Gryfon versus Dragon
Like I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never read Harry Potter. However, I follow so many people on the internet that are extremely interested in it, so I know about it despite having never read it.
In my class on Spenser and Milton to-day, we were talking about The Faerie Queene, particularly Book I, Canto V. There’s a fight between two knights - Redcrosse Knight and Sans joy, who represent England/common people and joylessness respectively, in terms of The Faerie Queene’s allegorical level.
Anyway, in stanza eight, Spenser writes:
So th’one for wrong, the other strives for right:
As when a Gryfon seizéd of his pray,
A Dragon fiers encountreth in his flight
Spenser describes Redcrosse Knight and Sans joy as a Gryfon and a Dragon respectively.
From this, my professor talked about the houses in Harry Potter and how from this description, Gryffindor and Slytherin come. He also mentioned that Draco Malfoy’s name means “Dragon Bad-faith,” which is related to Sans foy, an-other knight in The Faerie Queene (brother to Sans joy), whose name means “faithlessness.”
So there you go. Even though I’ve never read Harry Potter, I can still say smart things about it
