‘My truthful answer to you [is that] I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.’ (J K Rowling) Is Dumbl by H Eloïse Beverley

‘My truthful answer to you [is that] I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.’ (J K Rowling) Is Dumbledore, from J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series, a queer-coded character?

Hannah Eloise Beverley Royal Holloway University of London May 2015

Following J K Rowling’s pronouncement that Albus Dumbledore was gay, there was much speculation as to whether this had ever been evident within the narrative of her books. This essay will seek to answer whether Dumbledore is a queer-coded character. It will do this by exploring the ideas put forward in queer theory of performativity, effeminacy, and camp. Alongside this, it will investigate Dumbledore’s relationships with other characters, and how he is viewed through the lens of the tabloid press. This essay will seek to evaluate as to whether these factors contribute to building a portrait of a character who is written as queer.

CONTENTS Introduction

Introducing Albus Dumbledore

A “Flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet” - Dumbledore and effeminacy

“The queers of the queer world” - Remus Lupin; lycanthropy and discrimination

“Two clever, arrogant boys with a shared obsession” - Dumbledore and Grindelwald

“Mutual attraction” - Dumbledore and Doge

“The life and lies of Albus Dumbledore” - Dumbledore’s sexuality through the lens of the tabloid press

“I really think that is self-evident” - Dumbledore as queer representation

Conclusion

The following abbreviations have been used: PS - Harry Potter and the Philosopherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Stone CS - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PA - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban GF - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire OP - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HBP - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DH - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Introduction There was speculation regarding Dumbledore’s sexuality, even prior to Rowling’s extratextual outing of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, during a 2007 appearance at Carnegie Hall. Whilst being interviewed, in response to a question relating to Dumbledore’s romantic life she stated: … I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. … Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was. To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent? But, he met someone as brilliant as he was, … he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him. Yes, that’s how I always saw Dumbledore. (Rowling 2007) It could be considered that the character had been coded as queer throughout the series of novels, and therefore his sexuality was always evident to the reader with a knowledge of queer sub-text. Queer-coding is the intentional signaling by the author or director of the sexual orientation of a character, which has been hidden within the narrative of a text. This may take the form of the vocabulary used, actions taken, or the deliberate use of words that could be interpreted to indicate a sexual preference, due to the ambiguity of the language used. That is to say queer-coded characters are characters that are given certain characteristics that are likely to reference queerness within the reader’s subconscious.

As Richard Dyer said in the Celluloid Closet: Most expressions of homosexuality in most of movies are indirect. … that is what is what it was like to express homosexuality in life, that we could only express ourselves indirectly, just as people on the screen could only express themselves indirectly. (The Celluloid Closet 1995) The means by which homosexuality is expressed in the media is so often communicated indirectly, this has therefore, become a widely recognized convention. This regime of queercoding characters exists as a media version of ‘don’t ask don’t tell’. However, this practice has continued to exist long after discretion ceased to be a legal requirement, and a personal necessity. Jennifer Goodhue in Beyond Binary Recognising the Fluidity of Sexual Identity in the Harry Potter Series further reinforces this idea of queer-coding: As a result of generations of marginalisation and ostracism, [LGBT people] historically have had to connect and interact by means of codes – a discourse that exists in the gaps, underneath, or on the margins of dominant discourse … [LGBT people] are astute at interpreting popular media for coded signals. (Goetz 144) It is more than a character merely being designated as gay, since a sexual identity is more than a series of archetypes, or recognised behaviours. However, through established convention, a sexual identity is determined, performatively or linguistically in a text without necessarily giving any direct indication to sexuality in any way.

Performativity as defined by Judith Butler in Gender Trouble outlines the key ideas that underscore the principles of queer-coding characters such as the notion that, “acts, gestures, and desire produce the effect of an internal core or substance, but produce this on the surface of the body.” (Butler 185) Butler goes on to say that, “Such acts, gestures, enactments, … are performative in the sense that the essence or identity that they … purport to express are fabrications manufactured and sustained through corporeal signs and other discursive means.” (Butler 185) This concept of performativity is crucial when considering queer-coding as a literary device. Queer-coding can be used clandestinely to depict LGBT characters, as Eve Sedgwick highlights in her book Tendencies: I think many adults … are trying, in our work, to keep … promises made to ourselves in childhood: promises to make invisible possibilities and desires visible; to make the tacit things explicit; to smuggle queer representation in where it must be smuggled and … to challenge queer eradicating impulses frontally where they are to be so challenged. (Sedgwick 3) This desire to smuggle in representation lends itself to the creation of characters that are explicitly or implicitly coded as queer, and underlines the longing she feels as a reader for representation that is not covert. Ika Willis states in her essay Keeping Promises to Queer Children, Making Space (for Mary-Sue) at Hogwarts, in Fan Fiction and Fan communities in the Age of the Internet: All texts, … depend for their legibility on intertextual and extratextual knowledge’s: literacy in a given script; shared knowledge about … social and

cultural representational conventions and codes (fictional characters are presumed to be heterosexual unless they conform to certain stereotyped habits of representation.) (Hellekson 157) This serves as an acknowledgment that there exists a necessity to indicate sexuality via culturally constructed signs, because the reader’s default towards heteronormative interpretations of a text, overrides more subtle forms of communication. In Weird Sisters and Wild Women Daphne Lawless considers the perceived otherness of witches and wizards therefore, because of this otherness, they are figures that can be aligned with the queer. The readership of science fiction and fantasy … might be seen as readerships who would welcome the reinvention of the witch as a necessary outsider – a powerful, slightly dangerous individual whom can gain power by identifying with rather than opposing. (Lawless 1999) In readers associating themselves with the magical and the other, the understanding of these characters magical differences is made applicable to reader’s real life differences. This is evident in the responses of readers to the Harry Potter series of books. As Jessica Kander says in Reading Queer Subtexts in Children’s Literature: … the queer subtext in Rowling’s series is easily accessible for readers in varying gender and sexual identity situations. Not only is Harry an outsider within his own family, … [they] are so embarrassed by him that they force Harry to repress the non-normative parts of his identity (namely his magic/wizarding powers) … additionally [they] … quite literally keep him in

the closet (the cupboard beneath the stairs) from which he must emerge to accept his non-normative identity as a wizard. (Kander 40)

Introducing Albus Dumbledore The first time that Harry Potter comes across Dumbledore prior to his arrival at Hogwarts, is on the back of a chocolate frog card, which describes him thus: Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945 â&#x20AC;Ś and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel. (PS 77) Given that this text is on a disposable card, the information could also be regarded as throw away; it is an easily accessible and readily available source of material in the guise of a confectionary wrapper. However, there is coded information held within, as Flamel is referred to as his partner without further clarification. This terminology is frequently used to define same sex romantic relationships; therefore, it is implicitly coded as queer, and is therefore, describing Dumbledore and Flamel as life partners. In addition, the link between Grindelwald and Dumbledore is outlined and established.

A “Flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet” - Dumbledore and effeminacy The reader is introduced to Albus Dumbledore through this description within the first chapter of the first book: Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. … He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. … This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore didn’t seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. (PS 12) Dumbledore is immediately established as a character who is noticeable, and simultaneously undesirable. Especially within the conservative environment inhabited by Harry’s prejudiced family, and their suburban neighbours. Rowling recently stated that “gay people just look like people,” in response to a fan who said that they could not see Dumbledore as gay. However, Dumbledore does not just look like any other person, he is conspicuous in part due to his physicality, and is self-confident in his own persona. His charismatic personality expresses an aura that naturally draws attention; therefore, he is the kind of person who would be obvious and visible under any circumstances. His purple robes are implicitly evocative of homosexuality. In the Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, the connection of purple with homosexuality is outlined: Lavender seems to have accrued homosexual connotations through multiple and repeated references pairing it with homosexuality in literary and historical documents. (Zimmerman 747)

This makes the purple robes that Dumbledore wears seem indicative of more than a mere colour preference, by drawing upon an established cultural symbol of homosexuality. The feminine style of his clothing and his high-heeled boots, are suggestive of a disregard for gender roles, and established notions of normative gender performance. Another instance of Dumbledore behaving in an effeminate manner is during the Christmas Feast, “Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard’s hat for a flowered bonnet.” (PS 150) This subversion of gender norms highlights the conventions of the camp as laid out in Susan Sontag’s essay Notes on Camp “the essence of camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration. And camp is esoteric - - something of a private code, a badge of identity.” (Sontag 1964) Within a subculture where behaviours are already predisposed to the unusual, Dumbledore is still characterised as odd and eccentric. Another unconventional behaviour that would be characterised as typically feminine is when Dumbledore says, “I do love knitting patterns.” (HBP 92) His unconventional conduct and style, however goes unchallenged because he is held in respect by both his staff, and students. His compelling charm and intelligence allows him his proclivity for the unusual, without it assigning him to the role of an outsider. A more obvious piece of queer-coding is in Half-Blood Prince when Harry and Dumbledore go inside Dumbledore’s memory, and view Dumbledore as a young man, as “… he strode off along the pavement, drawing many curious glances due to the flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet that he was wearing.” (HBP 312) Flamboyant is a word that is often associated with homosexuality, as is any colour in the range of violet. The message of this outfit is intentionally queer, thus Dumbledore is announcing his sexuality in a loud proud way by wearing it so ostentatiously.

“The queers of the queer world” - Remus Lupin; lycanthropy and discrimination Dumbledore further asserts a queer identity by aligning himself with the outcasts of the magical world, as Vandana Saxena states in The Subversive Harry Potter: Hogwarts School, though a part of the queer world of magic, under Dumbledore, further becomes home to the deviants of the magical world itself, the queers of the queer world. He admits Remus Lupin, the werewolf, first as a student and later as a teacher in the school. As part animal, part man, Remus Lupin is an outsider in the magical world, shunned due to the prejudice against the werewolves. Hogwarts is one of the few places where Remus finds acceptance. (Saxena 54) Dumbledore’s eagerness to affiliate himself with the marginalised and the ostracised is an assertion of his own queer identity. In offering refuge and acting as an ally to Lupin, Dumbledore shields somebody that he sees as a vulnerable member of his own community, a point that was underscored by Rowling when she stated: I know that I’ve said publicly that Remus Lupin was supposed to be an HIV metaphor. It was someone who had been infected young, who suffered stigma, who had a fear of infecting others, … And it was a way of examining prejudice, unwarranted prejudice towards a group of people. (Rowling 2008) The HIV narrative, whilst not an exclusively queer storyline is commonly portrayed as such, Lupin is befitting within this archetype. Dumbledore in protecting Lupin from prejudice, and

acting as a confidant, not only affiliates himself with Lupin and asserts his own queer identity, he also displays his humanity.

“Two clever, arrogant boys with a shared obsession” - Dumbledore and Grindelwald In the final book, Deathly Hallows, Rowling continuously emphasises dark wizard of legend, Gellert Grindelwald’s physical attractiveness. As if to remind the reader what made him so appealing to Dumbledore, despite his obvious character failings. In presenting him as a naturally good-looking person, and possible romantic interest, the reader’s interpretation of Grindelwald is subsequently queered. When Harry first sees the photographs of Grindelwald and Dumbledore, Harry remarks on Grindelwald’s “golden hair” which “fell in curls to his shoulders.” (DH 208) The focus on his appearance reinforces the idea that the reader is meant to find him handsome. He is also described as the “laughing boy,” the “merry faced thief” (DH275) and having “soared from the windowsill like a bird.” (DH 233) The young man is made to seem both enigmatic and charming, and Harry keeps thinking about him “Harry’s scar continued to burn and the merry, blond haired boy swam tantalisingly in his memory” (DH 240) Harry’s fascination with him, allows the reader to sympathise with the feelings that he evoked within Dumbledore, despite his questionable morality. As Karen Kerbarle suggests in her essay, If Rowling Says Dumbledore is Gay, Is He Gay? “the focus on the unknown youth’s beautiful hair, overall attractiveness, and abundant laughter make it much easier, once we find out he is Grindelwald, to imagine him as an object of infatuation.” (Prinzi 146)

When Harry meets Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth, they discuss Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s relationship, in a way that is indicative of the queer. Aberforth said “secrets and lies, that is how we grew up, and Albus … he was a natural.” (DH 453) This is indicative of Dumbledore having things about himself that he wished to hide, even as a child. Remarking on Grindelwald, Aberforth says, “Grindelwald. And at last my brother had an equal to talk to, someone just as bright and talented as he was.” (DH 456) Grindelwald is universally described, as the equal that Dumbledore had been awaiting, the implication that he had been lacking a confidante, and that their relationship provided something that he did not otherwise have in his life. When Aberforth tries to dampen the ideas of Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s future plans, Grindelwald responded badly, and Aberforth recounts this, “Grindelwald didn’t it like at all. He got angry. He told me what a stupid boy I was, trying to stand in the way of him and my brilliant brother.” (DH 457) Aberforth had been pointing out that Dumbledore had other family responsibilities, and Grindelwald reacted strongly, showing the bond between the two of them, but also his own disregard for anything other than his own wants and desires. During a sequence in the final book where Harry meets Dumbledore in limbo, after Harry had been injured in battle, but Dumbledore in death was there to greet him. Dumbledore speaks of Grindelwald and says, “It was the thing, above all, that drew us together, … two clever, arrogant boys with a shared obsession.” (DH 572) This is particularly revealing, as this is the only time that Dumbledore uses his own voice to tell the readers directly about his relationship with Grindelwald. The way he speaks of being drawn together and a joint obsession is indicative of something far more intense than a typical boyhood friendship, thereby creating a queer subtext. Later in the same conversation, Dumbledore goes on to say, “I returned to my village in anger and bitterness. Trapped and wasted, I

thought! And then, of course, he came … Grindelwald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me.” (DH 573) Given the vocabulary choices made by Rowling in this quote it is made to seem that Grindelwald is his saviour, from a cloistered existence that he found monotonous. The use of the word inflamed is particularly telling, and seems oddly passionate for a supposed platonic relationship. The idea of Dumbledore and Grindelwald as a pair is further endorsed when Dumbledore states, “Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution.” (DH 573) This reinforces the bond and the kinship that existed between the two men. Dumbledore expresses his fear of Grindelwald in saying’ “I think he knew it, I think he knew what frightened me. I delayed meeting him until, finally, it would have been too shameful to resist any longer.” (DH 575) This extract can be read on many levels, as Dumbledore confesses that he was not afraid of his power, but of what secrets Grindelwald knows about, and how he could potentially disclose his sexuality.

“Mutual attraction” - Dumbledore and Doge When Elphius Doge eulogises Dumbledore, and remembers what he was like, he states, “I met Albus Dumbledore at the age of eleven, on our first day at Hogwarts. Our mutual attraction was undoubtedly due to the fact that we both felt ourselves to be outsiders.” (DH 21) Mutual attraction is an unusual phrase to use to describe a childhood friendship, no matter how close. It is, however, in keeping with a queer reading of the text, as is Dumbledore’s status as an outsider. Doge also recalls their plans for after graduation, “When Albus and I left Hogwarts, we intended to take the then traditional tour of the world together.” (DH 23) This sort of trip is an indication of extreme closeness; it seems intimate

and implies mutual interests beyond just the intellectual. This is an extract from what is supposed to be an obituary published in a national newspaper, therefore it is a fond remembrance and not an exposé. Contemporaries of Doge and Dumbledore at Hogwarts are dismissive of the closeness of their friendship. Harry’s friend Ron’s Great Aunt Muriel says to Doge “we all know that you worshipped Dumbledore,” (DH 128) and Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth condemns Doge’s affection forthrightly stating that he, “thought the sun shone out of my brother’s every orifice, he did.” (DH 454) Pugh states how “this line, with typical Rowlingian ambiguity, hints at an anal attraction while refusing to state it.” (Pugh 93) Doge and Dumbledore sustained a friendship throughout their school years, and it seems obvious that he was enamoured of Dumbledore, idolising and hero-worshipping him. However, whether this was reciprocated or not is unknown. It seems that Dumbledore’s affections were occupied elsewhere, and this indicates that any desire to escalate the relationship is perhaps unrequited.

“The life and lies of Albus Dumbledore” - Dumbledore’s sexuality through the lens of the tabloid press Rowling most directly addresses Dumbledore’s sexuality via the voice of the tabloid journalist Rita Skeeter. Skeeter writes an exposé biography, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, and whilst being interviewed to promote this book, she states:

I am glad you mentioned Grindelwald … very dirty business indeed. All I’ll say is, don’t be so sure that there really was the spectacular duel of legend. After they’ve read my book, people may be forced to conclude that Grindelwald simply conjured a white handkerchief from the end of his wand and came quietly! (DH 28) This passage reads as sexual innuendo, in true tabloid fashion. Kerbarle further suggests that Rowling uses “Skeeter’s lurid language as an opportunity to create a symbolic sex scene between the two men.” (Prinzi 147) Similarly, Rowling further uses Skeeter’s voice to sensationalise the story of Albus Dumbledore: I devote an entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore relationship. It’s been called unhealthy, even sinister… there is no question that Dumbledore took an unnatural interest in Potter from the word go… it is certainly an open secret that Potter has had a most troubled adolescence. (DH 29) Tison Pugh points out that “Rita employs the lexicon of queer theory in her reference to Harry’s open secret.” (Pugh 93) Rita’s voice is further used to cast aspersions over Dumbledore’s mentoring of Harry, the suggestion of something sinister and unnatural fits within the vocabulary that a jingoistic tabloid journalist would utilise when discussing homosexuality. On the occasion of a Weasley family wedding, Great Aunt Muriel talks about the book Rita Skeeter has written about Dumbledore, “Before he became so respected and respectable …, there were some mighty funny rumours about Albus!” (DH 128) The mention

of anomalous rumours regarding Dumbledore is reminiscent of many tabloid exposés concerning the sex lives of those in power positions, and this supposition is congregant with a queer reading of the text, inferring the disreputable and salacious. Upon seeing, the aforementioned book Harry notices a photograph of Dumbledore as a young man, “The young Dumbledore and his handsome companion.” (DH 288) The description of Grindelwald as Dumbledore’s companion also has implied meaning; companion is a frequently used euphemism for a romantic partner, particularly when somebody’s reputation is at stake. Therefore, this is befitting with a queer reading of Albus Dumbledore and his questionable friendship with Grindelwald. Rowling uses Skeeter’s voice via her book, to inform the reader of the friendship between the young Dumbledore and Grindelwald: It can now be revealed that Grindelwald choose to visit his Great Aunt in Godric’s Hollow, and that there, intensely shocking though it will be for many to hear it, he struck up a close friendship with none other than Albus Dumbledore … ‘I introduced him to poor Albus who was missing the company of lads his own age. The boys took to each other at once’ … Bathilda shows me a letter … that Albus Dumbledore sent Gellert Grindelwald in the dead of night. ‘Yes, even after they had spent all day in discussion – both such brilliant young boys, they got on like a cauldron on fire.’ (DH 291) Rita Skeeter’s sensationalism and “the late night setting, and the references to fire and flame, hint at a passion that goes beyond friendship.” (Prinzi 146) The language that Rowling uses to characterise Skeeter’s voice is certainly typical of lurid newspaper articles, and is suggestive of a romantic liaison between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

When musing on the circumstances surrounding Dumbledore’s sister’s death, Rita Skeeter asks, “did she stumble across something she ought not to have done, as the two young men sat practising for their attempt at glory and domination?” (DH 293) Skeeter’s words are very suggestive, and the passage directly hints that there was not only something clandestine about the young men’s infatuation with dark magic, but also with each other. Her propositions are purposely provocative and innuendo laden, allowing the reader to openly speculate about the nature of the friendship. Skeeter’s use of language is overt, and does not contain the same subtlety of attempting to conceal within obscure queer-coding, which might require some deciphering by the reader.

“I really think that is self-evident” - Dumbledore as queer representation Rowling’s extratextual outing of Dumbledore leads readers to question whether her authorial intention is important in attempting to interpret Dumbledore’s sexuality. Eric Hirsch in his book Validity in Interpretation defined intentionalism as “the sensible idea that a text means what its author meant.” (Hirsch 1) He goes onto argue that although a text may mean different things to different readers it cannot mean something that, its author did not intend (Hirsch). Conversely, in Image, Music, Text Barthes claims “to give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text … the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author.” (Barthes 1977: 142) Regardless of authorial intent or its relevance in finding meaning in the text, Rowling’s portrayal of Dumbledore within the text is still laced with coded messages. This interpretation of Dumbledore would exist whether or not Rowling had decided to extratextually out him, however, this authorial intervention both

informs and colours a queer reading of the text. As Rebecca Traister said in her 2007 article, “Whoever said the author was dead sure hadn’t meant Joanne Rowling.” Letting the reader have control, and interpret the novel without the knowledge of authorial intention does not appear to be Rowling’s style. Her tendency to produce information outside of canon as canon fact, means that opportunities for alternate interpretations are often quashed, and therefore Rowling remains the Word of God over Harry Potter and his universe. Rowling’s detractors often claim that Dumbledore does not count as gay representation, as his identity was never made explicitly clear within the text: It’s all well and good to say retroactively that Hogwarts had a diverse student body and that Dumbledore was gay, but imagine how powerful it would have been for young closeted (cupboarded?) readers to actually see one of Rowling’s characters in a healthy homosexual relationship – gay people look like all people, but they certainly don’t get as much representation as their heterosexual magical peers. (Cox 2015) As Carolyn Cox stated in her article "J.K. Rowling Responds to Fan Who “Can’t See” Dumbledore as Gay." Real representation would involve these characters being visible, and obvious to readers that were unfamiliar with coded signals. However even in real life these things are not visible, and obvious or necessarily communicated directly. When asked why she did not reveal Dumbledore’s sexuality in the books Rowling said: Because it's ... I really think that is self-evident. ... The plot is what it is, and he did have, as I say this rather tragic infatuation, but that is a key part of the ending of the story. So there it is, why would I put the key part of my ending

of my story in book one? It's about the construction of the story. (Rowling 2007) Rowling’s opinion that Dumbledore’s sexuality was always self-evident underlines the idea that she gave coded signals, throughout the narrative as to his sexual orientation. It also acknowledges how important the queer-coding of Dumbledore was to the overall story arc. Dumbledore’s sexuality being intrinsic to the narrative, and his character development, means that the indicators that would lead the reader to this understanding of his identity are all the more significant. It is his sexuality that shapes the trajectory of his life story, however since Dumbledore is never portrayed as a gay character, his storyline is not one that predominantly revolves around issues centred on his sexuality; he could be seen as a character who just happens to be gay. And “just happens to be gay” can signal just that: that this book doesn’t deal with the difficult, icky, everyday stuff of being queer in a world where it’s still not A-okay. Which means, … it often doesn’t deal with queer characters at all but rather with characters onto whom queerness has been placed, … not deeply set and so easily removed or ignored (Attig 2015) Dumbledore’s storyline does not deal with how his queerness has affected his day-to-day life, however his relationship with Grindelwald influenced much of his adulthood, and therefore, this is not an aspect of his identity that can be easily altered or removed. Steve Kloves, the screenwriter for the Harry Potter series of films says that he always suspected that Dumbledore was gay, despite it not being stated explicitly in any of the books.

When you live within a narrative the way I have and you start to feel the DNA of the book, you can tell, â&#x20AC;Ś There was something about the way she wrote about him. There was a freedom and a quality to his humour that made him someone who was slightly outside, and who was comfortable being outside normal conventions. (Kloves 2010) This interpretation from somebody who is close to the text indicates that the character was coded as queer, and that this analysis is one that is shared by many readers. As Eve Sedgewick says, the way readers relate to and interpret the text says as much about the reader as it does the narrative. The coded signals would be most evident to people who were most personally familiar with them and what they meant: I think that for many of us in childhood the ability to attach intently to a few cultural objects, objects of high or popular culture or both, objects whose meaning seemed mysterious, excessive, or oblique in relation to the codes most readily available to us, became a prime resource for survival. (Sedgwick 3) Seeing oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self in the narrative is what may encourage someone to pick-up on prompted signals, looking for and being aware of these signals is often provoked by the lack of representation elsewhere. That a reflection of self is viewed by interpreting a text to fit with the nuances of character, is about having your own identity validated by seeing it replicated within a setting known inside popular media.

Conclusion It is difficult to deny the evidence that Rowling had always intended Albus Dumbledore to be a queer-coded character. However, whether readers reach the same conclusion, is likely to change based upon their own life experiences and what personally resonates with them, always remembering, that these books were originally written for children. These indicators may only be picked up on with subsequent readings or with greater scrutiny applied, and when not looking at them from the essentialist’s viewpoint of a child. The signals to Dumbledore’s queerness in the narrative are evident to any reader who is familiar with recognising them. In utilising an excepted and familiar selection of euphemisms and signs, Rowling is able to make Dumbledore a character who exists within the queer canon. Dumbledore’s tendency towards effeminacy and camp is in keeping with a queer reading of the text. His queerness is made apparent within the narrative, through his relationships and interactions with other characters, most markedly with Gellert Grindelwald. Dumbledore’s sexuality is most explicitly demonstrated to the reader through the voice of Rita Skeeter. Her sensationalism and her propensity for the salacious, allow Rowling most unambiguously to talk about Dumbledore’s homosexuality, although wrapped up in the scandalous language of a tabloid. Regardless of authorial intention, or the narrative implications of Dumbledore’s sexual orientation, his identity is established within the text to indicate queerness, as by his very nature the character is considered to be subversive, and at odds with his contemporaries, through action and deed. Therefore, it is reasonable to state that Dumbledore is coded as queer, and was this was intentional characterisation by the author.

Rowling describes him through his clothing, exploits, and linguistic choices to establish his queer identity. Through the time-honoured way, that his character is presented, Dumbledore is knowingly and consciously queer-coded.

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