Parenthood Theme in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child returns to the beloved characters of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Draco Malfoy, who were children in J. K. Rowling’s original series but in this play are all grown up with children of their own. In particular, Harry and Draco struggle with how to connect to their sons Albus and Scorpius, because Harry largely grew up without parental figures and Draco had a difficult relationship with his own father. Harry and Draco often have trouble knowing how to raise their children because they don’t see their sons on their own terms—instead, they constantly compare Albus’s and Scorpius’s experiences to their own childhoods. In this way, the play suggests that the key to a strong parent-child bond lies in being open with one’s children and acknowledging them for who they are, not for who a parent wants them to be.

Harry and Albus struggle with their relationship because Albus doesn’t feel that Harry truly understands him or his problems. Unlike Harry, Albus immediately struggles to fit in at Hogwarts: Albus is placed in Slytherin House rather than Gryffindor, and he doesn’t show Harry’s same talent for Quidditch or school. As a result, he feels completely “disappointing,” and kids make fun of him for not being like his massively famous father Harry. Over the years, Harry tries to prop up Albus’s excitement about Hogwarts even as Albus continues to be bullied, but this only makes Albus feel less understood. Harry always viewed Hogwarts as a place of magic and belonging, while Albus views it as a place where he feels like an outsider. At the beginning of his third year, Albus highlights this discrepancy, saying, “Just cast a spell, Dad, and change me into what you want me to be, okay?” Harry’s inability to understand Albus’s perspective and reset his own expectations for his son creates a deep conflict between them, as Harry also fails to see Scorpius as an individual. Instead, Harry dislikes and distrusts Scorpius solely because of the rivalry that Harry and Scorpius’s father Draco share. But in splitting up Albus from Scorpius, Harry fails to see that Scorpius is Albus’s most crucial friendship, which in turn widens the chasm between Harry and his son. Dumbledore’s portrait attempts to show Harry where he is going wrong, explaining, “You must see Albus as he is, Harry.” Trying to heed this advice, Harry is more honest with Albus about his feelings and earnestly listens to Albus’s own struggles, enabling them to reconcile. Only by understanding Albus on his own terms is Harry able to build a better father-son relationship.

Draco and Scorpius face similar challenges, as Scorpius is very different from Draco, and Scorpius feels that his father misunderstands him. Scorpius tells Albus when they first meet, “father-son issues, I have them,” and later he tells Albus that sometimes he can feel his dad thinking, “How did I produce this?” This sense of being unrecognizable to his father—of feeling like he isn’t what Draco wants in a son—creates their “issues.” In an alternate timeline in which Voldemort lives, Draco’s disappointment comes to the fore. When Scorpius starts asking questions about the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco says, “I did not bring you up to be sloppy, Scorpius. I did not bring you up to humiliate me at Hogwarts.” Even though this is in an alternate, darker timeline, it reveals some of the underlying conflict in their relationship. Scorpius doesn’t feel that he is what his father wants him to be, and as a result, their relationship is strained. Later, Harry ties his and Draco’s situations together, explaining, “We have both tried to give our sons not what they needed, but what we needed.” In this way, Harry acknowledges that both he and Draco are parenting based on themselves, not actually listening to or prioritizing their sons, and that has damaged both of their relationships. But like Harry, Draco starts to recognize Scorpius for who he is rather than who Draco wants him to be—particularly when he realizes how much of his wife Astoria’s kindness and courage he sees in Scorpius. As a result, they, too, are able to reconcile and appreciate each other anew by the end of the play.

Harry and Draco’s struggle to connect with their sons is rooted in the lack of openness and understanding that they had with their own father figures. Like Scorpius, Draco felt misunderstood by his own father. He reveals that he “never really fancied being a Ministry man,” but it was his father’s dream for him. Draco’s father also opposed his marriage to Astoria, which created a deep rift between them. Harry, meanwhile, has a reckoning with Dumbledore’s portrait at Hogwarts, acknowledging that Dumbledore was like a father figure to him. He critiques Dumbledore for abandoning him when it mattered most and leaving him in “places he felt unloved.” When Dumbledore admits that he loved and was trying to protect Harry, Harry replies that it would have been nice to know this when he was growing up. Weeping, Dumbledore acknowledges, “I couldn’t see that you needed to hear that this closed-up, tricky, dangerous old man… loved you.” In this way, the play again affirms that not feeling fully accepted or understood by one’s parents hampers a strong parent-child relationship, while being open and honest and trying to fulfill a child’s needs fosters better relationships.

Parenthood ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Parenthood appears in each scene of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.

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