The rape of Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter?

So after I post that in Harry Potter #5, female characters move closer to center, I get this comment from Emily:

One quick note that I didn’t realize when I read the 5th book, but was pointed out to me later. As for what the centaurs do to Dolores Umbridge–take a look at what centaurs were known for in Greek mythology and what Umbridge’s reaction is after her experience.

I know that this was J.K. Rowling’s very subtle wink to readers with a similar education/background in classics (which would be very very very very few, and would include NONE of the children reading her books, I am certain), but it is still a little off-putting to realize what exactly Hermione (because I suspect she would have known) and Rowling herself (who certainly did know) were willing to put even such an evil character through.

Not to ruin your enjoyment of the books! I love J.K. Rowling, and I am incredibly awed at her ability to include such subtle layers into her story. I love the stories and I love the realness of her world. I just wish Umbridge could have gotten her comeuppance in the (relatively gentle) way I’d originally read it, rather than in the brutal way it must have gone.

After reading Emily’s comment, I did a Google search and found several posts about the rape of Dolores Umbridge. Here’s one from Dollymix:

It is surprising that Rowling, known for the intense research of things she puts into her books, would use centaurs to “punish” Umbridge. Some evidence provided by Rowling helps to point us in the direction of discovering Umbridge’s true punishment. Umbridge’s usually neat appearance is changed in her hospital bed: her “mousy hair was very untidy and there were bits of twig and leaf in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed” (2, p849). Despite lack of physical evidence, the students know something terrible has happened to her because of her physical and apparent mental states. When Ron jokingly makes the sound of hoof beats, Umbridge frantically sits up in her bed and looks for the source of the noise. Her reaction to this sound and her shock like state are symptoms commonly experienced by rape victims (RAINN). Why Rowling chose to punish Umbridge this way when she could have used many other means is unknown. The rape of Professor Umbridge is perhaps one of the most horrifying instances of violence against women in the entire series.

It is fascinating to me that the very illustration I picked for my post to show how strong the female characters are becoming in Harry Potter #5, could be a scene of Hermione leading Umbridge to her rape.

Harry

The fact that Harry is not in the lead, looking down while Hermione strides ahead, is surrounded by females, and has no idea where he is going– all of which I noted as unusual in this image and also the text– now seems to be constructed just in this way to absolve him. How disappointing that I noticed the narrative shifted here but could have missed the real significance as to why: one female goes against another in a vicious way, the other female is raped, and Harry is in the clear.

Imagine if Harry were the one to lead Umbridge into the forest to give her up to the sinister centaurs. Imagine if a male writer came up with rape as a punishment for an evil female character. I’m reeling from this analysis. What are your thoughts?

Update: On Reel Girl’s Facebook page, I’m getting lots of comments defending Hermione and J.K. Rowling, writing that this is not a rape scene. I want to believe that, but I cannot get over the fact that I picked this exact scene in my previous post because I noted something was different about it. That seems too strange to be a coincidence. If Rowling did not intend this scene to imply rape, I am feeling annoyed with her for sending an evil female off, at the hands of another female, to mythological creatures known for rape.

 

60 thoughts on “The rape of Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter?

  1. I’m amazed at the denial and immaturity I’m seeing here. Of course the centaurs raped Umbridge. If they just “wanted to scare her” then Dumbledore wouldn’t have needed to go into the forest to save her. They tried to scare her with a warning shot of an arrow, and it didn’t work.

    Naturally we don’t see a mangled, bruised, bleeding Umbridge; she’s already been treated by Dumbledore and Madam Pompfrey. We’ve seen potions that grow back bones and spells that heal curses like Sectum Sempra that slash through flesh and bone.
    The centaur-violation wouldn’t even be a magical attack. That just leaves the psychological trauma which we see. Just because some children mock Umbridge’s condition doesn’t mean Rowling condones or advocates rape or mocking rape victims; people behave that way, and Rowling is depicting such. If you aren’t mature enough to deal, there are other books to read.

    It’s not even like rape isn’t prevalent in the HP-verse. Merope Gaunt rapes Tom Riddle, muggle boys gang-rape a six year old Ariana Dumbledore, and the centaur boastfully threaten to abduct and rape Hermoine after she tried to help them.

    “We are not all like the traitor Firenze, human girl!” shouted the gray centaur, “Perhaps you thought us pretty talking horses?”
    “They can join the woman!” shouted another.

    Several girls try and slip Harry love potion, and end up turning Ron into a babbling slave.

  2. Also to add to the stupidity of this question, just a year later first half of book 7 Umbridege is back to her usual evil, using dementors to suck souls of muggle borns (including women like Mrs Cattermole), as though any traumatized rape victim would do that. But as Taylor Swift says, haters gonna hate, so keep your perverted thought to yourself, the millions of HP fans don’t care!!!

  3. Also to add to the stupidity of this question, just a year later first half of book 7 Umbridege is back to her usual evil, using dementors to suck souls of muggle borns (including women like Mrs Cattermole), as though any traumatized rape victim would do that. But as Taylor Swift says, haters gonna hate, so keep your perverted thought to yourself, the millions of HP fans don’t care!

    • Implying that the trauma of rape would make someone a better person? That is utterly insane. If anything it would make her more evil. The topic isn’t on the table for erotic reasons, the discussion relates to female representation in fiction. If you aren’t mature enough to see that, then you are on the wrong page. And, for your information “millions of HP” are also discussing this topic with great interest, if you check the web.
      Taylor Swift? Laughable.

    • Never heard of internalized mysoginy ? And not just a book since culture is shaped and further shape society views of topics. And oh yes Rowling’s books are full of sexism (among other things), one proof ? Dolores and her epitome of “feminine” traits to “subtly” convey that she is such evil of course ! (and lack of enought masculine traits in man/boys means despicable-evil btw in this book).

      About the topic, I found the OP point (a girl, a “proper girl” bringing the improper woman into the arms of centaurs, with the boy staying clear of it) interesting.
      As a child I was a lover of legends/myths from all over the world, especially greek-roman ones and yes the centaurs background didn’t escaped me and it was very disturbing as a victim of abuses (psychological, sexual, physical, from family essentially) to see how the author used such themes as plot devices or to create pathos. When I read this book I was 15 y o and clearly knew what “sexual assault by men to put you woman/girl at your proper place” means (especially at school, done by group of males on isolated girls, they (boys) encercle her, put her down and use the implied threat of rape to frightens her and get a laught) and so read the scene as one possibility because the author didn’t gave me enought contrary clues to dissmiss such possibility with certainty.

      People blaming reader’s mind perversion (really ?) instead of the author who choose to deliberately stay in the shadow about such an important scene are very strange and shocking to me, sorry.

      It’s the author’s choice to decide for the settings of the scene and the ideas that are conveyed, and when it is picked by enought people, maybe it’s because it can be read this way ? Reminder :

      -The centaurs when interacting with Dolores are described in wild animals terms (I quote : “An arrow flew so close to her head that it caught at her mousy hair in passing. She let out an earsplitting scream and threw her hands over her head while some of the centaurs bellowed their approval and others laughed raucously. The sound of their wild, neighing laughter echoing around the dimly lit clearing and the sight of their pawing hooves was extremely unnerving. “Whose forest is it now, human?” bellowed Bane. “Filthy half-breeds!” she screamed,”)

      -She write the centaurs as the one carrying away a disarmed alone woman in the forest, knowing what “abductions by [males]centaurs” means in popular culture.

      -Let the whole aftermath of the events in total shadows (when she didn’t have difficulty to describe the assault with arrow which already is a bit skeevy by itself), when she could have used one of the character in-story to offer a quick summary of what happened after her abduction (like I don’t know, something along “Umbrigde was still extremely shocked and Harry could hear her muttering time to time about how centaurs had no right to put her on trial for trespassing into a forest that wasn’t their to begins. “Like if their laws could apply to a Ministry’s representent ! How did they dare to jail her in this so-called wooden prison in the middle of nowhere ? Savages ! Unforgiveable !” she repeated under her breath, “Only Ministry’s law apply !”… etc)
      But no, instead we have this : “Nobody really knew what was wrong with her either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were bits of twig and leaf in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.” just a shocked mute woman in the infirmary, without signs of apparent physical assault outside of “untidy hair with bits of twig” and yet “traumatized enought to react to sound of fake hooves. Especially knowing the symbols these two characters convey (law, order, feminine traits, control, physical harm on child for Dolores VS wild, man-animal, sexual, masculine traits,…) it’s playing with the idea.

      For me the author wrote the scenes in order to bring the possible idea of some sexual assault (I don’t think I teach anything news to anyone about the fact that sexual assault cover more than “rape”…) in the reader mind, and stayed in the blur purposely to not kill the idea. We can believe that the only thing (which I want to believe) the centaurs did was to do the same things they did in front of Hermione&Harry (arrow stricking near her head and trampling hooves around her to scare her), but why didn’t they continue doing it where they were ? Why they talked about punishment (what is the punishment if it’s not that ?). why the narrative don’t bring it then and stay so unclear and describe the aftermath in such specific terms ?

      That was my opinion when I read the book, and that’s still my opinion now, also sorry for possible english mistakes, not my native tongue. And now I go vomit.

      • This is based on people’s personal assumption. There is no statement or proof at all that Umbridge was raped in the book, Centures are like mules, half breeds, which means they are sterile to begin with! The centure rape theory is a myth. But its normal for extremist haters to find flaw in everything. She was scared of half breeds, so it was nothing but a nervous shock. Had she actually been raped by the nearly 100 centaurs that took her, her body would not even be able to move and her physical state would have been far worse, if at all she survived. Also Centures are not humans, and you cannot judge them by your ethnocentric human views, and she badly insulted and even attacked and injured one of the Centures too (Magorian). Centures are not humans, they are a different specie with harsh punishment, look at what they did to Frienze, who was nearly killed (ooh may be that was gay sexual assult, but thats ok to people like you?). Its not JK who is the perv, but you are and also you are showing misandry. It was never mentioned all the centures were males (although only the males interracted), but there could have been females too and Umbridge’s insults weren’t directed at any sex. It was never mentioned that she was physically assaulted by any form, and the evidence you are giving from your personal judgement in the books, if these were the only symptoms a real rape victim showed, you have not the slightest idea of what painful symptoms physical and mental real rape victims show, and your posts and comments are insults to them! Any way to you is your opinion and let it be, nobody cares and don’t try to shove your own perverted view on others.

  4. Personally i believe that people thinking she had been sexually attacked just shows the depravity of the human mind. Centaurs were disgusted by humans and especially a human who had sneered at them and called them creatures.
    I believe that she was just dragged through the forest, hence the dishevelled look and twigs in her hair, as a person who has been raped it leaves marks, more than just mental. If it was by half horses, one the genitalia size is completely non-compatible, a man has had sex with a horse before and he died because it ruptured his internal organs because of the size, also the body shapes, it doesn’t make any sense. So she would be in a worse state then just being dishevelled and starting at the sound of hooves.
    People need to stop, J.K has never made the centaurs a sexual item, at least not at this point and even when Lavender does swoon over Firenze she is met with disgust. So i think J.K would not have written something so horrific, especially since later she writes that the idea is disgusting.
    Not everything is sexual, especially in books for the age range that book was for.

    • Being dragged through a forest would also leave a mark. Being dragged through the forest by something much stronger and faster than humans- with say the speed and strength of a horse- would leave a mark. Being dragged behind a horse kills people. Try walking barefoot in a forest some time.

      So simply dragging her off would of badly injured, if not killed, umbridge.

      Keep in mind that your talking a man having sex with a horse- anal sex. The human anus isn’t meant to take things being shoved up into it. A human woman’s vagina however is capable of doing so.

      Yes, it would of hurt her badly but she’s still alive at the end of the day.

      Wizards have potions to completely regrow bones. They can probably fix a womans lady parts.

      Also keep in mind that Lavender Brown was an underage child. If a human child propositioned me I would be equal parts concerned and disgusted.

      A centaur in a teaching position, with no particular interest in human women, would likely react the same way.

      Because, excuse me for being blunt, that’s how a teacher should react to being propositioned by a minor child. With disgust.

      Either way, rowling should of been a bit more explicit in what happened to umbridge. ” The muggle myths about centaur’s are surprisingly accurate” or ” The muggle myths about centaurs are terribly inaccurate” or something along those lines would of handled things nicely. One line and everything would of been fine.

      As it is she left a huge plot hole and people need to fill it in.

  5. Rowling introduces bestiality in one book, namely Aberforth Dumbledore and his illegal “goat charming” spells. Hagrid’s father gives us cross-species sex. Ariana Dumbledore was “assaulted” by three muggle boys, a deed which earned them a death penalty from Ariana’s father. But as for Dolores, maybe these magic centaurs aren’t quite so nasty. There’s no point in trying to second guess Rowling. She choose to leave people guessing and her publisher would have been “shocked! shocked!” print an explicit rape.

  6. In Greek myths Centaurs typically depict the duplicity of human nature. An animalistic, amoral side. An image common in myths are that of a wrestler grappling with a centaur which illustrates that concept. However, not all centaurs in myths are evil. Both in classic myths and in the Harry Potter world. The centaur that raised Hercules surely was not nor was the centaur that rescues Harry in the sorcerer’s stone while they were in the forest. I find Umbridge to be one of the most infuriating villains in the Potter-lore. Umbridge represents a sort of passive evil that creeps into the scenes. It’s why she is so easy to hate and why it’s so easy to project and pronounce judgements. I believe this mystery of her punishment is clearly deliberate and to our own frustration inconclusive.

  7. The thing is, out here in the real world, centaurs are just mythological creatures who were traditionally said to rape human women. But within the world inside the Potter books they are real, sentient persons, and to say that they must be rapists because the centaurs in Ancient Greece were rapists is like saying that the 20th C humans in the books must carry out human sacrifice and expose surplus infants on a mountain because the Ancient Greeks did it 2,500 years ago. Except it’s worse than that, because being part horse means the centaurs probably have a shorter generation time than humans, so their Greek ancestors who were drunken rapists are as far away, for them, as Ice Age mammoth hunters are for us.

  8. Put yourself in Hermoines shoes for a moment, risking the deaths of your friends, even worse risking the dark lord gaining an advantage in the battle against good. Especially considering he killed entire families the last time he came to power and with her parents been muggles I’d say the ends justify the means. Also remember Umbridge isn’t a saint all hermoine did was lead her into the forest when the centuars arrived she insulted them causing them to attack her, she tortures children and takes pleasure in it. There’s an old saying “Fight fire with fire” so it seems only fair that evil deserves no mercy.

    No don’t get me wrong I don’t advocate rape of anyone no matter the circustances but I can say in all honesty if I had to kill any one of you in order to save my family I wouldn’t even think about it before acting…Now before everyone starts attacking me about that statement look within your own hearts because each and everyone of you will do the same faced with the prospect of saving your family or me

    • What concerns me more is that JK Rowling based Umbridge off a teacher she didn’t like, the teacher and the teachers family likely knows this, and she left it opened ended to whether the teacher was raped.

      That’s like me saying ” I don’t like you. I based this character off you. I may have had this character based of you, a real person who I should respect as a human being, raped”.

  9. From my readings of the book, there is no mention of rape. In the movies, I do not remember seeing any scenes of rape. I do not think that anyone can definitively say what happened to Umbridge except for Rowling. One might suspect the truth or they might be completely wrong.
    Personally, I like to think that Centaurs have higher standards than an ‘Umbridge’, and that they simply scared her considerably. Hence her reaction to the sound of hooves…
    Considering a good book allows your imagination to fiill in the gaps, one might question how some people develop their opinions.

  10. Wow, this is what is wrong with our country, the rush to create a victim, regardless of the actual evidence. It is all conjecture by those who are creating their own conclusions of what the author meant to be conveyed. It was all to simply a evil woman being dragged off by centaurs in a child’s book. JK would be horrified by all this ridiculous deciphering of this scene. It was a convenient way to bring in Gwarp and have Umbridge be carried away, without having her be left at the hands of the giant. It was a clean exit from the situation. End of story!

      • Because it was already a premise in the Harry Potter universe that many wizards (i.e. magical humans) were racist and looked down on the Centaurs, saw them as nothing more than beasts. The one Centaur we get to know is nothing like the stereotypes, so, to assume that the Centaurs raped her is to be complicit in the racism against Centaurs.

  11. I don’t think unbridge was raped. If you read the passage in the hospital, it’s clearly played for comedy that she looks aroun at the sound of hooves.. Jk Rowling is an activist and a philanthropist, who has a daughter of her own. I don’t think she would have intentionally have Dolores raped. And if you read the later books, umbridge is once again in a position of power, torturing half bloods and reveling in her power. She displays none of the post traumatic stress symptoms of a rape victim. I don’t know what happened to her in the forest, but I think it’s slightly perverted to just assume she was a victim of sexual assault.

  12. I really can’t see Rowling intentionally implying that Umbridge was gang raped by a bunch of horses, especially since characters later in the book chuckle at how Umbridge is in shock. I just do not believe that Rowling would condone gang rape as punishment. She takes a lot of creative license with her interpretations of mythology, and the centaurs she writes are very different from their Greek counterparts. I have no reason to believe that she would throw in the rape as punishment when the characters are so different in other ways.

    For everyone saying that rape isn’t as bad as death, etc.–please stop. Unless you have been raped, you have no idea what it is like. Rape isn’t an unpleasant experience that is finished once someone stops raping you–it traumatizes you from the inside out. I have post traumatic stress disorder from being raped, and it still harms and affects me every single day. Being raped completely changed me. PTSD affects how I live, how I work, how I operate, everything. No one, no matter how evil, “deserves” to be raped, and rape is not “less awful” than other fates. So stop saying that.

    Again, I cannot imagine that JK Rowling doesn’t know all of this about rape and trauma. I don’t think she’d put a scene that condones rape as punishment in her books.

    • She once mocked a fan for asking when Draco Mafloys birthday was, calling his fangirls silly.

      So liking a man who willingly joined a murderous cult is fine in her book, but liking a boy who had to be forced into joining the cult despite years of indoctrination to follow said cults rules is not.

      Lets see, boy who despite being raised to be a racist bigot was not a racist biggot or man who, despite having evidence to the contrary and growing up in an environment to the contrary chose to join a cult of racist bigots?

      I’m sorry, I’d have to say I’d side with the boy before I’d go with a man who should have known better.

      Even as an adult severus snape was a bully. One of his students boggarts was him. Said students parents were tortured to insanity but the thing that scares him most in the world is his teacher. Not the people who stole his parents from him. Not the relatives who dropped him out a window and off a pier- endangering his life. His teacher. That right their says something.

      JK Rowling clearly doesn’t care how her words influence people. If she did she would not mock people for having a difference in opinion to her.

      JK Rowling doesn’t care about people as much as you think she does.

      I’ve had PTSD since I was four. Men who yell scare me. The smell of alcohol scares me. Loud noises scare me.

      JK Rowling reminds me of the aunt who stole from me- repeatedly- and then tried to poison me, got caught out and tried to make excuses for it and my mother. My mother is the woman who mocks my mental and physical health issues, tries to control what I tell the doctor, and after the incident that gave me PTSD, scolded me for getting the family friend in trouble.

      Because apparently its unacceptable to expect drunk grown men to control themselves around small children. Apparently it is also the children’s fault if the drunk grown men end up being investigated for being pedophiles.

      That Rowling reminds me of my mother is not a good thing.

      And you know what? Despite being terrified of being in public because people are loud and I’m constantly being triggered when in public no one knows it. None of my peers know that I keep myself out of arm’s reach out of fear and not politeness. They think I’m shy.

      None of them know that just being around them is triggering a panic attack.

      I am very very good at acting. I forgot who I was supposed to be a long time ago.

      Not that anyone knows.

      Because I’ve been acting for all but four years of my life. I’ve been acting for over a decade and a half.

      I know an actor when I see one.

  13. Let’s take a moment to highlight a few points being addressed here in the comments and help each other understand the conversation a little more deeply so we’re all on the same page. Agreed? Okay, here we go:

    Purgis, I don’t think we can safely assume that one’s physical injuries from being assaulted by one person would be any less significant than if he or she were assaulted by more than one person. One can be quite horrifically injured after being assaulted by a single person, and to suggest otherwise might – and I’m sure this isn’t what you meant to do at all – but it might be seen as de-legitimizing or downplaying a sexual assault survivor’s experience.

    KLPLS, I’m so sorry for your traumatic experience. I wish you nothing but continued strength and healing. But again, I think making assumptions about the kind of injuries a survivor might have leaves room for questioning/minimizing/de-legitimizing the experience of other assault survivors.

    Ed, there is nothing a person can do to “deserve” non-consensual sexual activity. It is a violation and a form of torture, period. If I walk around the city streets naked with a sign on my back that says, “Rape Me,” I still do not deserve to be sexually assaulted. The right of the body to be free from physical harm is the absolute most basic human right.

    Abnoba, let’s not further the myths that sexual assault is a crime caused by “lust” or excused by inebriation. Whether in the ancient world or the modern one, rape is a crime of violence perpetrated against a person assumed to be “weaker” than one’s self. As such, it is a crime that, even in the ancient myths, may have been used to “keep one in one’s place,” which could be construed as a form of punishment.

    Annie – see above, re: not making assumptions about physical injuries.

    All of the above having been said, I think we can all agree that while J.K. Rowling is not a perfect writer (a creature which does not, in fact, exist), she is still quite a good human being. Not only is she a top philanthropist, but she also went on to write ‘The Casual Vacancy,’ a novel in which the bravest and most sympathetic character is a teenage woman of color with a learning disability who is not “traditionally beautiful.” I think she’s grown as a writer and a person, becoming even more empathetic over the last 10 years or so. Even if she did write a scene that may seem to imply endorsement of a violent physical assault, we shouldn’t throw the whole baby out with the bathwater. There is still much good to be gained from reading Ms. Rowling’s work.

    Margot, I’m glad you addressed this topic. Although sexual abuse and assault are uncomfortable topics, these conversations need to be had again and again until we as a society reach the point that all sexual activity is by enthusiastic, freely given mutual consent.

    I apologize for hijacking your blog with my lengthy post.

    • Erin,

      Don’t apologize! I love this comment. Please proceed to other threads and respond just as succinctly. Thank you. Seriously.

      Margot

    • Of course I didn’t mean it like that. All I’m asking for is that people should get their facts straight when discussing this matter, because if she was only raped by one centaur it doesn’t suggest that it is a cultural thing.

  14. You’re thinking too much about the movie. In the book ONLY Bane drags her into the woods (check the passage in OotP) and he’s one of the more unpleasant centaurs. If he alone raped her, it would explain why she wasn’t as badly hurt physically as she would have been if the centaurs had gang raped her.
    Centaurs raping women is not necessarily common in Harry Potter. I can imagine that Bane just happened to be that sort of character and Rowling referenced Greek mythology only through him. If it’s not a pattern, it could explain Hermione’s reaction. For her to think a woman being raped was FUN, seems unnecessarily cruel on her part, but if she didn’t know what happened it’s slightly more justifiable. But it doesn’t mean it was right of Rowling to add this subtext. Umbridge is a very hated character and if Rowling can make people think ANYONE deserves rape, she’s done something very dangerous and wrong.

  15. this occurred to me too (and, no, nobody would be paranoid to think it – look at the world we live in!) but I’ve since changed my mind based on how JK portrays the centaurs. I think it’s significant that they are portrayed as a fierce and proud people while she simultaneously makes it very clear that they also abide by their own strict code of ethics (“we do not harm foals” – not even the children of an oppressor), and an ethical society has no place for rape. I mean, we only really meet three centaurs – Bane, Ronan, and Firenze. And despite being cautious, two out of three are actually pretty nice, while it’s clear that Bane is just sort of bitter.

    I think this ties in to her portrayal of all magical creatures that face oppression from wizarding society – IMO she tries to demonstrate that, while not completely harmless or perfect, non-wizarding magical communities are really made up of alright folks who are happy to live in peace if treated respectfully.

    I think they probably just taunted and scared her. She thought they were savages, so I’m sure the idea of rape/death/whatever crossed her mind, and she was so obsessed with being in a position of power that to be someone’s captive would have been shocking enough. that seems like it’d be plenty traumatizing to account for her reaction in the hospital, and also explains the rather disdainful treatment from M. Pomfrey and McGonagall.

  16. I have personally been sexually victimized & have read Greek myth. But never made the GIANT leap to her being raped. I think we really only know what the narrator tells us. Otherwise it’s just your opinion, & we all know how some people can be when they think their is a secret plot. However from the evidence given, I believe she was traumatized by being captured by half breeds. She lost her power & was made to stay in the forest, when she’s more of an indoor girl. Pomfrey who seems capable and straightforward states she is in shock. If it was worse, she would have been treated for it and would have had a curtain up. I also feel Annie’s right. Being brutally raped by multiple centaurs would cause visible bruising and she wouldn’t have been able to run away from Peeves. She would NOT be able to have RUN at all! And no matter what she had done McGonagall was extremely emphatic character who wouldn’t state she would be cheering her leaving, if she had been attacked in such a matter. To say that Umbridge was raped and that characters that are good intended it, supported it or enjoyed her misery, then you have completely missed the point of the book!

  17. Even though I’ve read the book 2 or 3 times and watched the movie god knows how many times, I didn’t think of rape until I read a Cracked article that talked about this. To be honest, I’m surprised I didn’t figure it out sooner. It does seem kinda obvious. But anyway, to the point of this comment : I think she deserved it. Don’t get me wrong. Rape is a pretty horrible thing. But If you want me to feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for Umbrige, i’m sorry, but you’re just wasting your time. I just wish she had also died somewhere in the series.

  18. I am really finding the comments here either naive or appalling.

    I can’t believe the amount of abuse people get for pointing out something that seemed more than obvious to me…
    It is not the people who see rape in this scene that are crazy feminists, it is those who don’t see it, or who are trying to negate the reasonableness of this assumption, who have absolutely no clue.

    When I first saw the scene, I immediately felt very uncomfortable and thought about rape. I don’t even know much about centaurs, but really, you don’t need to know much! You only need to be a tiny bit aware of gender issues, and of the symbolism of centaurs (I mean… half-man, half-horse, even without knowing that these mythological creatures are associated with rape, you CANNOT miss their highly sexual nature!)

    Moreover, if you also know a little about gender stereotypes, you would see Umbridge is a kind of “horrible powerful woman” figure, and the way she is punished corresponds completely to this stereotype.Like some kind of “corrective rape” to put her “back in her place.”
    And I have to say, although like most people, I abhorred Dolores Umbridge as a character, I was still highly disturbed at this “punishment.”
    As usual people will claim that rape is “not a big deal”, that death is worse… Well, it’s not whether it’s worse or not, it’s the viciousness in it that makes it disturbing. Just like the viciousness of Umbridge’s sugar-coated nastiness made it more unbearable than Voldemort’s in my opinion..

    And I find it so funny how people are trying to explain it away… I mean… The big question is: if they did not rape her, WHAT did they do? Apparently, it was traumatising. But it did not harm her physically, at least not externally. And it was disturbing enough that we never get told what happened. She is dishevelled and apparently kind of broken, at least momentarily.
    I mean, come on. If you cannot see “RAPE” written all over this, you don’t know how to read signs.

  19. Pingback: Cette « horrible bonne femme » de Dolores Ombrage (Harry Potter et le genre – 3) | Cultures G

  20. Just because she had twigs in her hair but was mentally traumatized doesn’t mean she was raped. Umbridge was characterized by her level of racism towards “half-breeds” like centaurs. It is more likely that they simply yelled at her or dragged her off into the woods and mocked her than they raped her. Professor Dumbledore would not have allowed that, and don’t even try to tell me he wouldn’t’ve known. Umbridge was just traumatized because she was manhandled/mocked by “halfbreeds”.

  21. I will also add that the picture in my head – one where a group of men drag a terrified woman into the woods and she is later traumatized without outward signs of injury – made me think of rape even without the history of the centaurs.

  22. Hermione was not leading Umbridge into the forest to be raped. She was leading her into the forest to Hagrid’s half-brother, who would probably have crushed her, but he had escaped. I think it was a coincidence that the centaurs showed up and while Hermione may have realized the significance of what was happening when they took her (which would be why she cried), I don’t think it was her intention to lead another woman to be raped.

  23. “I know that this was J.K. Rowling’s very subtle wink to readers with a similar education/background in classics (which would be very very very very few, and would include NONE of the children reading her books, I am certain)”

    That is a bit insulting. I was a 12 year old when I read the book, and I DID know what centaurs in Greek mythology did for fun. I also knew Hermione would end up with Ron because in mythology, Hermione ended up with Neoptolomeus, who was a red-head, and I also knew that Nagini’s name came from India, that all Black family members are named after stars, etc etc etc. Not all of us children (back then) were ignorant, you know.

    • hi J,

      Wow, I didn’t know any of that and I’m 44. So, as a 12 yr old, did you think that was rape? And what do you think now?

      Margot

  24. All I have to add is that, it would have livened up the movie quite a bit. An extended centaur on granny rape scene, now that’s something I’d shell out the extra money to see in 3D.

    • Mongrel,

      Older women get raped in the real world. Your comment, along with all rape jokes, isn’t funny. I’m not deleting it to show how messed up people are about rape. Get a clue.

      Margot

      • People ARE messed up about rape, kitten. Want to know what else people are messed up about? It’s a pretty long list. Oh, and Pertaining to your attempt to shame me, I can only smile. Keep on truckin’, sugar-butt.

  25. Rape is not the final horror of all horrors that so many indignant and naive wimmin today seem to think it is. There are far worse crimes than rape committed every day against women and girls, against men and boys, and against babies . Anyone who doesn’t understand this has no understanding of history, has no sense of proportion, and evidently doesn’t bother to follow the world news and read about the sickening atrocities carried out by warring groups in Africa – to give just one example.

      • Now, in his defence, he never said it wasn’t a big deal. He just said that there’s lots of other bad shit that happens to people and that rape was just one thing. I, however, have no opinion, so do not attack me.

  26. Of course Prof Umbrage was raped by the Centaurs! Duh! That’s what Centaurs do. Anyone with even a modicum of classical education would immediately pick this up, adult or child. Chiron didn’t rape, pillage and murder because he was a ‘good centaur’, but he was one of the rare exceptions to the classical rule. It’s clear that Umbridge, like many women and men, girls and boys who are raped, took her rape in her stride because she was a tough cookie and she wasn’t smashed to a pulp like so many rape victims are. Even so, of course, even a tough old bird like Umbridge wasn’t totally unaffected, hence her starting at the sound of hooves.

  27. Oh for goodness sake. Poor Cedric Diggory, not yet fully grown, a child still in fact, is murdered in cold blood. And quite gratuitously by Rowling, I thought when I read the account for the first time. The plot contained no real justification for his death. Diggory left parents to mourn over the murder of their child. A terrible thing for any parents. A far worse ‘punishment’ than rape.

  28. I don’t have a real opinion about this. I can only say, what I’ve read on this website I can’t un-read. So, well, that’s quite the shocking revelation that between the lines there’s the could-be rape of Umbridge. I guess I’m glad I never had to overanalyze a lot of books during my school days (actually only one: Kafka’s Metamorphosis and that was mostly about freely interpreting the story) so these kind of things are often lost on me.
    I’m really feeling uncomfortable about this now. /:

    • Hi Kara,

      Sorry! It’s a bummer to have to think about. I couldn’t not address it though, having chosen that exact picture for my earlier post and this blog being about imagining gender equality in the fantasy world. Also, if it were a male writer, I would have addressed it, so…

      Margot

  29. I don’t think that scene is about a rape. This centaurs are not they same that the greek ones. There are only (very loosely) based on them. And yes, there are rapes by centaurs in the Greek mythology, but it was never a punishment to a woman, most of the times it was just lust (and inebriation). It’s not that centaurs like to rape women, it’s more that there are lots of stories about rape in the greek mythology, by gods, by humans, by all kind of beings, and centaurs are part of that mythology. But is completely false that they are “famous for raping people”. Chiron certainly isn’t. Rape, in the Greek mythology, was never a punishment. Punishments were more direct (death) of more elaborated and cruel (transformations, eating your dear ones…)
    Yes, Umbridge is scared, and probably humiliated, but not because they raped her, but because of her own thoughts about them. She thinks they are beasts and nothing more, she thinks about herself as a witch, much more important, powerful and intelligent than them, and they still they kidnaped her, and they problably had fun scaring and tormenting her (like they did before kidnaping her). That doesn’t mean they raped her.
    And I don’t want to be to graphic but, ¿a rape by a horse? ¿And she is fine, physically? I don’t think so.

    • THANK YOU. i read a shit-ton of mythology when i was a pre-teen,and kept it up through college; when i think of supernatural creatures/greek myths/rape, it’s: zeus, apollo, and depending on the perspective, pan… centaurs are so far down on the list they don’t even merit a mention.

    • “Rape, in the Greek mythology, was never a punishment.” … maybe not, but Rowling’s not writing Greek mythology.

      “a rape by a horse? And she is fine, physically?” … any other sort of attack would have left *more* obvious damage.

      (NB. I’m guessing from your use of the ¿ mark that your native language is Spanish? If that’s the case, your English is impeccable, but English doesn’t use that mark. Just a heads-up.)

    • thank you! I think this theory is just totally wrong.there are always more bruises on a person, from restraining at least, wrists, neck, etc, and a bunch of huge horses? are you people aware of what horses have going on down there? bruises would be all over her legs too.

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