Houses in the Harry Potter series are one of the key aspects that draws in its fans. It lets us feel like we are a part of the world, and actively participating with Harry and his friends at Hogwarts. Taking a sorting hat quiz for the first time would make you a part of the Wizarding World, to be part of Harry’s house Gryffindor, or clever like a Ravenclaw. You don’t even contemplate the possibility of being sorted into Slytherin. Then it happens, the dread that you are part of the bad guys. J.K. Rowling has vilified this house to the point were fans of the series, young impressionable children view this house as the villains of the series. The traits of the house have been long buried under the mask of evil, and even racist something that was shown with almost every Slytherin that we met.One of the first things mentioned about them is that Slytherin House has turned out a large majority of dark witches and wizards. Even in the series we rarely see Slytherin’s that can be described as good. Those that are aligned with Harry and other heroes even still have such questionable backgrounds that could bring into question whether they can truly be considered “good”.
Slytherin’s value the traits of being ambitious, driven, and resourceful. There was a time that I didn’t even know what were the traits of my own house. The traits many had read about when it came to this house showed the students as bullies. They taunted Harry and his friends picking on them whenever they got the chance. The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin is notoriously vicious throughout the series this is even encouraged by the teachers with the fierce competition for House cup and the Quidditch cup. Snape relentlessly removes points from every house besides Slytherin, while at the same time shamelessly awards his Slyhtherin students points for absolute nonsense. The adults that hail from Slytherin are far worse however, showcasing extreme prejudice towards those who are anything but pureblood, many of them having superiority complexes flaunting their status and wealth against other wizards and muggles. Rowling groups all these characters together under the pretense that the Sorting Hat would put people with the same characteristics together. However even the other houses present have people displaying qualities that would openly oppose the characteristics of their house. Characters like Peter Pettigrew, Cormac Mclaggen, Marrietta Edgecomb, and Cedric Diggory, while being minor characters can all be seen as breaking out of the mold established by their houses. Slytherin’s are no exceptions with characters that can breakout of the status quo of their house.
Most of the characters associated with this house have consisted of villains and Death Eaters. Many of these characters often embrace the puritanical view that is associated with Slytherin. In the books it seems that every house has their blacksheep, a cowardly Gryffindor, or a brave and noble Hufflepuff. While there are a small handful of “good” Slytherins most of their stories either end tragically, or they display the same racist traits as other members associated with their house. The only thing that causes them to change their alignment is a usually a moment of reflection unseen by the audience. Even Slughorn is notoriously well known for his Slug Club and his odd remarks of referring to Sirius and Regulus as if they were a matching set for a collection. Snape’s “redemption” is notoriously well known by all fans of the series, but even then at the end of the story, all of Snape’s hatred and mistreatment of Harry comes down to the fact that he hated James and loved Lily.
This belief that Purebloods are superior is a driving force of conflict throughout the series. While large groups of people with similar ideologies can be drawn to each other the notion that every child that’s ambitious, or resourceful, can automatically be predestined to be a Death Eater proves to be a narrow outlook on children that are sorted into this house. Slytherin has always held that dark cloud over its head, while many have embraced the good that comes from their house it does not erase the fact that many of these characters represented are perceived as the villains of the story.