Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Information, Rumors, and Fear
Prejudice vs. Respect
Friendship, Loyalty, and Bravery
Fate, Choice, and Identity
Rules, Rebellion, and Doing the Right Thing
Summary
Analysis
With Dumbledore gone, everyone at the school is even more frightened. Harry thinks about his words concerning loyalty, but wonders whom he is supposed to ask for help now that everyone is terrified and confused. Harry and Ron also look out for any spiders they can find, but they all seem to have left the castle.
Dumbledore’s absence increases fear because it appears that no one is able to figure out what is happening in the school. But it also tests Harry’s own bravery and his loyalty, as he wonders what kind of support Dumbledore might have left for him.
Themes
Harry notes that Draco is “strutting around the school” because Lucius was able to get rid of Dumbledore. In Potions, Draco wonders if they’ll get a decent headmaster now, one who “won’t want the Chamber of Secrets closed.” He wonders why the “Mudbloods haven’t all packed their bags by now” and says it’s a shame that Hermione wasn’t killed by the monster.
Draco’s words show how without a proper authority that represents kindness, respect and justice (as Dumbledore did), prejudice is allowed to flourish. Draco really takes it too far in that he openly wishes for Hermione and other Muggle-borns to die.
Themes
In the next class, Herbology, Ernie apologizes to Harry for suspecting him, saying that he knows that he’d never attack Hermione. Ernie wonders aloud if Draco might be Slytherin’s heir, but Harry says that he doesn’t think so. Then something catches Harry’s eye: several large spiders moving in a straight line, headed toward the Forbidden Forest.
Despite the rumors that Ernie perpetuates, when he is confronted with Harry’s actual qualities (his kindness and his strong friendship with a Muggle-born student), Ernie realizes how misguided his previous beliefs were. Harry, to his credit, also refuses to play into creating rumors, even though he dislikes Draco.
Themes
In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lockhart wonders why they all look so sad. He says that they’re all out of danger now because “the Minister of Magic wouldn’t have taken Hagrid if he hadn’t been one hundred percent sure that he was guilty.” Ron protests, but Lockhart shuts him down. Harry passes a note to Ron, resolving to go to the Forest that night.
Using Lockhart, Rowling creates a veiled critique of those who believe in the incorruptibility of the justice system. The Minister of Magic doesn’t know that Hagrid is guilty, and Hagrid is in fact innocent. This shows that contrary to Lockhart’s belief, the institutions in charge of the rules and carrying out justice can be proven wrong.
Themes
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Harry and Ron head down to Hagrid’s hut that evening under the Invisibility Cloak and take Hagrid’s dog Fang with them to the Forest. Harry lights his wand and follows the spiders along the path through the Forbidden Forest. They walk for half an hour until Fang starts barking wildly. The boys are terrified until they see that it’s the flying car.
Harry and Ron break the rules in this moment for very important reasons: they want to help rescue Hermione from being petrified, and they also want to find out the information that Hagrid has led them to, which they hope will help exonerate him.
Themes
Then out of nowhere, something seizes Harry, Ron, and Fang and lifts them off the ground. They are carried into the heart of the forest until they come to a hollow that is lit enough to show hundreds of horse-sized spiders. The spiders call to Aragog, who turns out to be an old spider the size of an elephant. When the other spiders announce that they have found humans, Harry says that they are friends of Hagrid’s.
In this moment, Harry and Ron support each other in order to help them overcome their fears: Ron’s intense fear of spiders, and Harry’s fear of the Forbidden Forest (where he had been face to face with Voldemort a year prior).
Themes
Harry explains that Hagrid is in trouble because the school thinks he is setting something to attack the students. Aragog explains that this also happened years ago: the school thought that Aragog was the monster that lives in the Chamber. Aragog is not that monster; Hagrid raised him from an egg. When Hagrid was discovered, he protected Aragog and took him to the forest.
Aragog’s story demonstrates how he and the other spider have been viewed with prejudice. Despite the fact that Aragog is a large and terrifying creature, he was not the monster that attacked the students, as people assumed. Hagrid was punished for this prejudice as well, simply because he tried to protect and care for Aragog.
Themes
Harry asks whether Aragog ever attacked a student. Aragog says no—the girl who was killed died in a bathroom, and Aragog never left the cupboard Hagrid raised him in. He says that the thing that lives in the castle is an ancient creature that the spiders fear more than anything else, and they refuse to name it. At that moment, the car returns, knocking the spiders aside and allowing Harry, Ron, and Fang to escape. The car drives as fast as it can until they reach the edge of the forest, where it leaves them. Harry and Ron go back into Hagrid’s hut.
The fact that the spiders refuse to name the monster in the Chamber of Secrets connects it with Voldemort (whom wizards often call “You-Know-Who rather than saying his name). This illustrates how fear can be spread simply based on reputation and rumor, and that fear only grows over time to the point where one’s name becomes so synonymous with fear that it prevents wizards from even trying to face the truth.
Themes
Ron is furious with Hagrid for sending them there, but Harry says that they’ve found out important info: Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. They climb back up to the castle under the Invisibility Cloak and head back to their dormitory. But just before Harry falls asleep, he realizes one more thing they learned: the girl who died was found in a bathroom. Ron completes Harry’s thought: Moaning Myrtle might be that girl.
Even though Ron is upset at having to deal with the giant spiders, they have been well rewarded for their loyalty to Hagrid. They discovered key information that not only proves Hagrid is innocent, but that also allows them dispel unfounded rumors, solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, and save the school from being closed.
Themes
