It should come as absolutely no surprise that I read Cracked, which is why I’m going to link a fairly good summary to what I was referring to in class the other day regarding the fate of Dolores Umbridge. The article is, by and large, Not Suitable For Work. The title “The Five Most Depraved Sex Scenes Implied by ‘Harry Potter’,” should be enough of a hint about that, but in case it isn’t, you’ve now been doubly-warned. It’s worth reading, honestly, but I’ll summarize the points made regarding Umbridge.
The woods to which Umbridge is dragged off to in the fifth book are populated by a number of magical creatures, and though Centaurs are indeed an established inhabitant of the area, so too are things like giant spiders, so it’s safe to say that the choice of a roaming gang of Centaurs is an intentional one on Rowling’s part.
The mythology of Centaurs is fairly clear on their generalized goals and actions, and at least one person present for Umbridge’s abduction knows this. To quote Cracked author Jacopo della Quercia, “Hint: It’s Hermione, the character whose main purpose in the plot is to know absolutely everything.” Neither she nor Harry make any effort to save Umbridge from multiple horse-men.
Umbridge is clearly written to be a character that is hated, but teenagers and teenage girls in the story seem to take no small amount of glee in the fact that Umbridge, upon being found and brought back to Hogwarts, is suffering from a nonspecified trauma and reacts to the sound of mock-hooves clip-clopping with symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
By all accounts, Umbridge needed to be punished for the things that she’s done and the way that she treated people, but at some point in considering how to go about doing this, Rowling sat down and said to herself, “What about gang rape?” That’s not a punishment. It’s a crime. Having established that there is a wizard prison, that admittedly was not really useful at the time of the fifth book, I think that, maybe, I don’t know, Umbridge should have had to go before that Wizard court they dragged Harry to and then gone to Wizard-Jail. But now, you’d basically have to be Dolores Umbridge to think that Dolores Umbridge still deserved some kind of formal punishment. Hasn't she suffered enough?
In a single implied scene, Umbridge goes from monster, to victim. But it was just implied, so we still react to Umbridge with hate.
While this may be true to a point, Centaurs have been portrayed in mythology as wild, animalistic, lustful, and drunkards who love wine. But this is not how Rowling portrays her version of the Centaurs…at least in my opinion. Instead she describes them more in line with Chiron, a wise teacher and star gazer. Her Centaurs frequently make comments about the stars and the future in obscure ways. The only violence they show is intolerance to humans who refuse to let them be free. If Rowling wanted to inspire rape I feel she would have used the mythological satyrs who were successful rapists.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jennifer. I feel that the gang rape theory, though plausible, isn't what Rowling intended. The Centaurs in the books are described as being peaceful creatures with seemingly no interest in raping evil humans whatsoever. Though we really don't know what happened to Umbridge in the forest, speculation is certainly going to snowball into crazy theories. I think the gang rape theory was just concocted by fans who desperately wanted to find some sort of hidden reference to sex/sex crimes in the books.
ReplyDeleteI know nothing of what Rowling may or may not have been intending as I have only read one book. I do think that it is an interesting theory that fans came up with. It feel like it is much like sitting in a highschool english class where you are told that the mosquito sucking blood is the woman loosing her virginity. Initially, you think your teacher decided to come to work drunk. As you go through schooling you learn that not only could it mean a loss of virginity but it's also the start of World War 2.
ReplyDeletePeople will always plug in the gaps and I think that this particular theory is awesome (in the 'inspiring awe' way, not in the 'good' way). People, especially fans, are some smart cookies and my dumbass would never have looked into the history of Centaur behavior to see what they would do to a woman like Umbridge.
The theory you brought up in class about Umbridge is definitely an interesting one. I have to say that I did not explicitly think rape when they went over this part but it's as good as anything else that might have happened. Now obviously, the gang rape of a woman by centaurs is an awful event and we should save her should it occur, there is one thing we have to keep in mind,
ReplyDeleteUmbridge is not a real person,
Her assault by the centaurs, whatever her symptoms may suggest, took place in a fictional world in a fictional forest. I do not condone the act itself but if it's true it does say a lot about centaurs and their views.
They attacked Grawp because he was a giant, scorned Harry for being a human and almost bit Hermione's head off because she needed their help. Their disdain for human life in the series could be indicative of an ability to take over and rape a speciest old bitch life Umbridge. Dumbledore asked who her.