Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
History, Community, and Coming of Age
Empathy and Love
Reading, Critical Thinking, and Truth
Activism and Diversity
Good, Evil, Power, and Choice
Summary
Analysis
Mr. Weasley leads his group towards the giant stadium, explaining that it seats a hundred thousand. An official points the group straight up the stairs to the top of the stadium. Harry looks around the box to see whom they're sitting with and sees a creature wearing a tea towel. Incredulously he asks, "Dobby?" but the house-elf introduces herself as Winky, a friend of Dobby's. She says that freedom isn't suiting Dobby well, as he wants to be paid. Winky looks horrified at Harry's blank look and says that house-elves never get paid. She says that house-elves are meant to obey, just like she is currently doing--she hates heights, but she's in the box because her master sent her there.
The size of the stadium puts it in the top ten largest sports stadiums in the world, were it compared against Muggle stadiums. Again, this functions to show how large the Wizarding population is worldwide and show how popular Quidditch is among the Wizarding population. Winky reintroduces Harry and the reader to house-elves and how they move through life. Unlike Dobby, however, Winky seems fully accepting of the status quo, a view which will become important later.
Themes
The box fills over the next half hour and when Cornelius Fudge arrives, he greets Harry warmly. He tries to introduce Harry to the Bulgarian minister, but there appears to be a massive language barrier. He says that Winky is Mr. Crouch's house-elf and as Lucius Malfoy arrives with his wife and Draco, he greets them too. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy greet each other coldly. Minutes after they take their seats, Ludo Bagman races into the box, magnifies his voice, and announces the beginning of the Quidditch World Cup. He announces the display from the Bulgarian team mascots: veela. The veela are the most beautiful women that Harry has ever seen, and he becomes entranced by their dancing and wants to do something impressive.
The fact that the veela have an effect on Harry at all suggests that physically and emotionally, he's beginning to develop and approach puberty. This then heralds the other changes to come later on as Harry continues to develop and mature. Bagman's habit of racing in at the last moment for things suggests that he doesn't necessarily think highly of other people's time--in other words, he's not particularly empathetic or thoughtful when it comes to his coworkers or, in this case, the rest of the Wizarding world.
Themes
Bagman announces the Irish mascots and a huge comet takes the field and turns into a rainbow. Mr. Weasley shouts that the rainbow is made up of leprechauns, who begin to throw gold down onto the crowds. Ron throws an armful of gold at Harry to pay for his Omnioculars as the leprechauns sit across the field from the veela. Then, Bagman announces the Bulgarian team, the Irish team, and the Egyptian referee. Through his Omnioculars, Harry watches the referee set the balls loose and start the match. The Irish team is exceptional and scores 30 points in the first ten minutes. Everyone gasps as the Seekers dive toward the ground, but Krum pulls out at the last minute. The Irish Seeker crashes. Harry consults his Omnioculars, which says that Krum's move is called the Wronski Feint.
The Omnioculars help Harry to make sense of the Wizarding world he now sees in front him and, especially, give him deeper insight into the game he loves. This shows how, as Harry spends more time out in the community like this, he'll be able to use what he learns and bring it back to school so that, in the future, he'll be able to replicate this on the Quidditch field for the Quidditch Cup. In this way, the Wizarding world as a whole becomes Harry's classroom and expands his views.
Themes
Once the Irish Seeker is cleared to fly, the Irish Chasers score ten more goals. As play turns dirty, the referee awards penalties to both teams. After a nasty argument between the referee and two Bulgarian players, the veela turn into scaly, angry birds. The Irish score more points and an Irish Beater hits a Bludger at Krum, hitting him square in the nose. The Irish Seeker dives again, Krum in pursuit, and once again the Irish player crashes. Krum pulls out of the dive with the Snitch, ending the game but letting Ireland win because they were so far ahead. The crowd celebrates and Harry hears the Bulgarian Minister sigh that his team fought bravely. Fudge is incensed to learn he speaks English after all.
While the novel plays the Bulgarian Minister's choice to pretend he doesn't speak English for laughs, it is important to note that by choosing to not engage with Fudge, it means that Fudge and the Bulgarian Minister weren't able to form a truly open and communicative relationship during the game, which is presumably one of the goals of having a Quidditch World Cup at all.
Themes
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Two wizards carry a huge gold cup into the top box and the Bulgarian players enter the box to shake hands with the Ministers. The Irish team arrives next to accept the cup. Once Bagman returns his voice to its normal volume, he gives Fred and George the money they won from their bet.
Note that the Wizarding world does honor Muggle international boundaries; they don't have their own countries. This suggests that the Wizarding world is very connected to the Muggle one.
Themes
