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Dolores Umbridge (character)

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Template:HP character Dolores Jane Umbridge is a fictional character from the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling.

Description

Umbridge is a short, squat woman described as resembling a large pale toad. She has a broad, flabby face, little neck, and a wide, slack mouth. Her eyes are big, round and slightly bulging. In the fifth book she has "short, curly, mouse-brown hair" and often wears a black velvet bow (or pink Alice band) in her hair that reminds Harry of a fly about to be caught. In book six, she has "iron-coloured curls". Her voice is high, fluttery, and girlish and Harry describes it as sounding like poisoned honey. When she wants to get someone's attention she emits a small little "hem, hem" noise from her throat.

Behind the name

The name Dolores is derived from the Latin word dolor, or pain, and the name itself means "Lady of Sorrows", possibly reflecting her sadistic nature and the misery caused by her actions. Dolores is a widely used name in Spain, related to the Virgen de los Dolores or Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (a Catholic religious remembrance of the suffering of the Blessed Virgin Mary), as well as Spanish for "pain" or "sorrow". The pronunciation of the name Umbridge closely resembles that of umbrage, a word meaning "resentment" or pique at an often imagined insult. Her surname may also originate from umbra, the darkest part of a shadow, denoting Umbridge's shady nature. "Umbra" is also the etymological root for "umbrage" meaning annoyance.

Background and role in the series

Umbridge first appears in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as Senior Undersecretary to Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. She is one of Harry Potter's interrogators in Courtroom Ten as part of the Wizengamot, a wizard's judicial committee, when he is tried on charges of breaking the ban on underage sorcery. It is later revealed that Umbridge herself had ordered Dementors to attack Harry in an attempt to silence him after several Ministry employees had mentioned but never done so. His using a Patronus Charm in order to protect himself and his cousin Dudley Dursley would have worked to her advantage in the trial had it not been for Arabella Figg's testimony, Albus Dumbledore's defence, and Amelia Bones's fairness.

Umbridge is subsequently installed at Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor by order of the Ministry of Magic. Her class consists only of defensive magical theory, due to Fudge's paranoid fear that Dumbledore intends to use his students as an army to bring down the Ministry. She is soon appointed the first ever (and to date only) "Hogwarts High Inquisitor", which gives her extraordinary powers over the students, teachers and curriculum.

Umbridge's time in Hogwarts is characterised by cruelty and abusive punishments against students; she stands out especially for forcing Harry and Lee Jordan to write lines using a quill that magically causes the words to be cut into the skin on the back of the writer's hand and uses his blood as ink. She also grants Argus Filch his wish for the permission to use corporal punishment on students, ordering him (though it never has the chance to occur) to whip Fred and George Weasley. Eventually, Umbridge even plans and attempts to use the Unforgivable Cruciatus Curse in order to extract information from Harry.

She shows marked favour toward the Slytherin house — she wears green (the Slytherin house colour) at the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor Quidditch match, shows favouritism towards them by allowing their Quidditch team to reform immediately (she did so only reluctantly for Gryffindor) and filling her "Inquisitorial Squad" principally with Slytherins. Many fans believe that she could have been a member of Slytherin house during her own childhood. Umbridge creates the Inquisitorial Squad and rewards students for reporting on others and sanctions them to act as enforcers of Umbridge's rules. By attempting to defame Harry Potter and censor the truth of Lord Voldemort's return, Umbridge and Fudge appear to offer aid and comfort to the enemy. After Dumbledore leaves Hogwarts, Umbridge is installed as the new Headmistress. However, the Head's office seals itself against her and refuses to open, and her tenure as Headmistress is marked by rebellion on the part of most of the student body and faculty.

Umbridge shows speciesism against non-humans and part-humans ("half-breeds") and has drafted anti-werewolf legislation making it very difficult for individuals such as Remus Lupin to hold jobs in the wizarding world. Her prejudice proves to be her undoing when Hermione Granger tricks her into entering the Forbidden Forest and crossing paths with the herd of centaurs who live there. When Umbridge insults their race, the centaurs react violently and overcome her. Exactly what the centaurs do to Umbridge is unknown, but the following morning she is rescued, apparently uninjured but severely traumatised, thanks to the goodwill of Professor Dumbledore (it is revealed by Ron Weasley that making clopping noises with the tongue will remind her of this event). Umbridge is shown to have a high preference for kitsch items, mainly lacy covers and doilies, vases full of dried flowers (each one residing on its own doily), and a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a technicolour kitten.

Ultimately, Dumbledore is reinstated as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and Umbridge is removed. After her recovery in the hospital wing, she attempts to sneak out of Hogwarts but is met by Peeves, who chases her away from the castle grounds with Professor McGonagall's walking stick and a sock full of chalk, while the staff and students look on happily.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Umbridge returns to work in the Ministry under new Minister Rufus Scrimgeour, but the nature of her position is not revealed. She is present at Dumbledore's funeral with "an unconvincing expression of grief on her face". Due to her ordeal in the forest, Umbridge has developed a phobia of centaurs and upon seeing Firenze at the funeral she is frightened and quickly distances herself from him. According to J. K. Rowling, Umbridge will return in the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, because "It's too much fun to torture her not to have another little bit more before I finish."[1]

Film portrayal

In the upcoming July 2007 film adaptation, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Umbridge is portrayed by noted English actress Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake).

Critical response

Although Umbridge acts in loyalty to Cornelius Fudge and the Ministry of Magic in carrying out her actions, she is nevertheless one of the most hated Harry Potter characters; J. K. Rowling herself has noted many times that Umbridge is "horrible".

Novelist Stephen King, writing as a book reviewer for the July 11, 2003 Entertainment Weekly, noted the success of any novel is due to a great villain, with Umbridge as the "greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter...".[2]


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