the sphinx, which gave him a riddle to solve, threatened to attack if he got the answer wrong. Overcoming fear goes beyond the mental and the physical and tests the champions' nerve.
The three tasks are designed to test the champions' mind, body, and spirit, and is just another way mind, body, and spirit symbolism can be brought into a story.
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