Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The most prominent theme explored in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the impact of fame and legacy upon a parent-child relationship. At the very center of the play is the relationship Albus shares with Harry, and it is friction in this relationship that sets in motion the entire set of events composing the play.

The play opens with a scene from the epilogue of the original series—Harry and Ginny see off Albus as he boards his first Hogwarts Express. Even in this scene, there is a foreshadowing of the conflict brewing between father and son when Albus voices his fears about being sorted into Slytherin House. This fear is realized shortly after, and while Harry himself had initially reassured Albus about this, Albus nevertheless receives negative attention and judgment for it from his peers. There is an almost-immediate strain on Albus and Harry’s relationship, with Albus desiring to stand apart from his father at the platform the following year. Over the years, the distance only increases—where Albus was once able to confide in and feel reassured by his father, he is now bitter and resentful about their relationship, rejecting Harry’s overtures at reconciliation. This indicates that the distance in their relationship goes further back than just Hogwarts and the sorting, and Albus and Harry acknowledge this in a later conversation.

Distance between parent and child in the teen years, especially as the former cannot relate to the latter, is a common phenomenon; however, Harry and Albus do not share a usual father-son relationship. Harry’s ubiquitous fame and the expectations that come with it have been an unwitting presence in his relationship with Albus since the very beginning—an experience he shares with Hermione, who voices facing similar struggles in parenting. Notably, such worries do not plague the more laid-back Ron, and Hermione’s daughter and Harry’s other children are not as adversely impacted by their parents’ fame. There is, thus, something unique about Albus and Harry’s relationship. Perhaps it has to do with how similar in appearance they are, naturally drawing the most comparison; perhaps it has to do with Albus’s birth order, being sandwiched between an older brother who has already set a standard and a younger sister who does not draw similar comparisons because of her gender.

The immediate connections Albus finds with Scorpius and Delphini later are understandable, as they are two other characters that exemplify the impact of fame and legacy in the parent-child equation. Like Albus, Scorpius bears the burden of his father’s legacy, albeit differently. Where Albus is mocked for the dissimilarities between him and his father, Scorpius is punished for his father’s infamy irrespective of the dissimilarities they share. Delphini, too, is impacted by her father’s legacy. Voldemort’s history precludes her from living openly in wizarding society, driving her to find family and connection through twisted and evil ways.

Just as the play presents the weight of fame and legacy on succeeding generations, it also suggests an antidote—in fact, the prophecy in the book hints at it. The prophecy foretells “unseen children” to be instrumental in Voldemort’s return, which is the root of the issues between Harry and Albus. Albus is “unseen” because his struggles are unrelatable to Harry, who grew up with the world’s weight upon his shoulders because it was his destiny to defeat Voldemort and rid the wizarding world of evil. Having lived with worries and anxieties of that magnitude, he cannot divine or understand the things that ail Albus, which are more normal and far smaller in scale. Ginny sees this, as evidenced by her suggestion that Harry show Albus “specific love”; Dumbeldore, too, has seen the errors of his old ways, advising Harry to see Albus for who he really is. An honest and authentic connection will help make the burden manageable, and Harry and Albus take a step in the right direction together when they visit Cedric’s grave at the book’s conclusion.