Umbridge's Rape (Was Umbridge a Half-Breed???)

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 78182

Matt wrote

> Centaurs are violent and unconstrained by the 
> conventions of humans, but not sexually rapacious 
> (assuming here, that, as appears to be the case 
> with other mythical creatures that JKR has adopted 
> into the Potterverse -- such as werewolves and 
> merpeople -- she intends the centaurs to correspond 
> to the common myths surrounding such creatures).  
> Even if they have little respect for the humans who 
> enter the forest -- perhaps *because* they have so 
> little respect for them -- the centaurs are *unlike*
> we the readers, in that they have no reason to wish
> to abuse or disempower Umbridge.  The factors that
> make this thread such an interesting psycho-moral 
> investigation from the reader's perspective are
> simply irrelevant to the centaurs.

>From what I remember of my mythology, weren't centaurs commonly seen
as strongly sexual creatures?  Just a quick google to check, came up
with this:  http://members.aol.com/JWFvase2/page/dionysian.html, and
this: http://www.classicsunveiled.com/mythnet/html/centaur.html ( I
knew I'd seen images of centaurs carting off screaming women
somewhere).  Whatever happened in the woods, I think JKR intended to
leave it VERY ambiguous.  

I'm not sure if functionally it's about justice or revenge though.  It
may be more generally ironic, that a character who is so obsessed with
control becomes swept away by an animal frenzy.  Like whats his face
who was torn to pieces by the Bacchae.  Uh.. Pentheus, that's the guy
(thank god for google, makes me sound so clever... synopsis of the
Bacchae here: http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/bacchaebg.html )

> Conversely, an assault would contradict much of what
> we have heard about the centaurs' moral principles.  
> It would be an act of abuse, inconsistent with the 
> Centaurs' rejection of evil (and good).  It would be 
> a supreme act of interference with the affairs of 
> humans.  It would treat Umbridge as a means rather
> than an end, just what the centaurs blamed Hermione
> for doing to them.  

I'm not so sure.  If they'd be okay with executing her, why not other
violations?  Umbridge, as they saw it, had left the circle of her
civilization and entered into their domain.  I think they would feel
(rather like the spiders) that anyone in the Forest is in a realm of
chaos, so to speak, where it is the law of nature, not humanity, that
applies.  

> 
> I can believe that the centaurs would imprison 
> Umbridge, and would use physical force if she tried 
> to escape; I can even believe that they might kill 
> her out of random violence; but rape strikes a
> chord that is out of tune with the rest of their
> behavior.

Possibly, I'd just like to know a bit more about their behaviour,
before I'd trust myself with them.

Sydney