Voldemort is a parselmouth. This means he can talk to snakes. He also has a pet snake, Nagini, and has a snakelike appearance.
In class we learned that the snake was sneaky and cunning. He also was trying to get Chava to do something wrong, go against Hashem and eat from the tree of knowledge.
My theory is that Voldemort is snakelike and talks to snakes because he is trying to do what the snake in Bereishit did. He represents the evil in the wizarding world as the snake did in the garden. He is sneaky and cunning, and is doing his best to gain followers by convincing them his is the correct way.
Also, the snake started out respected. He was one of the more intelligent animals, and almost because of this, he became cursed. Voldemort also started out as an intelligent student. One of the best in his year. He then studied more and more dark arts and became what he was, which led to his death
As a continuation of Alex's theme, I think that there are several parallels between Harry Potter and the Torah. As Alex pointed out, the snake is a symbol of evil. In contrast to this, the symbol of good and strength in the Torah is the lion. In Harry Potter, the symbol of Gryffindor is the lion. It is the house of courageous and strong students who "spend their days saving the world". Lions are the symbol of the tribe of Yehudah, and by extension, David Hamelech.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the raven was the first bird to be send out of the Tevah. It did not see any land around it, so it returned to the Ark. In Harry Potter, the symbol for Ravenclaw house is the raven. It's the house for the smart and the wise, who aid the Gryffindors in the fight against evil.
There is no reference to the badger in the Torah (that I know of). There is also no parallel in Harry Potter because Huffelpuff is known as the house where "misfits" belong.