The hand that signed the paper, Should Hermione have jinxed the DA list? |
 Feb 15 2008, 08:22 AM
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Madame Pince's House Elf  Posts: 4,716 Joined: 5:46pm January 28, 2005 Location: In HP Book Club 5, awaiting Deathly Hallow's release.  |
HERMIONE AND MARIETTA EDGECOMBE Hermione has quite a year in OotP. She starts out by finding that she and Ron have been appointed prefects and by continuing with her efforts to free House Elves.However law abiding Hermione is, she comes into conflict with Dolores Umbridge's idea of teaching. Hermione and Ron have the idea to form a study group so that they can learn DADA properly, and invited a few others along. But when more than two dozen people turn up at their first meeting in the Hogs Head, the whole idea becomes problematical. WHY HERMIONE SHOULD HAVE JINXED THE PAPER. HERMIONE'S SIDE. If it is possible for one out of four fast friends to betray the others, then how much more likely is it that one out of a group of twenty eight people who went to the Hogs Head would go to Umbridge? The day after their meeting there were messages up all over Hogwarts, forbidding the very clubs and associations Hermione and Ron were trying to form. We don't learn until the DA was eventually sprung that it was Willie Widdershins dressed like a mummy who was spying on the DA meeting. As the meeting closed, Hermione got everyone who attended that meeting to sign a piece of paper, which she jinxed so that if anyone in that group betrayed the others then everyone would know who did it. She did warn the group that signing the list would be tantamount to agreeing not to tell Umbridge anything that went on. Under the circumstances, Hermione's precaution was a sensible one. Ron disliked Ginny's boyfriends, whom he considered untrustworthy, but that was his brotherly prejudice. Even the doubting Zachariah Smith didn't go to Umbridge, even though he was the last to sign. Each one of the people who went to the meeting had the choice not to go there in the first place. And each person in the Hogs Head could have openly refused to sign the paper or go along with the DA. Why did Marietta Edgecombe not back out then and there? And how could Hermione have known ahead of time who was going to betray the DA? It was clear that Marietta was a bit dubious about the DA. She only went along because of her friend Cho Chang, who was attracted to Harry. Marietta's mother worked for the Ministry in the Floo Network and had warned her about getting involved in such activities. Why then did she not refuse to go along with Cho? Does Cho really need a friend along to accompany her when she investigates every club she is tempted to join? When Marietta Edgecome finally did crack, she was putting DA members at risk, including herself. It wasn't doing Marietta, herself, any favours if she had to tell her mother about an illegal group she had joined. It was not being friendly to Cho either, since Cho's own mother worked for the Ministry. And Umbridge meant business. She not only found out who was in the DA, she also had the benefit of Pansy Parkinson going into the Room of Requirement to take the list as proof. It was only a bit of fancy work from Kingsley Shacklebolt which saved the day. Of course Marietta was stuck with pimples from that day onwards, though they faded away in time. Couldn't Marietta have gone to Hermione, herself, and apologised for her behaviour? Or better still, discussed why she wanted out of the DA with one of the other members? Not all of them would have been unsympathetic. If Hermione let her off too easily then she might have gone back to Umbridge a second time and given up even more information. Whilst Marietta's treatment seems harsh, it was necessary to jinx the paper, and Marietta deserved everything she got. Why did she go to Umbridge and not some other teacher? Especially as Hermione specifically said not to let Umbridge, of all people, know what they were doing. In the end, Dumbledore had to go to protect Harry and Marietta, herself. Umbridge seems quite dangerous in the Headmaster's office. Fudge, himself, was present, to wreak vengeance on disobedient school children. Percy was at his side to take notes. Jinxing the paper was the only sensible thing Hermione could do to protect everyone in the group, and she should not have been blamed for taking this sensible step. That Marietta was disfigured for more than two years afterwards was her own fault. HERMIONE SHOULD NOT HAVE JINXED THE PAPER - MARIETTA EDGECOMBE When Hermione jinxed the paper she was doing something clever that could backfire on everyone. No she didn't jinx the paper with Marietta in mind, but whoever did get jinxed would get a nasty shock. Is Hermione justified in jinxing the paper? No she isn't. Marietta could have been maimed for life, and until the pimples eventually faded, she suffered horrendous embarrassment, having to wear balaclavas or heavy make up to hide her face. What Hermione did to Marietta wasn't nice. Why didn't Hermione tell the group that if they sneaked on the DA they would get pimples spelling S.N.E.A.K? Wouldn't it have been fair if she had respected their right not to want to join such an association? Or told them that signing the paper was a commitment they could not wriggle out of? Perhaps Marietta was weak to let Cho drag her long to DA meetings, because of Cho's attraction to Harry. In loyalty to her friend, maybe Marietta thought they should have nothing further to do with Harry after the Valentine's day row Harry had with Cho. Perhaps Mrs Edgecombe had been getting to Marietta over the holidays, telling her to keep out of trouble. And perhaps Marietta, too, thought of Umbridge as 'a delightful woman'. Or maybe she thought the DA lessons weren't what she wanted. Are these good reasons to give the poor girl a disfigurement spelling out S.N.E.A.K? Marietta was to remain disfigured for more than two years by those pimples. Yes Hermione did need to take precautions against weak people who wanted out of the DA. And yes, Hermione did not know that it would be Marietta, in particular, who would be the one to crack. But disfiguring someone else for so long is somewhat excessive. Hermione should have set a time limit on when the pimples would fade. Nobody should be forced to suffer for years over a misguided youthful attitude. If she could not put a time limit on how long the penalty would apply, Hermione should not have jinxed the paper at all. Which side do you think was right? Hermione or Marietta? You are cordially invited to express your opinions here. This post has been edited by WaggaWaggaWerewolf: Feb 15 2008, 04:48 PM --------------------  Check out Book Number 5 POA edition. |
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