Delores Umbridge

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 76999

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "S Handel" <fc26det at a...> wrote:
> I think that Delores Umbridge is a Death Eater.  She sent dementors 
> after Harry.  She is trying harder than anyone else to keep Harry 
> quiet.  She goes after Trelawney.  <snip>If Umbridge is simply 
trying to defend the 
> ministry wouldn't it be more prudent to go after McGonnagal or 
> Dumbledore?  But she goes after Trelawney.  <snip>  It  
> makes no sense unless she is working for Voldemort and knows (as I 
am 
> sure Voldemort knows) that Trelawney is the one who spoke the 
> prophecey.  She goes after Trelawney to get her out of the castle 
and 
> out from under its protection so that Voldemort can access her.  
> Voldemort would them be able to get into Trelawney's mind and see 
the 
> prophecy for himself without having to get into the Department of 
> Mysteries.  She also is very close to Malfoy and the Slytherins.  
> However, she basically attacks Snape during her evaluation of him.  
> She also is out of control when she contemplates using the 
> unforgivable curse on Harry.  How does she know it will work on him 
> unless she has used it before.  She has no problem doing things 
> behind the Ministers back (what he doesn't know won't hurt him).  
She 
> is so evil, evil, evil.  I also wonder if she was not controlling 
> Fudge to a point especially where it concerned the educational 
> decrees that she never had a problem getting.  Just my thoughts.  
> Susan

Laura:

To say that Umbridge is a DE is giving her too much credit, imo.  You 
may be familiar with the "banality of evil" theory that was developed 
by political philosopher Hannah Arendt after WWII to explain why 
ordinary people cooperated so readily with the Nazis. (I know I'm 
treading on dangerous territory here, but bear with me.)  Umbridge is 
a classic example of this process.  She is a nasty piece of work but 
would be relatively harmless in a MoM that was behaving morally.  In 
the absence of moral guidance, her instincts for self-protection (and 
by extension, the protection of the structure in which she exercises 
power) and her love of petty rules leads to evil consequences.  What 
she does to Trelawney is power for power's sake.  I didn't get the 
sense that she arrived at Hogwarts with the intent to get rid of DD 
but rather to keep an eye on him.  Once she has her backside covered, 
though, she can then imagine eliminating anyone powerful who would 
impede  Hogwarts itself becoming a branch of the MoM.  That, I think, 
is what she really wants-control.  She could no more control the DEs 
than she could control DD and friends.

The result of someone behaving like Umbridge, however, is that she 
ends up playing into the hands of the bad guys.  They see that they 
can use her.  Her pettiness and her utter lack of imagination work 
perfectly for them.  They need people like her to keep things 
destabilized and people frightened while they prepare to put their 
ultimate takeover plans into action.  While her victims become 
sidetracked worrying about what new rules they have to be aware of 
and making sure their papers are in order (so to speak), the baddies 
move into positions of power.  It's a very clever and subtle plan, 
and it takes people like Hermione, George and Fred and the DA group 
to call the bluff of the people trying to work it.  They can see the 
whole situation rather than just its components-and they aren't 
afraid to point out the emperor's lack of clothing in public.

Anyhow, that's my take.  Too bad the centaurs didn't chop her up into 
tiny pieces.