Minerva McGonagall

Harry Potter character
Minerva McGonagall
Dame Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Actor	Maggie Smith
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Professor Minerva McGonagall is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. During the series, she is Deputy Headmistress, head of Gryffindor House, Transfiguration professor, and later Headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she began teaching in December 1956. McGonagall considers Transfiguration to be amongst the most complex and dangerous magic taught at Hogwarts. McGonagall served as Headmistress of Hogwarts during Albus Dumbledore's absence from Hogwarts in Harry's second year, and briefly in the sixth book of the series. She acted as headmistress when the Heads of House decided the school would reopen, but before the 1997-98 school year commenced, Professor Severus Snape was appointed Headmaster on Voldemort’s orders. She remained a member of the Order of the Phoenix. She was later reappointed as Headmistress, but Rowling has stated that by the time of the epilogue in 2017 (19 years after the battle), she no longer held the position.^[1] Critical responses to the character vary. While Farah Mendelson, in her work "Crowning The King," considers her rash and unfair and clearly secondary to a male character in the Wizarding World, Eliza Dresang calls McGonagall in "Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender" the epitome of fairness and one of the few female characters in Harry Potter who have worked their ways into a position of importance in an otherwise patriarchal world.

Contents 1 Character description 2 In the series 2.1 The Deathly Hallows 3 Name 4 Film portrayal 5 References 6 External links

Character description

Minerva McGonagall is described as a tall, rather severe-looking woman, with black hair typically drawn into a tight bun, only letting her hair down at the Yule Ball. She wears emerald green robes, a pointed hat that is cocked to one side, and always has a very prim expression. She is, according to Rowling, a "sprightly" 70-year-old.^[2] She also has a fondness for tartan patterns, apparently derived from a Scottish heritage; even her dressing gown and biscuit tin have tartan patterns. McGonagall wears square spectacles that match the markings around the eyes of her Animagus form of a silver tabby cat; she has the distinction of being the first Animagus introduced in the series and as one of the few registered (legal) Animagi of the century (the Marauders and Rita Skeeter were all unregistered). She is quite stern and reserved, but fair. Professor McGonagall has also been shown to have in mind the best interests of the students at Hogwarts, her wards in Gryffindor, and Harry himself. McGonagall is also one of Dumbledore's staunchest supporters and a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Although she is a stern role model, it is clear, particularly later on in the series, that Harry is much attached to McGonagall. For example, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Dolores Umbridge is interrogating Harry about who he was trying to contact, she comments: 'I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is too ill to talk to anyone.' Whilst Draco Malfoy and some other laugh, Harry 'found he was so full of rage and hatred he was shaking.' In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry is so outraged at Amycus Carrow's behaviour towards McGonagall (spitting in her face) that he successfully performs the Cruciatus Curse on him, something he had failed to do two years before. 'I see what Bellatrix meant. You need to mean it.' He also felt a "rush of affection towards Minerva McGonagall' when he heard the pride with which she said, "He [Harry] is in my house." Rowling has said McGonagall's birthday is October 4.^[3]

In the series

Minerva McGonagall is first introduced in the opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, when she meets Albus Dumbledore at Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey (the home of Harry Potter's aunt and uncle). It is immediately demonstrated that she is an Animagus, as she has waited on a brick wall all day in the form of a tabby cat. In this chapter, Professor McGonagall's personality is summarised: her caring side (she is worried when Dumbledore reveals his plans to leave Harry Potter, fresh from Lord Voldemort's devastating attack, with the Dursley family, his only living relatives); her snappy, brusque side (she criticises a number of people, including Rubeus Hagrid); and ultimately, her intelligence (to become an Animagus is very difficult, and can sometimes take years to master the magic). As current Deputy Headmistress, McGonagall is the member of staff who runs the Sorting Ceremony at Hogwarts. Harry's immediate impression of her is of someone who is not to be crossed. Throughout the series, McGonagall is the professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts, a subject that she sees as complex and elegant. She is infamous for giving vast amounts of homework and for tolerating no misconduct of behaviour during her classes.

McGonagall, in her capacity as Head of Gryffindor House, is very keen on the success of the house Quidditch team. In the first book, after seeing Harry fly masterfully his very first time on a broom, she recommends him to fill the position of Seeker, even though first years are normally disallowed from playing. Furthermore, although a strict disciplinarian, she often assists Harry indirectly with activities that are not strictly within the rules of Hogwarts; for example, she allowed Harry and his friends to use the Transfiguration classroom to practice for tasks in the Triwizard Tournament. Despite her stern front, McGonagall has been known to display a range of emotions when either unaware of observation, or overcome by feeling, which can often be a shock to her colleagues and students. Indeed, Harry claims that one of the worst sounds he ever heard was Professor McGonagall's scream at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on finding out Harry's apparent death. Professor McGonagall is a member of the Order of the Phoenix, a fact revealed to Harry in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and warns Harry not to provoke Dolores Umbridge, who works for the Ministry of Magic. Nevertheless, she and Umbridge seem to have a mutual dislike for each other, as Umbridge continuously usurps more and more power from the staff and from Dumbledore and McGonagall in particular. This dislike manifests itself in both small ways, such as when McGonagall instructed Peeves the Poltergeist in how to unscrew the bolts of a chandelier to cause it to fall and create another problem for Umbridge to solve, and larger ways, such as when McGonagall attempts to stop Umbridge and her fellow Ministry officials from unjustly taking Hagrid away by force, and pays for it when she is hit by four Stunning Spells. Taken from the school to St Mungo's, McGonagall returns to the school some time after the battle at the Ministry for Magic, though she temporarily uses a walking stick to support herself. When Umbridge attempted to leave the school unnoticed, Peeves "borrows" the walking stick to chase Umbridge gleefully from the premises (along with a sock full of chalk). Professor McGonagall is heard to say that she would have also chased her out if Peeves had not taken her walking stick. Though injured by four Stunning Spells in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, McGonagall is an exceptional duellist, capable of holding her own against much younger and more agile Death Eaters, as seen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and her many duels in the last book. Madam Pomfrey also comments on McGonagall's impressive power and skill as a witch: "As if Dolores Umbridge and her minions could have Stunned Minerva McGonagall face on by daylight! Cowardice, that's what it was... Despicable cowardice." She is also able to come out of the fight against the Death Eaters in the sixth book with only a few grazes and tattered robes.

McGonagall's relationship with other members of the Hogwarts staff is generally cordial, though she has a known dislike for Professor Sybill Trelawney, since she views Trelawney's subject of Divination as an imprecise, inferior branch of magic. When Umbridge sacks Trelawney, however, McGonagall is the one to comfort her and help her move her things back into the school when Dumbledore intervenes, which suggests that her dislike for Trelawney is much less than that she feels toward Umbridge, or that McGonagall is not one to let her personal feelings interfere with her professionalism as a teacher.

The Deathly Hallows

After the death of Dumbledore at the hands of Snape in Half-Blood Prince, she again becomes the acting Headmistress of Hogwarts. In the series finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, McGonagall remains as a teacher at Hogwarts. She did not become headmistress at the start of term as expected; Snape was appointed by new Minister for Magic Pius Thicknesse, who was actually under the Imperius Curse and acting for Voldemort. Despite the many changes, she is kept as head of Gryffindor House. Before the Battle of Hogwarts, she goes to the Ravenclaw common room and finds Alecto Carrow stunned and her brother Amycus searching for Harry. When Amycus suggests hurting the students to compensate for his sister's state, McGonagall immediately intervenes. In response, Amycus spits in her face. Harry, who was present and hidden under his invisibility cloak reveals himself and uses the Cruciatus Curse on Amycus. Harry then informs McGonagall that Voldemort is on his way and she sends three of her Patronus — which manifest in her Animagus form — to warn the other three Heads of House.^[HP7] When on her way to meet the heads of house, she meets Snape who questions her about Potter's whereabouts. Not knowing Snape was actually still following Dumbledore's orders and has important information for Harry, she attacks him, engaging in a fierce duel. With help from Professors Sprout and Flitwick she succeeds in driving Snape away. McGonagall then takes charge of the school again and proceeds to secure it against Voldemort to ensure Harry can fulfil his mission from Dumbledore. She herself magically summons to life the many statues, gargoyles, suits of armour of Hogwarts, and commands them to fulfil their duty in protecting the castle. She also organises the evacuation of the school's underage students to ensure their safety. She then leads the remaining students, Dumbledore's Army, and members of the Order of the Phoenix in the fight against Voldemort. She is seen during the battle with a large gash on her cheek and commanding a herd of charmed desks to charge at Death Eaters. She survives the battle however, and finally ends up duelling Voldemort along side Kingsley Shacklebolt and Horace Slughorn. Though this is not explicitly stated, McGonagall would presumably have become Headmistress of Hogwarts after the Battle of Hogwarts and Severus Snape's death; however, in an interview J. K. Rowling says she would not have the job by the time of the Deathly Hallows epilogue (19 years after Deathly Hallows), as she is "getting on in years."

Name

Her given name comes from Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. Her surname comes from that of a 19th century Dundee eccentric, William Topaz McGonagall, considered one of the worst poets in the English language. ^[4]

Film portrayal

McGonagall is played by Dame Maggie Smith in the Harry Potter film adaptations. Smith has described her role as "Miss Jean Brodie in a wizard's hat" and as becoming smaller in the films, noting Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as her favourite thus far.^[5]

References

• Dresang, Eliza: Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender. In Whited, Lana: Harry Potter and the Ivory Tower, 2002.
• Mendelson, Farah: Crowning the King. IN: Whited, Lana: Harry Potter and the Ivory Tower, 2002.

External links