harry potter persuasive speech

Harry Potter & Rhetoric: The Prince’s Tale

The following is the seventh in a series of 7 articles focusing on a moment of rhetorical significance in each of the Harry Potter novels. This series evolved out of a paper presented at the 2018 Harry Potter Academic Conference .

Professor Dumbledore is certainly the most studied orator of the Harry Potter series. His eminently quotable speeches echo throughout the series. Still though, the actual art of persuasion is probably more native to the Slytherin characters of the series. Those slippery, cunning folk have a way with words that our Gryffindor heroes struggle to compete with.

And no one is this more true of than Severus Snape. As a double, triple, ’round-the-back, sideways agent, Snape often finds himself in a position where he must explain his dubious actions and the choices behind them. And while he appears to never be fully trusted by anyone other than Dumbledore, again and again Snape is able to slither his way out of almost any predicament he finds himself in. Most interesting about him though is the way in which Snape chooses to employ rhetoric to do so.

Aldous Huxley: “There are two kinds of propaganda”

In Brave New World Revisited , Aldous Huxley discussed what he saw as the two kinds of propaganda:

There are two kinds of propaganda — rational propa­ganda in favor of action that is consonant with the enlightened self-interest of those who make it and those to whom it is addressed, and non-rational propa­ganda that is not consonant with anybody’s enlight­ened self-interest, but is dictated by, and appeals to, passion. 1

According to Huxley, Rational Propaganda appeals to logic and reason. And Non-Rational Propaganda appeals to the passions. Huxley certainly doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of Non-Rational Propaganda. And I think most people would agree. While a good leader deals in transparency and facts, rabble-rousers and demagogues excite the passions of the masses and lead them to make irrational choices.

In a post-Enlightenment world, the reasoned choice is often the ethical choice. But reason and logic are not immune to being warped by nefarious speakers either—consider the rise of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’. Certainly, ‘facts don’t care about your feelings’, but that assumes that you have the knowledge and context to interpret those facts correctly and draw rational conclusions from them.

And no character demonstrates this argument better than Serverus Snape. In the many occasions which Snape must defend his actions, he often uses logic to appeal to the values of Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort and other villains. But when the Half-Blood Prince reveals his true nature to Harry (and readers) at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , he relies heavily upon pathos.

The Appeal of Cold Logic

Each time a Death Eater questions Snape’s motives, he responds calmly and coolly with blunt logic. Take for instance, Bellatrix Lestrange’s interrogation in the opening chapters of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince :

“Where were you when the Dark Lord fell? Why did you never make any attempt to find him when he vanished? What have you been doing all these years that you’ve lived in Dumbledore’s pocket? Why did you stop the Dark Lord procuring the Sorcerer’s Stone? Why did you not return at once when the Dark Lord was reborn? Where were you a few weeks ago when we battled to retrieve the prophecy for the Dark Lord? And why, Snape, is Harry Potter still alive, when you have had him at your mercy for five years?”

Bellatrix asks every question we, the readers, wanted to know before the series’ conclusion. She asks her questions directly, unceremoniously and with dangerous scrutiny. But Snape’s reply is calm, and it is rational. And it concerns itself with the self-interest of his audience.

Snape begins by introducing credible doubt. “Do you really think that the Dark Lord has not asked me each and every one of those questions? And do you really think that, had I not been able to give satisfactory answers, I would be sitting here talking to you?”

As he continues, his responses remain cynical, conniving and self-serving. And through his responses, Snape proves that his actions were based, not in honor or love or anything to excite the passions of his audience. Instead, they were based in convenience and self-preservation: the exact values of his audience. And as he predicted, Snape’s argument proves satisfactory to his fellow Death Eaters.

The Pathos of ‘The Prince’s Tale’

As logical and unemotional Snape is when dealing with Death Eaters, his rhetorical appeal flips when he must prove his true allegiance to one of the heroes.

“The Prince’s Tale” (the collection of memories Snape reveals at his death), weaves a narrative, not just of plot-driving exposition, but of true, heart-wrenching pathos. From his hilltop plea for Dumbledore to protect Lily, to the reveal of his patronus 16 years later when asked where his true loyalty lies, passion literally pours out of Snape when it really matters.

The magic of Occlumency requires wizards to shut off their emotions. It is a skill that comes quite naturally to the troubled characters of the series. Draco Malfoy is a natural, and he learns the skill from his aunt Bellatrix. Voldemort adopts the skill quite easily. But Snape is probably the best at it. He is trusted by no one, because his emotions reveal nothing.

But upon his death, Snape’s only mission is to deliver a final order to Harry from Dumbledore. Snape could have simply explained the situation. He could have offered only the last memory of Dumbledore which provides a rational, enlightened appeal.

But instead, Snape reveals a whole host of memories that weave an intricate a story. They are a confession of his greatest sins, a naked plea to be seen for who he really is. The Prince’s Tale is a humbling, transparent narrative beginning in love, faltering in selfishness and ending in selflessness. Snape knows at the end, that he cannot fully persuade Harry without completely exposing his heart to him. Snape knows that to complete his mission, and prove his loyalty to righteousness, he must use his deepest passions to appeal to, not the shallow self-interest of his fellow Death Eaters, but the enlightened self-interest of the heroes.

• Huxley, Aldous | Chapter IV: “ Propaganda in a Democratic Society ” | Brave New World Revisited | 1958

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• Harry Potter & Rhetoric: There Is So Much Bullshit
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• Harry Potter & Rhetoric: That’s the House Negro

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The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

Harry potter author j.k. rowling's delivers harvard's 2008 commencement address.

J.K. Rowling , author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, delivers her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. For more on the 2008 Commencement Exercises, read  "University Magic."

Text as delivered follows.  Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates. The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world's largest Gryffindor reunion. Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard. You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement. Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between that day and this. I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life', I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination. These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me. Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me. I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now. So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor. I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom. I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools. What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure. At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers. I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment. However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown. Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew. Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality. So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies. The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned. So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes. Now you might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I personally will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared. One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working at the African research department at Amnesty International's headquarters in London. There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes. Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to speak against their governments. Visitors to our offices included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had left behind. I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him back to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness. And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just had to give him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed. Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone. Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard, and read. And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before. Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life. Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's places. Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise. And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know. I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid. What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy. One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing. But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people's lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better. I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children's godparents, the people to whom I've been able to turn in times of trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister. So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom: As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. I wish you all very good lives. Thank you very much.

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Persuasive writing in ks2.

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Hamilton's English lesson planning includes differentiated activities for your class and beautifully designed worksheets and resources. In addition, our SPaG-focussed sessions include teaching PowerPoints that walk children through key SPaG concepts.

Persuasive Writing in Year 4

Save the Rainforests! Cherish rainforests, writing speeches, letters and articles persuading others to do so too, with Where the Forest Meets the Sea and The Vanishing Rainforest.

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Persuasion and Argument in Year 5

Argument and Debate School uniform, detentions, mobile phones or screen time - there’s always an argument! This block lays the groundwork for effective argument and persuasion, written and spoken. Learn how formal debates are structured and take part in a class debate.

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Revise Persuasive Writing in Year 6

Harry Potter Unit 7 Persuasive Texts Use extracts from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . Explore persuasive writing: advertisements for Wizard Wheezes; excuses for Fred/George; letters of persuasion for Buckbeak’s innocence. Revise: active/passive voice; adverbs of possibility, subordinate clauses.

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Using Harry Potter™ in Speech Therapy

Updated: Oct 13, 2021

Do your students love the wizarding world of Harry Potter ™ ? Check out the fun therapy ideas below!

ARTICULATION

Use this Harry Potter Glossary to choose target words for your articulation sessions!

> You can even pair it with Wheel of Names !

> Just type the target words into the box on the right, and click "customize" at the top to edit the colors and actions

SYNTAX AND GRAMMAR

Have your students formulate sentences using words from the Harry Potter Glossary and target their syntax or grammar goals!

> past tense

> plurals

> pronouns

> compound sentences

> complex sentences

Use the words in the Harry Potter Glossary as conversation starters! This may motivate students to share their opinions, which could lead to a discussion on perspective taking. It may be helpful for addressing turn taking and interjecting appropriately. Target making on-topic responses or shifting conversations. Or it may simply be what you and your students need to get excited about therapy again!

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93 Harry Potter Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best harry potter topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 simple & easy harry potter essay titles, 👍 good essay topics on harry potter, ❓ harry potter essay questions.

• Harry Potter Books and Movies The lead character is the hero Harry Potter, a famous wizard whose adventures are the central focus of the book and the movie.
• The Book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J. K. Rowling He incessantly faces one problem after another in the course of his life Petunia and Vernon consider Harry’s magic a threat and decide not to tell him about his magical powers.
• Harry Potter Stories and Impact on Pop Culture Harry Potter shows how prejudices, conflict, and social hierarchies work in the community and the role of the moral concepts in struggling with difficulties.
• J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and Its Popularity It is because of the uniform content and constantly relevant themes of the children’s stories that have allowed it to endure the test of time.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 15″depicting the last series of the movie to be produced and also the first day of its first release to the theaters.
• The Themes of Hope and Trauma in “Harry Potter” The inciting incident of the series is a giant man breaking down the door and telling Harry about his horrible legacy.
• The Harry Potter Series Thus, in his article “Cryptozoology and the Paranormal in Harry Potter: Truth and Belief at the Borders of Consensus”, Peter Dendle discusses the role of the paranormal in the books.
• Media Interpretation of Harry Potter and Sexuality Apart from that, it should be pointed out that in the fifth film of the series Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, she urged Harry to use force against her.
• Heroes at Hogwarts: The Journey of the Hero in the Harry Potter Series That the Harry Potter books are written in a fashion robust enough to allow for close reading, for example, in the context of the monomyth of the hero, or in light of philosophical concepts, is […]
• The Harry Potter Phenomenon Analysis Since these groups sowed the seeds of the Potter phenomenon, the connectors and, later, the mavens were crucial to the publication of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
• The “Harry Potter” Novels by Joanne Rowling A virtuoso command of the English language and an understanding of how to portray teenagers plausibly from their psychology allowed the author to reach the hearts of millions of children worldwide.
• Influence of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games The study is useful because it illustrates the importance of Harry Potter books within popular culture through the lens of improving young readers’ literacy.
• Literary Values of Harry Potter Novels by Rowling However, the world of wizards or wizardry that Harry lives in is secretive and is unknown to the non-magical people or the Muggles.
• “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Conan Doyle, and “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling Also, the argument regarding the effectiveness of the two images is well-supported by the fact that through the use of varied approaches, the trivial one by Watson, and the sophisticated one by Holmes, the readers […]
• Rowling’s “Harry Potter” Books in Connection to Mythology The essential element of the book is the creation of the mythical element of a magical world and the classical theme of a tension between two abstract concepts good and evil.
• Harry Potter vs. Hari Puttar: Battle of Intellectual Property It should be emphasized that the necessity to protect the intellectual property fully depends on the aims and requirements of the intellectual property owner, and the entire policy of the company on the matters of […]
• Enslavement in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J. K. Rowling Dobby embodies the new era of house-elves, those who have a sense of self-respect and demands that his rights be recognized by those who wish to have him in their service.
• “Harry Potter” Movie and Novel: Plot Changes The changes of the plot throughout the movie in comparison with the original novel are disturbing watchers since the times of cinema appearing and performance of the derivative movies.
• Concept of Home in “The Odyssey” and “Harry Potter” In the end, it could be said that both of these books show that home is a haven and safe place to return to.
• Harry Potter Movies in Concentric Circles Model The center of the model is the most important notion which influences a great number of other issues and leads to the appearance of new layers which could be compared with the ripples on the […]
• “Harry Potter Casts a Spell for Tolerance” by A. M. Paul The author of the article explores the role of literature in the social and moral development of the adolescents and children.
• Comparison Between Hooters Translates in China and Harry Potter and Magical Realism Having stayed in china for a long period, Craig wanted to bring to focus the culture and the lifestyle of the Chinese.
• Gender Role in Harry Potter Books and Movies However, it is important that if the children and adolescents are going to be affected, it should stand out as a positive influence making gender one of the timeless societal problems that should be approached […]
• Fantasy Works: “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Harry Potter” Generally, I would like to state that the plot of the novel is to be considered in relation to socialization issues.
• J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and the Decisions of the Hero
• The Role of Fate Versus Free Will in “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” by J. K. Rowling and “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Importance of Friends in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” J. K. Rowling
• The Life Values Learned in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”
• The Concept of Monomyth Theory in “The Golden Compass,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and “Finding Nemo”
• Journey of the Hero in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer´s Stone”
• The Opening Scenes of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”
• Narratives of Adolescence Explored Through the “Harry Potter” Saga
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Collection Of 10 Topic Ideas For Your Essay About Harry Potter

When it comes to writing an essay about the Harry Potter series, you will need inspiration and some good prompts to get started. Fortunately, the books are full of situations, characters, and ideas to discuss in your paper. You may also find a quote that you either agree or disagree with and explain your point of view in your writing. The following collection of topics is worth your consideration.

Sample Topics for Your Harry Potter Essay

• Do you think of Severus Snape as a villain? (Explain your point of view using evidence from the books.)
• Why did Hermione marry Ron instead of Harry? (Imagine what would have happened if she chose Harry.)
• Who is your favorite character and what you particularly like about him or her? (Use the evidence from the books to describe the best character in your opinion.)
• Why did Voldemort become bad? (Analyze the issues he had in the childhood and how they influenced his personality.)
• Who is the bravest character in the series in your point of view? (Select two characters and compare their actions in similar situations.)
• What would you choose Horcrux or Hallows? (Provide the reasons why you picked one option or another.)
• Do you agree that the world of magic should be hidden from ordinary people? (Identify the reasons why the wizards hide from the humans.)
• Would you like to study at Hogwarts? (Answer this question and if the answer is ‘yes’, tell the readers which of the four houses you’d like to join.)
• Do you like the ending of the series? (Share your ideas on how the alternate end could look like.)
• Does the story show the influence of fate in the characters’ lives? (Pick the examples from the series to prove that the fate plays a significant role in the story.)

Tips on Composing an Essay on the Harry Potter Books

• Decide whether you will write about a particular chapter, a book, or a series.
• Remember about the length of the paper and make sure that you have enough words to address a chosen topic or else narrow it down.
• Study the formatting style guide, paying special attention to how to insert quotes and whether you’re allowed to use footnotes.
• Read the book carefully and find more information about its author, study critiques’ opinions, and watch the movie.
• Write an outline first, add the necessary details, and then prepare a rough draft.
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48 Harry Potter Writing Prompts (+ Free Printable Pack)

It’s been 20 years since the first Harry Potter movie came out in cinemas. To celebrate Harry Potter’s 20th Anniversary, we have created these 48 Harry Potter writing prompts to inspire you with the magic of Hogwarts and more. Our list contains a mix of creative writing prompts, as well as journal prompts relating to the Harry Potter franchise. 

From the busy streets of Diagon Alley to the mystical creatures found in the forbidden forest, explore the world of Harry Potter with these fun writing prompts. Plus keep on reading to get your printable Harry Potter writing activities pack.

Fan of Harry Potter? Then you’ll love this Harry Potter Name Generator ! It’s great for generating character names for your Harry Potter-inspired story or fan-fic! You might also want to see our post on over 110 Harry Potter quotes on life, love and friendship . For more fantasy-theme prompts, check out this list of over 70 fantasy writing prompts .

Harry Potter Writing Prompts

This list of prompts is great for anyone looking to write Harry Potter fanfiction or for teachers looking for some interesting writing prompts to use in the classroom. See the full list of Harry Potter writing prompts below:

• With Lord Voldemort gone, something more evil is coming. What evil is coming? Is it another dark lord or some sort of creature? What makes this ‘evil’ worse than Lord Voldemort?
• If you could choose Hogwarts house, which would it be and why? The houses include Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.
• As the new head of Hogwarts, you decided to create a fifth house. What would you call this house? Draw a picture of the house’s coat of arms or logo. What traits would a person be selected for this house? What are the house colours? What animal symbolises the house?
• You have been hired as a Quidditch coach at Hogwarts. Your job is to help Hogwarts win the Quidditch championship against other schools. Make a list of at least 10 tips you can provide to your players.
• The Harry Potter franchise is filled with loads of amazing spells. Can you invent your own spell? What would this spell do? What are the consequences of casting this spell incorrectly? For example, the  Bat-Bogey Hex was a spell invented by Miranda Goshawk. The spell transformed bogeys into bats that come flying out of the victim’s nose.
• Write a day in the life story about being a student at Hogwarts. What classes would you attend? What would you do during your break? What would you eat at lunchtime?
• Boggarts take the shape of a person’s worst fears. In Harry Potter, most Boggarts took the form of Lord Voldemort, as he was feared the most. If you encountered a Boggart what form would it take and why?
• Which Hogwarts professor is your favourite and why?
• Desperate to find a book on transformation spells, you sneak into the Hogwarts library after hours. You find that all the books in the restricted section of the library have been thrown off the shelves. You look at a couple of these books and notice that page 394 is missing in all of them. 
• Walking through the Forbidden forest you encounter an Acromantula (a giant spider). Write a battle scene in great detail between you and this creature. 
• Write down four character descriptions of four very different students at Hogwarts. Each student belongs to a different house at Hogwarts. 
• Imagine you are a ghost roaming through the corridors of Hogwarts. You eavesdrop on a conversation between Harry and Hermoine. Hermoine is furious about something. Write down this conversation that you hear between the two characters.
• Write a story about a muggle who mistakenly receives an invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
• Imagine you are walking through the Forbidden Forest. Describe what you see, hear, smell and feel in great detail.
• Imagine if Harry Potter joined Slytherin instead of Gryffindor and became best friends with Draco Malfroy. What would Harry’s first year at Hogwarts look like?
• Somewhere hidden in Hogwarts is a new, unknown creature. Describe this creature in great detail. What does it look like? Does it have any special powers or abilities? What would you call it?
• Describe the busy, bustling streets of Diagon Alley in great detail. Think about what you hear, see, smell and feel as you walk through the busy street.
• Make your own list of the top 5 scariest creatures In Harry Potter. For each creature explain why you think they are scary.
• Walking through the halls of Hogwarts you notice a door that you have never seen before. You open the door to discover…
• What class at Hogwarts would be your favourite and why?
• After years of mastering your skills at Hogwarts, you are finally ready to take revenge on the Muggles that abused you as a child. 
• Imagine you work at Sugarplum’s Sweets Shop in Diagon Alley. Your task is to come up with a new magical sweet to amaze your customers. 
• Write a story using this story starter: It was a brand new day at Hogwarts. You hoped that this day was going to be better than yesterday. 
• After mastering transformation, you transform yourself into Harry Potter’s doppelganger and return to Hogwarts many years later. What happens next?
• A Patronus in Harry Potter is essentially a spirit animal that fends off evil. It is unique to the wizard that conjures it. Harry Potter is able to conjure a stag Patronus to fend off dementors in Prisoner of Azkaban. If you were able to cast the Patronus Charm spell what would your spirit animal look like and why?
• After 7 years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you will graduate at the top of your class. What do you do afterwards? What job do you get?
• The Mirror of Erised is a mirror that shows someone’s deepest desires and wants. For example, when Harry Potter stood in front of the mirror in 1991, he saw both his parents alive. If you stood in front of this mirror, what do you think you will see and why?
• You are on a quest to find a potion that turns anyone who drinks it into a dog. Why is this potion important?
• Write a diary entry of your first day at Hogwarts. What did you enjoy? Did anything bad happen? What was the highlight of the day?
• Tired of crime in the Muggle world, you decide to use your magic for good and become a ‘superhero’.
• Write a how-to guide on how to ride broomsticks correctly.
• There are many types of quills used in the Harry Potter franchise. An example includes the auto-answer quill which automatically writes down the correct answer to a question. If you could invent your own magical quill, what would it do and why?
• Which Harry Potter book or movie is your favourite and why?
• Would you rather own the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone or the Cloak of Invisibility? Spells cast by the Elder Wand are the most powerful. The Resurrection Stone allows the holder to bring back a deceased person. While the Cloak of Invisibility makes the wearer invisible. 
• You are a poor student at Hogwarts and can’t afford to get the items on the Hogwarts supply list. You decide to rummage in dumpsters behind the shops in Diagon alley looking for some free items. As you go through the garbage, you find…
• My friend Harry Potter is a wizard, but he is a horrible person. Write a story from the perspective of a fellow student who dislikes Harry Potter, and wants to ruin his time at Hogwarts. 
• Someone has cursed your entire house with the Curse of the Bogies. Now you and your friends have an extreme cold. You must find out who did this and why?
• Create your own curse spell. What would it do? And what will you call it?
• A squib is someone who is born into a magical family but has no magical abilities yet. Write a story about a character who is a squib trying to develop their magical abilities.
• Who are your top three favourite characters in Harry Potter and why?
• You walk into your room at Hogwarts and discover that your roommate is performing a forbidden dark magic spell. What do you do next?
• In a battle between a Basilisk and an Acromantula who would win? You could even write down a detailed battle scene between the two creatures.
• Your character creates a new club at Hogwarts called Green for Life. It is an environmental club about protecting the planet. How can wizards help protect the environment? What kind of spells could they cast?
• Imagine you are a muggle-born. A child is born with magical abilities but their parents are muggles. You never receive your invite to Hogwarts, but know that you can be a powerful wizard. Continue this story…
• You are responsible for hiring professors at Hogwarts. You need to hire a new professor to teach the potion class. Write a job description for this role. Think about the skills and traits this person will need to teach this class.
• Tell the story of a student that becomes the ultimate creature carer and tamer at Hogwarts. Beyond all belief, this student is able to tame the toughest of creatures. 
• Write down a potion recipe for creating a new potion. What will this potion do, once it’s used? What ingredients would you need to make it?
• You have become the master of a house-elf like Dobby. What kind of tasks would you give this house-elf? How would you treat it?

Thank you for reading this post! To reward you here is the free Harry Potter writing activities pack as promised!

What did you think of these Harry Potter writing prompts? Did you find them useful? Let us know in the comments below.

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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Harry Potter Persuasive Writing

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

12 January 2020

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A persuasive writing lesson for KS3 on Harry Potter. Students either pick a House from the ‘Sorting Hat’ or are assigned a House and must persuade Professor Dumbledore that this is where they belong based on characteristics they look at earlier in the lesson. Includes differentiated tasks, writing frames, starters, checklists and video clip links. A light hearted persuasive task, probably best for those who have already been introduced to techniques.

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40 Harry Potter Quotes on Life, Love, and Hope

Dumbledore doesn't have all the words of wisdom.

Whether you've hosted Harry Potter movie marathons more times than you can count, or have read each of the seven books on more than one occasion, Potterheads know there are some classic lines that will always stay with you. After all, some of the most inspirational quotes out there come from Albus Dumbledore himself (well, technically J.K. Rowling). And of course we have funny one-liners from the films, words on friendship, love, and hope, brought to you by our Golden Trio, and Hermione's unforgettable quips. Read on for the best of the best Harry Potter quotes.

Hagrid reveals the truth to Harry Potter

"Yer a wizard Harry." With these words from Hagrid, Harry's world (and ours) officially changed forever, as he was introduced to the magical world in The Sorcerer's Stone .

Severus Snape's redeeming quote

Though many thought Snape was the enemy for the majority of the series, in The Deathly Hallows we learned that he'd been helping Harry all along. As he'd "always" loved the boy's mother, Lily. That one word turned him into a hero, and is the quote that's most renowned amongst Potterheads.

Dumbledore on the unknown

“It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more," Albus Dumbledore says to Harry in The Half-Blood Prince ' s chapter 26, "The Cave."

Hermione Granger's most famous quote

“It's leviOsa, not levioSA!” is one of Hermione Granger's most well-known quotes from the movie franchise, when she corrects Ron Weasley's mispronunciation of the "Wingardium Leviosa" spell in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone .

Dumbledore on the power of words

While not a quote from the books, Michael Gambon's Dumbledore says this to Harry in Deathly Hallows: Part 2: "Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it."

Ron on Hermione's intelligence

“You’re a little scary sometimes, you know that? Brilliant, but scary," Ron says to Hermione in the Sorcerer's Stone film.

Dumbledore on adventure

"And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure," the ancient wizard says in chapter 3 of The Half-Blood Prince .

Hermione quoting Dumbledore on forgiveness

When speaking to Ron, Hermione recalls the professor's words of forgiveness in The Half-Blood Prince : "Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right."

Lupin on success

"It is the quality of one’s convictions that determines success, not the number of followers," Remus Lupin said to Kingsley Shacklebolt before the Battle of Hogwarts in The Deathly Hallows .

J.K. Rowling on the Golden Trio's friendship

In The Sorcerer's Stone , Rowling writes of Harry, Ron, and Hermione: “There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.”

Hermione on Ron's sensitivity

"Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," Hermione says to Ron in The Order of the Phoenix 's chapter 21.

Hermione on friendship

In chapter 16 of The Sorcerer's Stone , Hermione says to Harry: "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things—friendship and bravery."

Sirius on good vs. evil

In the fifth film, The Order of the Phoenix , Gary Oldman's Sirius Black says: "We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are."

Dumbledore on death and love

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love,” Dumbledore says in chapter 35 of The Deathly Hallows when looking at the remains of Voldemort's soul.

Dumbledore on the value of the truth

“The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution,” he says in The Sorcerer's Stone .

Molly Weasley to Bellatrix Lestrange

"Not my daughter you bitch!" This beloved Molly Weasley quote appears in both The Deathly Hallows film and book when Bellatrix attempts to kill Ginny.

The Marauders and their Map

In The Prisoner of Azkaban , it's revealed that The Marauders (Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew) created the phrase "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," to activate The Marauder's Map.

Kingsley Shacklebolt on the value of life

“We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving," Kingsley Shacklebolt says in chapter 22 of The Deathly Hallows .

Dumbledore on the power of neglect

in chapter 37 of The Order of the Phoenix , Dumbledore says, “Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.”

Dumbledore on sticking up for yourself

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends," he tells Harry in The Sorcerer's Stone .

McKenzie Jean-Philippe is the editorial assistant at OprahMag.com covering pop culture, TV, movies, celebrity, and lifestyle. She loves a great Oprah viral moment and all things Netflix—but come summertime, Big Brother has her heart. On a day off you'll find her curled up with a new juicy romance novel.

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1 Minute Speech on Harry Potter In English

Good morning to one and all present here. Today, I�ll be giving a short speech on the topic �Harry Potter�.

Harry Potter is the name of the protagonist of the series under the same name. It consists of seven fantasy novels authored by J. K. Rowling, a notable British author. It is known for its huge, uproaring global success, famed for making children get those who didn�t read get into reading!

The series has sold over 500 million copies across the world in over 70 languages and is still considered to be one of the best-selling book series of all time. A film adaptation of the same has been taken by Warner Bros and is still a huge success. 

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