Long post - Hermione: '79 or '80? (Was Re: School cut-off date)

[allison_m_otto]

No: HPFGUIDX 109701

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Bex" <hubbarrk at r...> wrote:
> Yb:
> This was a blip in a much earlier post. September 19, 1979 was a 
> Wednesday, the day of Mercury. Hermione's initials are HG (Hg), the 
> Periodic Table symbol for Mercury. I don't know where the "25% as 
> clever" thing keeps coming from, though.
> 
> ~Yb


This is an interesting theory (of RMM's, right?), but it seems 
extremely complex.  Hermione's parents *are* dentists, but I wonder 
if they find chemical symbols inspiring enough to decide to name 
their child after Mercury (which, by the way, is increasingly 
controversial as a dental substance because some dentists believe it 
leads to poisoning).  

Also, unless they knew for sure that Hermione would be born on a 
Wednesday - and 1980 was slightly before the days of scheduled-for-
convenience Caesareans - Hermione would have to have been nameless 
after her birth for quite some time while her parents consulted the 
periodic table, Greek mythology, and the Roman calendar.  Seems to me 
if they wanted to be clever with her name, they might have started 
coming up with it sometime before she was actually born.

And I do think that getting her name from "The Winter's Tale" is 
clever enough for the Grangers, and for what JKR was talking 
about.  "The Winter's Tale" is not as often performed or read in 
schools (despite JKR's experience, apparently) as "Hamlet," "The 
Merchant of Venice," etc.  

'Ophelia' is instantly recognizable as a Shakespearian 
name; 'Hermione' is not, unless you really know Shakespeare (how many 
kids or parents seeing "101 Dalmatians" knew that the name of the 
mother dog, Perdita, is also from "The Winter's Tale"?).  Hermione's 
parents, being in the dentistry/medical community rather than a 
community of English scholars, are around other professionals who 
focused on science, not Shakespeare.  For them to be familiar 
with "The Winter's Tale" does make them cultured and well-rounded, 
and a little bit clever.

It also turned out to be very clever of JKR to call her character 
Hermione, since the Hermione in "The Winter's Tale":
 
-'dies' early on (it's unclear whether she's really dead) and
 
-spends the whole play out of commission despite the fact that 

-she knows the truth about the problem that sparks the play's plot.

Then in the end, when all has been revealed, she "comes back to life" 
by changing from a *statue* of Hermione to the real, live Hermione. 
(this has definitely been mentioned on MuggleNet at least).

If you want to get really pedantic about it, you could also say that 
the problem in "The Winter's Tale" is all about blood - Hermione's 
husband, Leontes (by the way - Leo - roar!), thinks that Hermione has 
had an affair and that their daughter Perdita is not of his blood.  
So he has Perdita 'exposed' (the Greek mythology way of not killing a 
child directly, but leaving it out to be eaten by wild animals) 
because of her illegitimate, tainted blood.  Hermione 
supposedly 'dies' of grief, and can't 'come back to life' until 
Perdita is found and everything is set right.  Hence the Hermione-
statue.  Yeah, it's a weird play.

-Allison, who has a job, and I swear is getting back to it now.