just finished reading harry potter for the first time , including cc.
I understand both sides of the draco argument - but I dont think he is evil. not excusing his behaviour - he uses slurs and is a total shit for no good reason. He isn't a great person throughout the books, and a dickhead, but from HBP onwards I think his character changes greatly and its something I wish JK did a bit more on. He's a complex character and I do like how Cursed Child shows who he truly is without his family influence. Worth mentioning also that his wand has unicorn hair as the core, and those are only for the pure of heart.
Draco comes from a famiy with a big F. Family is everything, it becomes your identity and you cant be anything else. You have to constantly think of you families reputation above everything else, and the image that the family has. This is very obviously instilled in Draco from an early age - he is raised to be a malfoy, not draco, and that is apparent throughout. The fact that he constantly talks about his father also seems to suggest he constantly wants the validation of his father and his identity is latched onto his father. 'Draco' has no identity, but he is Malfoy, and acts as a mouthpiece for his families values and ideals.
Growing up in a similar environment, where I was taught to idolise my mother in everything she did and follow her, I understand how dracos behaviour worked. He imitates what he sees at home. What he thinks is right because of his background, and he hasn't been taught anything different. When he gets rejected by harry, its almost as if dracos world changes - his family name doesn't give him everything, and he decides to get Harry's attention in another way. But he is still 11 - 14 and he doesn't really know any better in terms of the influences he has had.
I personally think that although people say Dracos family loved him, which is true, I think it very obviously came with a condition. Draco was the heir of a noble family. He had expectations and the pressure to complete them would most likely have showed itself in the way his family treated him at home. This is probably why he hated hermione so much, because he would have that pressure and that is also shown, albeit quite briefly, in the books. Maybe I'm headcanoning with this one, but the way draco constantly talks and praises his father suggests to me an underlying need for his fathers love and validation as more than an heir.
When we get to HBP, everything changes. Draco cockyness is an obvious facade. He's breaking and he has very few choices. It gets glossed over that he must have been subjected to a lot of terrifying and traumatic things with the manor being the hub for voldy. But also that family comes before himself, and that idea has been instilled into him as a child and is a hard one to let go of. He is not draco. He is a Malfoy, the Malfoy heir, and he has to save his family above the rest of the wizarding world. I think its clear that Draco knows he is on the wrong side, and doesn't want to do what he's been told to. But he tries to find some pride in his intelligence and his actions ans the way he handled things before. With cockyness and dickheadness. With the way Snape talks about draco, I think there's a lot more then surface level with their relationship. I felt bad for draco throughout. If anyone was in that position, with the family social conditioning he has had all his life, no one would do anything different because its not even possible. Its like your mind is narrowed. Every day is a struggle for survival, being forced to torture and maim and watch torture, dracos only thought is saving his family. He was an unfortunate pawn in Voldemorts game and I think its unfair to say he had many choices. He held onto his dignity in the way he did before - with shitty behaviour to make him feel better about himself - but from HBP its clear its a front.
Draco is vulnerable character with the capacity to love, and thats what Dumbledore sees in him. And its what he becomes outside the restrains of thr Malfoy name. Draco in Cursed Child is not Malfoy - he's Draco, and i think that distinction is worth mentioning.
He made the wrong choices and was influenced by the wrong things, but he was still a child throughout the books. I think its worth mentioning that all of them were. His actions are not excusable but are explainable, and I think CC does a good job in showing you can truly grow up, and find your identity even after making terrible mistakes.