Is Dobby's reasoning for his early actions against Harry ever explained?

Question

I'm finding it very hard to read Chamber of Secrets. Every time that I open chapter 2, I find a new apparently senseless character decision that makes me put the book down (e.g. Harry's ineffective methods of controlling Dobby's volume and the ministry's apparent ability to detect only one of the spells that Dobby has cast). However, what I want to focus on here are Dobby's actions specifically. Have we ever been given any justification for them? For example, the following stand out to me as sheer stupidity on Dobby's part:

• He has the power to teleport in and out of places, but only uses this power to watch Harry and steal his letters. He doesn't consider several other seemingly viable options for achieving his goal, such as contacting someone else with the power to intervene, stealing/destroying Harry's school stuff (his wand!), making Harry too sick to attend, or getting Harry in serious trouble with the ministry/school (e.g. put magical contraband in his house, then contact the authorities).
• Despite having observed Harry, he thinks that making him think that he doesn't have friends will make him not go to school, something that he's presumably got no choice in and is unlikely to pick over staying with people that he obviously hates.
• He thinks that Harry will believe that his friends are capable of forgetting one of the most famous characters in the setting, Harry Potter.
• He somehow thinks that getting Harry in trouble with muggles will make him not want to attend a magic school that's far away from them.
• Judging by how long he has been stealing the letters for, he has been preparing to talk to Harry for weeks, but somehow didn't even know where to start when they began talking.

For me, this goes above and beyond simple explanations like authorial incompetence or pointing out that Dobby may not be the sharpest tool in the Malfoy shed. Assuming that some of my points are accurate, Dobby is too stupid to be believed. This forces me to ask, is any of this ever explained either in the series or by the author? For example is Dobby bound by some rules that forced him to act this way? Was this some sort of foreshadowing?

Answer 1

Dobby is very different from all the other house-elves.

From what we know about house-elves and is considerable here, they're bound to the masters, they must obey at any cost, and mostly they like it. They don't even consider going against their masters in any way. It is not in their nature.

Dobby, on the other hand,, hates his master and does go directly against his wishes. Lucius Malfoy needs Harry at school for the plan to work.

We see from that that Dobby is not behaving naturally. If his master found out, Dobby would be severely punished. It is a new situation for Dobby, and he is scared, confused, and not feeling well in his skin.

He doesn't know a significant number of wizards. Only wizards Dobby meets frequently are very different from Harry. They have dark intentions and very few (if some) real friends.

Dobby doesn't know trust or friendship (he understands the concept, but didn't feel it in his life), and therefore he doesn't even think about contacting authorities. After all, authorities did act badly in most of the cases we know. Lucius Malfoy works for ministry – he is the authority here. Cornelius Fudge isn't precisely a prototype of an aware politician. And Dobby may know more than us since he is Malfoys servant.

All this considered, Dobby is not in a good position to think rationally without emotions. He can't understand good young wizard. He is (and feels) alone. He is very confused.

Answer 2

He doesn't consider several other seemingly viable options for achieving his goal, such as contacting someone else with the power to intervene, stealing/destroying Harry's school stuff (his wand!), making Harry too sick to attend, or getting Harry in serious trouble with the ministry/school (e.g. put magical contraband in his house, then contact the authorities).

I'm not sure stealing Harry's school things would have been any more effective than stealing the letters - Harry could buy them again with little hassle, and it would be a lot more obvious that something was up, rather than Ron and Hermione forgetting about him.

As for stealing his wand, I think this would have extremely serious consequences for an elf, and is not something that would be taken lightly. When Winky apparently steals Harry's wand, there is outrage from the ministry, and she is dismissed. Dobby was still employed/enslaved at this stage, and had much more to lose.

Despite having observed Harry, he thinks that making him think that he doesn't have friends will make him not go to school, something that he's presumably got no choice in and is unlikely to pick over staying with people that he obviously hates.

Dobby's premise is that Harry goes to school for his friends, when he really goes for a surrogate home. Dobby is from a Slytherin household, where maybe having support from cronies is a lot more significant. It's not necessarily apparent that Harry hates the Dursley's - in fact Dobby as a house elf may consider his treatment quite civil compared to his own! Muggles are strange creatures, and both Harry and Dobby are victims of abuse which may alter their perspectives.

He thinks that Harry will believe that his friends are capable of forgetting one of the most famous characters in the setting, Harry Potter.

Harry still doesn't have a full impression of how much he is idolised among the wizards, and indeed Harry did consider that Ron and Hermione had forgotten him. So this part of the plan actually worked:

"But the long silence from Ron and Hermione had made Harry feel so cut off from the magical world, that even taunting Dudley had lost its appeal. And now Ron and Hermione had forgotten his birthday. What wouldn't he give now for a message from Hogwarts."

– Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 1 (The Worst Birthday)

"See what it's like here?" he said. "See why I've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place I've got – well, I think I've got friends."

– Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 2 (Dobby's Warning)

What didn't work was that Harry would refuse to go to Hogwarts as a result.

He somehow thinks that getting Harry in trouble with muggles will make him not want to attend a magic school that's far away from them.

Dobby's original plan was to dissuade Harry - when this didn't work, he tried to get the muggles to ground him and therefore prevent Harry from getting on the Hogwarts train. By causing magical trouble, he hoped the muggles would stop Harry going back to Hogwarts - this also worked:

"You didn't tell us you weren’t allowed to use magic outside school" said Uncle Vernon, a mad gleam dancing in his eyes. "Forgot to mention it... slipped your mind, I daresay."

He was bearing down on Harry like a great bulldog, all his teeth bared.

"Well, I've got news for you boy. I'm locking you up. You're never going back to that school, never. And if you try and magic yourself out, they'll expell you!"

– Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 2 (Dobby's Warning)

Judging by how long he has been stealing the letters for, he has been preparing to talk to Harry for weeks, but somehow didn't even know where to start when they began talking.

Dobby hero-worships Harry, and so it is perfectly reasonable for him to be speechless! If you meet your favourite celebrity even after longing for such a chance, you would probably be a bit lost.

You have to remember also that he is bound not to disobey his master's wishes, and he's already flexing the rules considerably in turning up at his house. Some things he couldn't say outright, so he reverted to cryptic clues instead:

"Not — not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir —"

But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry a hint.

Harry, however, was completely at sea.

– Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 2 (Dobby's Warning)

Answer 3

Considering the fact that house elves demonstrate sufficient power to push wizards aside and seize the world for themselves, but choose instead to voluntarily be servants and slaves, it seems clear that elf logic does not run in the same channels as our own.

Dobby doesn't strike me as stupid as much as he seems unable to imagine what might motivate a 12 year old human wizard to act or not act, as well as an imperfect understanding of wizard law, and a complete unfamiliarity with muggles. Each of which seems pretty understandable.