Sadism or not ? McGonagall and her punishments

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186681

a_svirn:
> > And Gryffindor colours are red and gold.  I can totally see Parvati wearing an ornamental butterfly in her House colours, which would be considered too gaudy by St. Hilda's standards. Not that we have any reason to believe that Hogwats regulations are anywhere near as strict as St: Hilda's: otherwise Luna would have spent her entire time in Hogwarts in detention. McGonagall in this scene reprimands Parvati for her taste, which is a personal attack and therefore inappropriate. 
> 
> Pippin:
> Luna is a Ravenclaw and her appearance is therefore Flitwick's responsibility. If he chooses to be lax that does not mean that McGonagall has to be lax also. I agree that McGonagall's irritation shows she is tense about the situation, and she may normally be inclined to let minor lapses pass. But she is acting 'in loco parentis' and you'd better believe that parents have the right to educate  their childrens' taste and to demand a certain standard of appearance on formal occasions. 

Carol responds:

I don't understand all the fuss that's being made about McGonagall's behavior on this occasion. Sure, she's not concerned for Parvati's feelings and she's quite short with her, but how does that differ from her usual brusque sternness?

I agree with Pippin that McGonagall's concern for the Gryffindors' appearance occurs only on special occasions. She wants them to make a good impression. (She doesn't seem to care how the Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs or Slytherins look; that's not her concern as HoH of Gryffindor--though she *is* deputy headmistress and perhaps ought to care about the appearance Hogwarts students in general rather than just her own House.

In SS/PS, before the first-years are Sorted, she tells them all to "smarten [them]selves up" before they enter the Great Hall. Harry sees her glancing at Neville's crooked cloak and the infamous smudge on Ron's nose, and he obediently but futilely tries to flatten his own hair even though she didn't specifically stare at him. We don't know whether she scowled at anyone else because we're seeing from Harry's PoV, but even here, her attention seems to be focused on future Gryffindors, as if she knows based on their parentage that a Weasley and a Longbottom are likely to end up in her House.

In the case of Parvati's butterfly, McGonagall is specifically concerned with the impression that the Gryffindors will make on the students and headmasters/mistresses of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, so she's much more concerned than she would normally be with little matters that might draw their attention and cause them to snicker or raise an eyebrow. 

Personally, I'm much more disturbed by her words to Neville, which I quoted in another post, telling him in front of the other Gryffindors not to let anyone from Durmstrang know that he can't perform a simple switching spell. She has let her concern for appearances and for Gryffindor's reputation (maybe even her own reputation as Transfiguration teacher, though perhaps I'm being unfair) take precedence over Neville's feelings, embarrassing and humiliating him in front of the class because she doesn't want Gryffindors making fools of themselves in front of anyone from Durmstrang.

To return to the appearance of the students, I confess that I can't imagine either Flitwick or Sprout (whose own hat usually sprouts patches) making a fuss about their students' appearance, but I'll bet that Madame Maxime and Karkaroff do. (We later see him calling one student a "disgusting boy" for spilling food on his robes.) And I can imagine Snape criticizing, say, Pansy Parkinson for some infraction similar to Parvati's out of the hearing of the students from other Houses.

Carol, who would have considered point-docking or a detention for Parvati's butterfly unduly harsh but sees nothing out of the ordinary  or out of character for McGonagall in the less-than-tactful order to remove it