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

[jsmgleaner]

No: HPFGUIDX 78186


> Laura:
> First, in my original post asking for ideas on punishments for 
> Umbridge, I did make it clear that any punishment imposed should be 
> *after* a public trial.  If the WW didn't learn anything else last 
> time around, I hope that they learned that in the realm of law, the 
> ends do NOT justify the means.  Corrupt procedure leads to corrupt 
> results-just ask Sirius (if you can find him...sigh). 

Me:
That was part of my main point in the post, but I think I was responding to a lot 
of one-liner threads about Umbridge, not your original (sorry for the 
confusion).   But I think, moreover, that what OOtP reminds us is that unjust 
laws can be passed and that legal systems do not necessarily mean justice, 
even in the WW.  What if the trial just has to be a show trial?  What if they 
made torture legal (or maybe torture is legal?)?  I was trying to tease out the 
ethics involved in punishment, made very grey in the book by MoM's 
treatment of Harry and the weird centaur trauma and public humiliation of 
Umbridge. 

Laura again: [snip]
> Third, you won't find a more dedicated feminist than me out there, 
> but the reality is that some women are bad people.  If the entire 
> spectrum of human behavior doesn't apply to us, we aren't really 
> human, are we?  [snip]

Me again:
I actually thought the Umbridge character was terrific for the narrative, 
especially compared to other villains in the series (and I would never ask 
anyone to pull out their feminist credentials).  Stylistically, though, I thought it 
was a bit too much at the end with JKR practically saying "Look Umbridge is  *
really* evil" with Umbridge about to use the AK curse on Harry and having set 
the demnetors on him -- like the finale rack of a fireworks display. And I 
thought Umbridge appeared much sneakier and smarter than that; I would 
have preferred a more subtle approach.  And, at times, I did find it annoying 
that Umbridge is depicted as so ugly and so evil.  I'm in the middle of reading 
Dickens right now, and I have to say that it is too stock Victorian, but then 
again I have argued elsewhere that these novels are very Victorian in their 
plot structures and characterization.  Which leads back to the question of the 
centaurs' violence.  I was amazed by the suggestion of rape because once I 
thought about it, the language was very similar to how this would be obliquely 
hinted at in eighteenth and nineteenth century literature, particularly in 
captivity narratives.  

--jsmgleaner