Hermione Granger
history,
Hermione Jean Granger (first name ) is a fictional character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to magic school. As the series progresses, she becomes close friends with Harry Potter and often uses her quick wit and encyclopaedic knowledge to help him. Rowling has stated that Hermione resembles her at a younger age, with her insecurity and fear of failure.
Character development
Hermione is a Muggle-born Gryffindor student and the best friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. The daughter of two dentists, she is an overachiever who shows considerable academic prowess when compared to her friends and classmates, and she is described by Rowling as a "very logical, upright and good" character.»J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Sunday, August 15, 2004. Accio-quote.org Retrieved on 23 April 2007. Her parents are "a bit bemused by their odd daughter, but quite proud of her all the same."»JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, March 4, 2004 Accio-quote.org Retrieved on 23 April 2007 Though Rowling has described the character of Luna Lovegood as the "anti-Hermione" because they hold the exact opposite ideologies,»Fry, Stephen, interviewer: J.K. Rowling at the Royal Albert Hall, 26 June 2003 accio-quote.org, retrieved August 14, 2007 Hermione's foil at Hogwarts is Pansy Parkinson, a female bully based on real-life girls who teased the author during her school days.»Jo loathes Pansy Parkinson who represents every girl who ever teased her
Rowling claims the character of Hermione carries several autobiographical influences. "I did not set out to make Hermione like me but she is...she is an exaggeration of how I was when I was younger." She recalled being called a "little know-it-all" in her youth. Moreover, she states that not unlike herself, "there is a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure" beneath Hermione's swottiness. Finally, according to Rowling, next to Albus Dumbledore, Hermione is the perfect expository character: because of her encyclopaedic knowledge, she can always be used as a plot dump to explain the Harry Potter universe.»Chamber of Secrets DVD: Interview with Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling, February 2003 accio-quote.org. Rowling also claims Hermione saves her feminist conscience for she is "the brightest character" and is a "very strong female character."»J.K. Rowling's Books That Made a Difference O, The Oprah Magazine January 2001
Hermione's name is derived from William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale;»Transcript of National Press Club author's luncheon, NPR Radio, October 20, 1999 Accio-quote.org Retrieved on 23 April 2007 Rowling claimed that she wanted it to be unusual since if fewer girls shared her name, fewer girls would get teased for it. Her original last name was "Puckle", but Rowling felt the name "did not suit her at all," and so the less frivolous Granger made it into the books. Rowling confirmed in a 2004 interview that Hermione is an only child.
Appearances
's debut as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Hermione first appears in Philosopher's Stone when she meets future companions Harry and Ron on the Hogwarts Express. She is described as having "a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth," and constantly annoys her peers with her knowledge. Harry and Ron initially consider her arrogant, especially after she criticises Ron's incantation of the Levitation Charm., chapter 10. Hermione's knack for logic later enables the trio to solve a puzzle essential to retrieving the Philosopher's Stone, and she defeats the constrictive Devil's Snare plant by conjuring fire.
Rowling said on her website that she resisted her editor's requests to remove the troll scene. "Hermione is so very annoying in the early part of Philosopher's Stone that I really felt it needed something (literally) huge to bring her together with Harry and Ron."
Hermione later uses Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Bellatrix when the trio attempt to steal Hufflepuff's cup from Gringotts. She and Ron share their first kiss after Ron says they cannot order the house elves to die for them, and they join Dumbledore's Army in the Battle of Hogwarts, during which Hermione destroys the cup in the Chamber of Secrets with a basilisk fang., chapter36.
Rowling herself was supportive of Watson after her first screen test. Prior to the production of Half-Blood Prince, Watson considered not returning, but eventually decided that "the pluses outweighed the minuses" and could not bear to see anyone else play Hermione.
Watson has said that Hermione is a character that makes "brain not beauty cool," and that though Hermione is "slightly socially inept," she is "not ashamed of herself."[http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/granger.html#film Emma Watson's speech at Oxford Union, Oxford University, November 12, 2006] In 2007, prior to the release of Order of the Phoenix, Watson said, "There are too many stupid girls in the media. Hermione's not scared to be clever. I think sometimes really smart girls dumb themselves down a bit, and that's bad. When I was nine or ten, I would get really upset when they tried to make me look geeky, but now I absolutely love it. I find it's so much pressure to be beautiful. Hermione doesn’t care what she looks like. She's a complete tomboy."
Screenwriter Steve Kloves revealed in a 2003 interview that Hermione was his favourite character. "There's something about her fierce intellect coupled with a complete lack of understanding of how she affects people sometimes that I just find charming and irresistible to write."
Hermione has an extremely compassionate side to her personality and is quick to help others, especially those who are defenceless, such as Neville Longbottom, first-years, house-elves, and fellow Muggle-borns. It was revealed by Rowling after the publication of the final book that Hermione's career in the Ministry was to fight for the rights of the oppressed (house-elves and Muggle-borns). Hermione is also very protective of her friends and values them so much that Rowling has suggested that, if Hermione had looked in the Mirror of Erised, she would have seen Harry, Ron, and herself "alive and unscathed, and Voldemort finished."»An Evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp: Readings and questions #1, August 1, 2006
The chapter also points out the fact that, despite being born to Muggle parents, Hermione's magical abilities are innate. Her "compulsion for study" helps both the character's development, which makes Hermione "a prime example that information brings power," and the plot of the series, as her knowledge of the wizarding world is often used to "save the day." Dresang goes further when she also states that "Harry and Ron are more dependent on Hermione than she is on them." However, she also remarks that Hermione's "hysteria and crying happen far too often to be considered a believable part of the development of Hermione's character and are quite out of line with her core role in the book."
According to Philip Nel of Kansas State University, the Harry Potter series can be seen as "political novels that critique racism and racial superiority." Nel also notes that "Rowling, who worked for Amnesty International, evokes her social activism through Hermione's passion for oppressed elves and the formation of her 'Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare'".»'Potter' inspires academic analysis
In Harry Cover, a French comic book parody of the Harry Potter series by the Pierre Veys (subsequently translated in Spanish and English), Hermione appears as Harry Cover's friend Hormone. Hermione also stars in The Potter Puppet Pals sketches by Neil Cicierega. One of the episodes, "The Mysterious Ticking Noise", shows Hermione along with Snape, Harry, Ron and Dumbledore being killed by a bomb placed by Voldemort; the episode being the seventeenth most viewed video of all time as of 2008 and the winner for "Best Comedy" of the year 2007 at YouTube.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Hermione develops a crush on handsome new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. but she does not know what the epithet means until Ron explains it to her at Hagrid's hut. She assembles the Polyjuice Potion needed for the trio to disguise themselves as Malfoy's housemates in order to collect information about the Heir of Slytherin who has reopened the Chamber of Secrets. However, she is unable to join Harry and Ron in the investigation after the hair plucked from the robes of Slytherin student Millicent Bulstrode (with whom Hermione was previously matched up during Lockhart's ill-fated Duelling Club) were actually those of her cat, whose appearance she takes on in her human form; it takes several weeks for the effects to completely wear off. Hermione is Petrified by the basilisk after successfully identifying the creature through library research; though she lies incapacitated in the hospital wing, her information is crucial to Harry and Ron in their successful mission to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione is revived after Harry kills the basilisk, but she is devastated to learn that all end-of-year exams have been cancelled as a school treat.Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hermione gets a pet cat-Kneazle mix named Crookshanks, who habitually pursues Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.James and Lily Potter who revealed their whereabouts to Lord Voldemort the night of their murders, and was able to wrongly implicate Sirius Black (revealed to be Harry's godfather) in the Potters' deaths., chapters 16-22.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Hermione is Bulgarian Quidditch prodigy Viktor Krum's date at the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire, looking unexpectedly pretty at the ball to boot. but she has no problem with it. She later gets into a heated argument with Ron after he accuses her of "fraternising with the enemy" in reference to her friendship with Krum. Hermione also tirelessly campaigns for the rights of house-elves by forming the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (SPEW), but she is the only vocal opponent of the enslavement of house-elves. She supports Harry through the Triwizard Tournament, helping him prepare for each task. Near the end of the term, she stops fraudulent tabloid reporter and Animagus Rita Skeeter, who had published defamatory materials about Hermione, Harry, and Hagrid during the Triwizard Tournament, by holding her Animagus form (a beetle) captive in a jar.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hermione becomes a Gryffindor prefect along with Ron, and befriends Luna Lovegood, but their friendship gets off to a rocky start after Hermione chastises Luna's father's publication: "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that." She also lambastes housemate Lavender Brown for believing the Daily Prophet's allegations of Harry fabricating stories of Voldemort's return. Later, with Luna's assistance, Hermione blackmails Rita Skeeter into interviewing Harry for an upcoming issue of The Quibbler. Attempts to ban the magazine from Hogwarts are futile as the story spreads quickly through the school. One turning point in the series is when she conceives the idea of Harry secretly teaching defensive magic to a small band of students in defiance of the Ministry of Magic's dictum to teach only the subject's basic principles. Hermione gets an unexpectedly huge response, and the group becomes the nascent Dumbledore's Army. She is involved in the battle in the Department of Mysteries and seriously injured, but makes a full recovery.Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
New Advanced Potions professor Horace Slughorn invites Hermione to join his "Slug Club,", chapter 14. Ron and Hermione continually feud with each other until he suffers a bout of poisoning from tainted mead, which makes her realise that she may lose him forever and frightens her enough to reconcile with him. Following Dumbledore's death, Ron and Hermione both vow to stay by Harry's side regardless of what happens.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In the series finale, Hermione is a valuable help in Harry's quest to destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. When she, Ron, and Harry are captured by Snatchers, who are on the hunt for Muggle-borns under the Ministry's orders, Hermione passes herself off as "Penelope Clearwater" and a half-blood to avoid persecution, but is then taken to Malfoy Manor and tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange for information on how they came to possess the Sword of Gryffindor (which Bellatrix believed Snape sent to her vault in Gringotts); she, Harry and Ron are all eventually rescued by Dobby.
Epilogue
Nineteen years after Voldemort's downfall, Hermione is married to Ron and they have two children, Rose and Hugo. Rowling also stated in a webchat that Hermione also found her parents in Australia and relieved them of the memory charm she had placed on them.»Maggie Keir: Was hermione able to find her parents and undo the memory damage
J.K. Rowling: Yes, she brought them home straight away.
Film portrayal
Emma Watson has portrayed Hermione in all the Harry Potter films to date. Watson's Oxford theatre teacher passed her name on to the casting agents of Philosopher's Stone, impressed with her school play performances. Though Watson took her audition seriously, she "never really thought she had any chance" of getting the part. The producers were impressed by Watson's self-confidence and she outperformed the thousands of other girls who had applied.
Attributes
Outward appearance
In the books, Hermione is described as having bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and large front teeth until Goblet of Fire, when she is hit by a spell that causes her teeth to grow uncontrollably until Madam Pomfrey magically shrinks them to a size smaller than the original.
Personality
Hermione's most prominent features includes her prodigious intellect and cleverness. She is levelheaded, book-smart and is very good with logic. She is often bossy yet very loyal and conscientious. Rowling stated that Hermione is a person that "never strays off the path; she always keeps her attention focused on the job that must be done."»New Interview with J.K. Rowling for Release of Dutch Edition of "Deathly Hallows"
Despite Hermione's intelligence and bossy attitude, Rowling says that Hermione has "quite a lot of vulnerability in her personality,"»Time Magazine staff. "Essay: A Conversation with J.K. Rowling; A Good Scare," Time Magazine, October, 30, 2000 as well as a "sense of insecurity underneath," feels "utterly inadequate...and to compensate, she tries to be the best at everything at school, projecting a false confidence that can irritate people."»Harry Potter and Me (BBC Christmas Special), BBC, December 28, 2001 accio-quote.org., retrieved August 14, 2007
Magical abilities
Hermione is portrayed during the whole series as an exceptionally talented young witch. Rowling has stated that Hermione is a "borderline genius."»J.K. Rowling interview - The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999 She is the best student in Harry's year, as she is repeatedly the first student to master any spell or charm introduced in classes and even from more advanced years, as evidenced when she is able to conjure a Protean Charm on the D.A.'s fake Galleons, which is actually a N.E.W.T. level charm., chapter 9 Hermione is an exceptional duellist, capable of outmatching even Death Eaters, as shown in the battle at the Department of Mysteries, at the Lovegoods' house, and in the final battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. However, Rowling has stated that while during the first three books Hermione would have beaten Harry in a magical duel, by the fourth book Harry is so good at Defence Against the Dark Arts that he would have defeated Hermione. Hermione did not tend to do as well in subjects that were not learned through books or formal training, as broom flying did not come as naturally to her in her first year as it did to Harry Potter,, chapters 6 and 16 She was also not good at Wizard's Chess, as it was the only thing at which she ever lost.»America Online chat transcript, AOL.com, 19 October 2000 accio-quote.org., retrieved August 14, 2007 Her wand is made of vine wood and dragon heartstring core; vine is the wood ascribed to Hermione's fictional birth month (September) on the Celtic calendar.»Section: Extra Stuff WANDS jkrowling.com. Retrieved on 2 July 2007.
Reception
In The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, the first book-length analysis of the Harry Potter series (edited and compiled by Lana A. Whited), a whole chapter titled Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender, by Eliza T. Dresang, is dedicated to the discussion of Hermione's role in the series and its relation to feminist debates.[http://books.google.com.mx/books?hl=es&lr=&id=iO5pApw2JycC&oi=fnd&pg=PA211&dq=%22Dresang%22+%22Hermione+Granger+and+the+Heritage+of+Gender%22+&ots=ACEO--9DWs&sig=LVNTNW-YsXzCLUi-mgg_9VcOIgM#PPA223,M1 Hermione Granger and the Heritage of Gender]The chapter begins with an analysis of Hermione's name and the role of previous characters with the same name in mythology and fiction, and the heritage Hermione has inherited from these characters due to her name. Dresang also emphasizes Hermione's parallelism with Rowling herself and how, as Hermione has some attributes from Rowling herself, she must be a strong character.
In popular culture
Hermione has been parodied in numerous sketches and animated series. In Saturday Night Live, Hermione was played by Lindsay Lohan, who wore an enormously revealing sweater that showed most of her breasts. This was to parody the fact that Hermione had reached puberty. On his show Big Impression, Alistair McGowan did a sketch called "Louis Potter and the Philosopher's Scone". It featured impressions of Nigella Lawson as Hermione. In 2003, Comic Relief performed a spoof story called Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan, in which Miranda Richardson featured as Hermione The Wedge, an Australian sketch comedy, parodies Hermione and Harry in love on a "Cooking With..." show before being caught by Snape. Hermione also appears as Hermione Ranger in Harry Podder: Dude Where's My Wand?, a play by Desert Star Theater in Utah, written by sisters Laura J., Amy K. and Anna M. Lewis.