[HPforGrownups] Umbridge: Sadist and Stereotype

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 127620


--- elfundeb <elfundeb at gmail.com> wrote:

> My instinctive reading of Umbridge, from the way she projects
> familiarity with her boss, was that she either imagined she was
> having an affair with Fudge or perhaps even a real affair.  Ok, I'm
> expecting at least an "ewwwww" and maybe a "tewww ewwww" reaction 
> to that, but it really is how I see her, though it takes some 
> reading between the
> lines to get there.  There's that faux pas in ch. 19, for example: 
> "'Now, where is it?  Cornelius just sent it . . . I mean,' she gave
> a false little laugh as she rummaged in her handbag, 'the 
> *Minister* just sent it . . .'" (emphasis in original).
>
> Debbie


Yes, I'd go along with that analysis, although I think her office
crush on Fudge is not reciprocated or even acknowledged by the
Minister himself.  Not after all his "m'dear"-ing of the attractive
Madam Rosemerta in POA.  Whatever else you can claim about Fudge,
there's nothing wrong with his eyesight.

I wonder if Umbridge coming to Hogwarts wasn't at least part of an
attempt to show off to Fudge how effective she can be, a kind of
showing off of her skills and display of overeager loyalty.  

With this in mind, it's interesting to read again the passage where
she loses it with McGonagall and accuses her of wanting Dumbledore to
be Minister and Minerva to be where Umbridge is, namely the
Minister's right hand person.  I think it's also possible that she's
jealous of McGonagall's closeness to Dumbledore, which she knows she
doesn't have with Fudge who probably isn't aware of her as a woman.

Of course, I've always thought McGonagall has more than a bit of a
crush on Dumbledore as well but that's another thread....

Magda 

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