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Popular Culture Review
serves as demonstrative of the way Gothic secrets work. In fact, the
Chamber of Secrets proves essential to an understanding of both the
Potter series and the secret(s) of the Gothic castle because, regardless of
whether or not the castle is Walpolian or Radcliffean, the secret is a kind
of code and the proper individual(s) must be there to interpret it.
The obvious item hidden in the Chamber of Secrets is the
basilisk, but another important factor is that the chamber can,
theoretically, only be opened by the heir of Slytherin. The fact that Harry
is able to spe