Harry Potter Character Analysis: Narcissa Malfoy
By: Alex Montgomery
A fascinating character in the Harry Potter books to read about and discuss is Narcissa Malfoy, wife of Lucius Malfoy and mother of Draco. She is, by no means, a flat, one-sided, or boring character; instead, in the way that she was written about and characterized by J.K. Rowling, she is an ambiguous and round person, neither completely dark nor completely light. Because of this, I can easily name her, along with many others, as one of my favorite characters in the series.
Similarly to characters such as Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, Narcissa has a quite questionable past. Growing up along with her sister Bellatrix in a prominent, pure-blood family commonly associated with the dark arts, Narcissa married Lucius Malfoy, who, as far as we know, was associating with Lord Voldemort as a faithful servant and terrifying death eater. Narcissa, despite herself, fell into the same ring, raising her newborn son Draco as a spoiled and pompous child. Soon however, though she surely recognized the flawed nature of her son in the way that he acted at Hogwarts and treated his fierce rival, Harry Potter, Narcissa began to realize the dark path that her husband was taking both her and her son down at the beginning of The Half Blood Prince when she became less concerned about her reputation as a servant to Voldemort and more worried about the welfare of her family, especially her son, who was already beginning to assimilate into his father's evil darkness. This led Narcissa to fervently beg Severus Snape to protect her son at all costs, showing her utter devotion and unconditional love for Draco. Lastly, we see Narcissa at the very end of the series, where she, in my opinion, solidifies her own redemption. When Harry Potter, after "dying," visiting Dumbledore at King's Cross, and returning to the Forbidden Forest, is lying on the ground, Narcissa is commanded by Voldemort to check to see if he is dead. By this time, Narcissa has left her devotion for Voldemort behind, and, as a result, after asking Harry if her son, Draco, is still alive, she declares Harry to be dead, despite knowing full well that he is alive. This act not only saved our hero, Harry, but it also ensured the defeat of the evil Lord Voldemort.
After completing the book series and reading the material pertaining to Narcissa Malfoy, the questions still remain: Was Narcissa good or bad? Did she redeem herself? Primarily, I find it imperative to recognize her ambiguity, which is a good, not a bad, thing. None of the characters, except perhaps Voldemort, who doesn't have a fiber of love in his being, are unambiguous: they all have both lightness and darkness in them; they all do both bad and good things. As Sirius Black states in The Order of the Phoenix, "The world isn't made up of good people and death eaters … we all have both light and dark inside us … what matters is what part we choose to act on … that's who we truly are." This, I think, is especially relevant to Narcissa's situation: though she had both the light and the dark; though she had done bad things; she ultimately choose to act upon the good, which was love, when it counted; she choose goodness over evil.
That choice (the one where she chose to save Harry and love her son) is the most integral part of her character. In fact, it most closely mirrors the love that Lily had for her son, Harry; it reflects what the whole book series is all about! Just like Lily's sacrificial love not only saved Harry but also allowed the destruction of Voldemort (since he didn't understand the form of magic that is love), Narcissa's choice and sacrifice for her son not only immediately saved Harry, but it also opened the pathway for the destruction of evil. In other words, Narcissa's love defeated evil … love defeated evil. This is what Harry Potter is all about: that sacrificial love is a magic so much more powerful than that of pure power; and this is not just evident in Lily, but also in Narcissa.
Thus, I conclude that Narcissa was able, through sacrificial love, to find ultimate redemption. Walking away from the fight at Hogwarts (as shown in the movie) was also her exodus from evil and bad choices (choices that had been originally fostered by her husband). Her choice to help Harry, and indirectly her son, which is one of the most touching and poignant moments of the series, was a choice for love over hatred, life over death and good over evil.