[HPforGrownups] Re: Beauty in HP (only evil needs advertising)

[feklar]

No: HPFGUIDX 114913

> feklar replied:
> > Ironically, I've always thought the opposite -- any
> > character that is fat or ugly is also evil, stupid or
> > both.  Vernon, his sister and Dudley are all of the
> > above, Petunia is "horse-faced" and abusive.  Pettigrew
> > is fat and probably ugly.  Fudge is fat.  LV is ugly
> > (tho' 16 yo TR was not).  Most Slytherins are described
> > as ugly in some way (Crabbe and Goyle, Flint,
> > Bulstrode).  Hagrid and Neville aren't evil, but they
> > are generally portrayed as having unflattering looks and
> > being somewhat stupid.
> >
> > About the only exceptions are the Malfoys, they get away
> > with being beautiful and evil.


Matt--
> While I won't dispute the correlation (btw, you missed the best
> example, Ms. Umbridge!), it certainly is not universal.  Dumbledore
> has his somewhat odd looks, and Tonks is decidedly odd.  Snape is
> certainly not handsome (although his allegiance has some ambiguity to
> it).  McGonagall is severe at best, and Mad-Eye is no eye candy.
> Bellatrix was once a beauty, and Narcissa apparently still is.
> Perhaps there's a bit of a motif of people's looks being twisted by
> their descent into evil (Bellatrix; Riddle).  Perhaps some of what we
> see of peoples' looks is colored by Harry's positive or negative
> perceptions -- is Dudley really wider than he is tall?
>
> -- Matt

True, though neither DD nor Tonks are unattractive...I always picture Tonks
as a cute little neo-Punk.  Even MM isn't unattractive (though I suspect
Hagrid is, his beastial eyes are mitigated by his warm eyes though).  most
characters, like HG and Ron, seem to have very general, average looks, but
the descriptions of the ugliness of bad characters go into such glorious
detail--the Dursleys and Umbridge especially--that the link just really
stands out in my mind.

Feklar