Cornelius Fudge - Character Study

[stevekimmel at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 3124

Cornelius Fudge – Minister of Magic

When you react to a revelation about a character with disbelief the 
author has failed in characterization. The proper response should be, 
"Oh course. Why didn't I see it all along?" With Mad Eye Moody, 
Rowling succeeds in this characterization task. 

At the end of Goblet of Fire, I didn't believe the actions of 
Cornelius Fudge. They were too out of character for what we had seen 
before. For me, Rowling's characterization of Fudge was a dismal 
failure. Because of the subtlety of the approach, Cornelius Fudge's 
transformation from vaguely amusing bungler to, perhaps, a running 
dog lackey of Voldemort is less convincing than any of the others. 
Fudge's performance at the end of Goblet of Fire is so reminiscent of 
Peter Pettigrew's and so irrational than I have concluded that he is 
really a follower of Voldemort if not a full blown deatheater.

Fudge is first mentioned in Philosopher's Stone although he does not 
actually put in an appearance until Chamber of Secrets. Hagrid 
mentions him while taking Harry shopping in Diagon Alley. They wanted 
Dumbledore to be Minister of Magic but he would never leave Hogwarts 
so Fudge got the job.

Question 1: Who are they? Is this some variation on a Voldemort plot 
to move Dumbledore away from Hogwarts?

Question 2: How does someone get to be the Minister of Magic? 
Apparently not because of your abilities.

Hagrid describes Fudge as being a bungler who sends owls everyday 
asking Dumbledore for advice. Although Fudge is not explicitly 
identified as the sender, there is an owl sent from the Ministry of 
Magic calling Dumbledore away at the critical moment when Quirrell is 
going to make his attempt on the stone. Had Fudge been identified as 
the sender, then perhaps I would be more willing to accept Fudge's 
"flip" to Voldemort's side.

Question 3: If it was Fudge who called Dumbledore away, how did he 
know Quirrell was going to make his attempt that night? Voldemort was 
so weak that it is doubtful he could have informed Fudge by magic.

We actually meet Fudge for the first time in Chamber of Secrets. The 
chamber has been reopened and students are being paralyzed and Fudge 
comes to Hogwarts to send Hagrid off to Azkaban. At the time, we 
entertained the notion that Hagrid might actually be the cause of the 
problem. In retrospect, if Fudge was a follower of Voldemort's, he 
would probably have known that it wasn't Hagrid at all.

Question 4: In retrospect, why did Fudge seek to send Hagrid away and 
the same time Voldemort's other follower, Lucious Malfoy, is trying 
to rid Hogwarts of Dumbledore?  Is Hagrid more important than we have 
previously thought?

Our most extensive contact with Fudge comes in Prisoner of Azkaban. 
It is Fudge who meets Harry when he steps off the knight bus and sets 
him up at the Inn. Presumably he knew the truth about Sirius Black 
and knew that Sirius was actually not a threat to Harry. Presumably 
his actions were consistent toward eliminating another foe of 
Voldemort's.

Question 5: Go back and reread that section. If Fudge is really a 
follower of Voldemort and Black, were his responses to Harry 
appropriate?

By the end of Prisoner of Azkaban, Fudge has grown from being a 
bungler to an officious twit.

At the beginning of Goblet of Fire he is still the friendly, fatherly 
type toward Harry though prone to officious prissiness. At the end 
though, we see him defending everyone Harry mentions as a Deatheater, 
casting aspersions on Harry's reliability and refusing to go along 
with Dumbledore's plans to thwart Voldemort.

Question 6: Is there an explanation of Fudge's actions other than his 
being a follower of Voldemort? 

Do you believe his actions? I don't.