In children’s books and fairytales, many aspects of life are presented as clear-cut, especially in regard to good and evil. However, in reality, things are much more ambiguous, with the lines depicting what is good and morally righteous and what is evil and morally corrupt becoming more and more blurry with time and age. In J.K Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” the contrast between what is good and what is evil becomes less stark and more convoluted.

            Prior to the sixth book, the notions of good and evil were relatively constant with evil representing Voldemort and his death eaters while good represented Dumbledore, the Order of the Phoenix, and generally those who would oppose “evil” in this case Voldemort and his cronies. However, throughout the sixth book, some new characters and some old characters are introduced who seem to internally struggle with the traditional good and bad ideologies. One of the new characters we are introduced to who struggles with this perhaps ambiguous morality is Horace Slughorn. Professor Slughorn is hired to resume his old post as potions master and is on the surface portrayed as a generally friendly and cordial teacher. However, as the novel progresses it quickly becomes apparent that Slughorn is only interested in developing relationships with students who he believes have great potential or affluence. As a byproduct of this behavior, Slughorn ultimately aids in the development of lord Voldemort and many of his death eaters as he views them as curious powerful young wizards with great potential, rather than as the evil bullies they are. This behavior directly results in the young Tom Riddle furthering his understanding of Horcruxes, going on to murder Innocent people in his quest for immortality. Thus, while Slughorn could be considered a “good” character or at least one who would fight on the side of good, his own selfishness and moral ambiguity leads to the development of great evil.

Another character who seriously begins to struggle with his own morality is Draco Malfoy. At the beginning of the Half-Blood Prince, we learn that Draco has been given a great feat to accomplish for lord Voldemort. Over the course of the novel, we eventually learn this task is to kill Dumbledore. Initially, it seems Draco is just growing into the death eater he was always meant to be given his parent’s allegiances and his cruel prejudiced nature. However, as Draco becomes more and more stressed and paranoid it becomes clear to the reader that Draco is being forced to complete a horrible task as punishment for the failures of his parents rather than out of pride and his own volition. Therefore, while Draco could be considered a “bad” character he is more of a grey character being led down the wrong path by his family ties to the death eaters and lord Voldemort.

 In this book, Harry himself has to learn how to deal with his enemies and his own morals. He can no longer see things as black and white and see people around him as solely good or evil. At the start of the novel, he becomes obsessed with tracking Draco, certain that because of his death eater ties and flawed moral compass Draco has become intentionally become evil. In a similar fashion, he refuses to trust Snape even when he is assured by Dumbledore that Snape is on their side, working as a double agent against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Thus, Harry shows that he struggles with accepting that people who acted a certain way in the past may have matured or developed as people. However, after spending more time with Dumbledore, Harry begins to see the bigger picture, and after analyzing things from a holistic perspective is reminded that people can be redeemed. Unfortunately, much of this growth and development of Harry’s perspective on good and evil is undone when he sees Dumbledore betrayed by the two people who he had been most suspicious of, strengthening his beliefs in a black and white form of good and evil.