Marjorie Dursley

Warning! At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

Marjorie Eileen^[3] "Marge" Dursley was an English Muggle, who was Vernon Dursley's elder sister,^[3] sister-in-law to Petunia Dursley, and the paternal aunt of Dudley Dursley. She had a career in breeding bulldogs, of which she owned twelve. Ripper, a particularly ferocious bulldog, was her favourite.^[2]

Marge was an entitled, unpleasant and arrogant woman, whose wealth appeared to be great, as she gave her nephew Dudley expensive gifts. In 1993, she visited her brother Vernon for a week. She enraged Harry Potter when she spoke ill of his parents. This caused Harry's magical abilities to unintentionally erupt, which resulted in her body inflating.^[2] Her memory of this incident was later purged by the Ministry of Magic.^[4]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Marjorie Dursley was born somewhere in Great Britain to the Muggle Dursley family in the 1940s or 50s.

Adult life[]

Marge went on to live in the country, in a house with a large garden where she bred bulldogs.^[2] She seemed to have a large amount of money, because she frequently bought her nephew, Dudley, expensive presents^[2] and was noted to be on holiday sometimes.^[5] She did not usually have time to cook.^[2] At some point in her life, she would live next to Fubster, a retired military colonel. She fell in love with Fubster but her attraction was unrequited,^[3] though the two still kept enough of a relationship for him to look after her dogs when she was away.^[2]

Early visits to Privet Drive[]

In June 1985, Marge went to Privet Drive to attend Dudley's fifth birthday party. She whacked Harry Potter, then four years old, around the shins with her walking stick to prevent him from beating Dudley at musical statues.^[2]

Between 1985 and 1990, Marge spent Christmas at Privet Drive. She brought a computerised robot for Dudley and a box of dog biscuits for Harry.^[2]

Marge was present again at Dudley's tenth birthday party, when Harry was nine. Harry accidentally stepped on Ripper's paw, which caused the dog to chase Harry out into the garden and up a tree. Marge refused to call the dog off until past midnight, much to the Dursleys' delight.^[2]

On holiday at the Isle of Wight[]

In June 1991, Marge travelled to the Isle of Wight. Unable to attend Dudley's eleventh birthday, she sent him a present.^[6] Whilst there, she fell ill after eating a "funny whelk" and wrote to the Dursleys to inform them about it.^[5]

Week at Privet Drive[]

During the summer of 1993, she stayed at the Dursleys' house for a week. Ignorant about Harry's "abnormality", Marge was told that Harry attended St Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.^[2] Before her arrival, Vernon grudgingly made a deal with Harry, that if he held his tongue and didn't pull any "funny" stuff during Marge's visit, Vernon would sign Harry's permission form, allowing Harry to visit Hogsmeade on weekends. During Marge's visit, she cruelly belittled Harry for the entire week that she was there – something that he took in stride. When she asked if the cane was used at St Brutus', she dismissed the idea of not hitting people who deserved it as namby-pamby wishy washy nonsense. When she asked how often Harry was beaten and he casually replied "all the time", she insisted that the school was clearly not hitting him hard enough if he could speak of the purported beatings so nonchalantly. Marge advised Petunia to call the school to demand they not hold back in their beatings. Vernon abruptly changed the subject to discuss the news of the escaped prisoner, and nothing further was discussed about Harry at that time.^[2]

She also delighted in comparing Harry to Dudley, and remarked about what made Harry such an unsatisfactory person. On the third day of her visit, she began to insult Harry's parents. At that moment, her wine glass exploded. While Marge shrugged it off as a firm grip, Vernon and Petunia suspected differently, as did Harry, who quickly slipped out of the room.^[2]

The final evening of Marge's visit initially seemed to go off without an issue, where the talk was mostly about Vernon's business. However, Marge, who was drunk on wine and Brandy started on Harry again, and insulted his mother and his father. It became too much for Harry, who accidentally lost control of his magic and blew her up like a balloon with a non-verbal Inflating Charm. This caused her to float upwards towards the ceiling, forcing her brother, Vernon, to try and pull her down, only to be lifted up himself.^[2] Later, however, she was successfully punctured and her memory was modified by the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad from the Ministry of Magic, so she would have no recollection of the event.^[4]

After this, the Dursleys never invited Marge to stay again as long as Harry was in residence and he never saw her again.^[3]

Physical appearance[]

Marge was described as resembling her brother: large, beefy, purple-faced, and even had a moustache, though not as bushy as his.^[2]

Personality and traits[]

Marge was an arrogant, spiteful, ignorant, abusive, selfish, cruel and vicious woman who seemed to brazenly take delight in making the lives of anyone she disliked miserable, given her spiteful, abusive treatment of Harry. In some respects she was even more horrible than her brother; although Vernon was likewise a bully to Harry, at the same time he preferred to avoid spending time with him whenever he could help it, which Harry was happy to comply with, while Marge seemed to want Harry under her watch at all times just so she could belittle him by spewing out suggestions about how he could improve himself. She ate and drank excessively and was, overall, a powerfully dominant woman who made even Vernon look weak and powerless.^[2]

Despite her fondness of bullying Harry and deeply unpleasant nature, she appeared to be on good terms with her like-minded brother, nephew, and sister-in-law, as shown when she assured Petunia that she "wasn't saying anything against her family" while calling Lily Potter a "bad egg." However, it's implied that the Dursleys in return only tolerated Marge because she was Vernon's sister. Petunia, in particular, disliked Ripper making a mess in the house, Dudley only put up with her kisses because he got paid for them, and even Vernon would make attempts to defuse Marge's attacks on Harry, by changing the subject or sending Harry out of the room, as he knew what Harry was capable of if he was pushed too far,^[2] and when he had learned of Marge's illness two years earlier, he did not seem concerned.^[5] When she visited, she always brought expensive gifts for Dudley, such as a computerised robot, and less satisfactory "gifts" for Harry such as a box of dog biscuits. It was unknown if Marge knew Harry's parents, but she constantly called them insulting names and implied their uselessness to society. Marge also had no knowledge of Harry's magical heritage, which the rest of the Dursleys intended to keep secret.^[2]

Whilst she was not a blood relative of Harry's, he grew accustomed to calling her Aunt Marge. She was generally very cruel to him and once allowed Ripper to chase him up a tree and refused to call him off until past midnight. She heavily favoured her nephew Dudley and even went as far as whacking a young Harry in the shins to stop him from beating Dudley at musical statues and also suggested that Harry be put into an orphanage instead of "being a burden" on the Dursleys. She finally pushed Harry too far when she insulted his dead parents to his face, showing that she was so unpleasant she could not even show respect for his loss at such a young age, much like her brother.^[2]

Much of Marge's reprehensible behaviour, however, was the result of having been shunned by Colonel Fubster, whom she was in love with, though it should be noted, that she was already a horrible enough person for Fubster to not wish to marry her on those grounds.^[3]

Etymology[]

Marjorie is a variant of Margaret.

The name "Margaret" is derived from Latin Margarita, which was from Greek μαργαριτης (margarites) meaning "pearl", probably a borrowing from Sanskrit. Saint Margaret, the patron of expectant mothers, was martyred at Antioch in the 4th century. Later legends told of her escape from a dragon, with which she was often depicted in mediaeval art. The saint was popular during the Middle Ages, and her name has been widely used in the Christian world.^[7] "Eileen" is from Celtic, English and Irish roots and has a long-standing history in each culture. In Irish it is known as a variation of "Helen". It became a more popular name in the 19th century. It is rumoured to have roots in Latin, American, French and Greek cultures, however such claims are not backed up with much evidence. Another variation of this name is Eileene which is most commonly used in Ireland.

Other versions of Eileen; "Aileen" (Scottish), "Eibhlin" (the original source for the name), "Eila" (Celtic variant of both "Eileen" and "Aileen"), "Eireen" (Norwegian variant of "Irene" or "Eileen"), "Eleanor" (a similarly-rooted name to "Eileen" in Irish).

Dursley is a town in Gloucestershire, England. J. K. Rowling has commented that she visited the place as a child, and hated it, which likely affected her choice of surname for the awful family, remarking "I don't imagine I'm very popular in Dursley".^[8][9] The town is known for its Victorian history in coal mining. Rowling chose the name because it sounded "dull and forbidding".

Behind the scenes[]

• Aunt Marge was played by Pam Ferris in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, who also portrayed the cruel headmistress Ms Agatha Trunchbull in Matilda (1996) and Mrs White in the Third Series of Cluedo.
  • Because of Ferris's portrayal of Marge, fans have often compared the character to Matilda's Agatha Trunchbull, though the latter is far more cruel and dangerous. While played by the same actress, both characters share similar characteristics; Trunchbull and Marge are hostile to the titular characters/protagonists (Matilda and Harry respectively), who in turn use magical powers to teach the antagonists painful lessons in order to make them end their cruel acts and leave for good.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Marge could still speak while inflated, begging Vernon to help her and even screaming as she was floating. Harry also caused Marge to float outside along Privet Drive, while in the novel, she floated to the ceiling inside the house.
• Marge's personality was based on J. K. Rowling's grandmother, Frieda Volant.^[10]
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Marge began to talk rancorously about Harry's parents when she found a picture of them.
• In the film, while Marge is considered to still be overweight, she is still noticeably slimmer compared to her brother, while in the book, she was around the same size if not slightly larger.
• In the film, Petunia was seen slowly waving goodbye to Marge as she floated away.
• In the book, Aunt Marge's tyranny to Harry lasted all week. In the film, all the incidents happened in the same day.
• Marge calls James Potter a "good for nothing scrounger" as he was unemployed. To be fair, he was technically unemployed, but because he was independently wealthy and had no financial need to work, rather than laziness as the Dursleys assumed. Harry deliberately kept them ignorant of this fact after discovering his family fortune in Gringotts for fear that they might try to claim it from him.^[11]
• Eileen Prince, the mother of Severus Snape, happened to share her first name with the middle name of Marjorie Dursley. Whether this was intentionally done by Rowling to provide an insight into a possible similarity in character, was unknown.

Appearances[]

The Harry Potter Wiki has 32 images related to Marjorie Dursley.

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First mentioned)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter (website)
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (Appears in the spell book)

Notes and references[]