Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Parenthood
Time, Mistakes, and the Past
Friendship, Family, Love, and Bravery
Reputation and Expectation
Death and Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
In the Slytherin dormitory, Scorpius can’t sleep. He wakes Albus and tells him how fearless he’s been feeling since coming back from the scariest place imaginable. He recalls how earlier that day, Rose came up to him in Potions and called him “Bread Head,” and he nearly hugged her before she kicked him in the shin.
After Scorpius experiences the trauma of the alternate timeline, the play emphasizes that now, surrounded once again by his friends (particularly Albus), Scorpius feels fearless in a new way. His bravery in the face of bullying is buoyed by the renewed sense of love around him.
Themes
Scorpius says he discovered another side of himself—entitled, angry, and mean, and he didn’t like it. He says it feels like that version of the world tested everyone, and everyone failed. Albus assures him that he had a chance and changed things back, but Scorpius says that this is only because he knew what the world should have been like.
Scorpius’s other side of himself reveals a different issue with expectation and reputation. People expected him to be entitled and mean in that alternate timeline, and this became such a burden to him that he ended up fulfilling that promise and doing things that he regrets. Put another way, he has realized he would rather be himself than be beholden to the expectations of others.
Themes
Albus says he was arrogant to go back and try to change the world. He realizes he wasn’t really doing it for Cedric; he was doing it to prove to Harry that he could do it. And if it wasn’t for Scorpius, they wouldn’t have survived. Scorpius assures Albus that memories of him helped Scorpius fight the dementors, which moves Albus.
Albus again reinforces how problematic and burdensome his desire to live up to others’ expectations have been, showing how they led him to do reckless things. Additionally, Scorpius notes explicitly how the friendship and love that they share helped him overcome his obstacles and save the world—even in Albus’s absence.
Themes
Scorpius says that they have to destroy the Time-Turner, pulling it from under his pillow. Albus is surprised that Scorpius lied and told everyone it was at the bottom of the lake. Albus says that they should tell someone about this, but Scorpius doesn’t trust the Ministry to keep it again, particularly because they didn’t experience how dangerous the thing was. He says it’s time to destroy the Time-Turner.
Scorpius’s decision to keep and destroy the Time-Turner suggests that they finally acknowledge the danger in trying to change the past or fixating on it, which is why they have to eliminate the possibility of doing so again. The play thus suggests that just because one can alter the past, even in this magical world, doesn’t mean one should.
Themes
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