Tools of Characterization

Characterization in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Actions

In Harry's world, actions don't just speak louder than words; they speak louder than spells, too. Harry demonstrates his loyalty to Sirius by disarming Snape in the Shrieking Shack. Hermione proves her loyalty to Harry by using the Time-Turner (and risking herself) to help him save Sirius. Sirius tries to show Harry that he cares by sending him a fancy broomstick at the end. And Peter Pettigrew proves himself to be a coward by running away instead of atoning for his betrayal.

Ugh. We still wish Crookshanks had eaten him.

Clothing

It can be hard to define your personal identity when you attend a school with a strict uniform policy. Harry's wizarding robes look comfy, but they're pretty restricting in the identity department. Besides letting you know which house a wizard belongs to, what other purpose do the serve?

Cuarón puts Harry and the gang in normal street clothes in this installment not just for variety, but also to allow them to express themselves. Hermione especially gets to dress well for the winter season in cute hats and scarves.

Clothes allow us to create an identity, or to shroud ourselves in mystery. They can also be pretty hilarious, like when Lupin instructs Neville to visualize Snape in his grandmother's clothes. It's a funny image, but the power of clothing, even non-magical garments, is nothing to laugh at.

Direct Characterization

This category is more like "misdirect" characterization in this installment of Harry's story. We're told many things about Sirius, most of which are untrue.

Check out all these lies:

STAN SHUNPIKE: That is Sirius Black, that is. Don't tell me you've never been hearing of Sirius Black. He's a murderer. Got himself locked up in Azkaban for it.

RON: Except no one's ever broken out of Azkaban before and he's a murderous, raving lunatic.

MCGONAGALL: Sirius Black may not have put his hands to the Potters but he's the reason they're dead.

This builds an air of dread around Sirius that rivals that of Voldemort—excuse us, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. With Voldemort, however, all the terrible things you've heard about him are true.

Physical Appearances

We often judge people and animals just by looking at them. In one scene, Hermione argues with Ron, who is upset that her cat's trying to eat his rat. (We're definitely #TeamCrookshanks.)

HERMIONE: It's a cat, Ronald. What do you expect? It's in his nature.

In Harry's world, that type of judgement of people and animals can go either way. Sometimes it's spot-on, and sometimes it's way off base.

Take Sirius, for example. He looks like a maniac in his Wanted posters. However, his looks are deceiving. He looks like a crazy convict because anyone would after being locked up in Azkaban for so long. But that doesn't mean he's a crazy convict to the core. His crazy is only skin (skin covered with prison tattoos) deep.

Pettigrew, on the other hand, looks like a rat. And he is a rat. He ratted out the Potters to Voldemort and he would do anything to save his own ratty skin. He's a rat both in and out of animal form. And he probably smells like one, too.