Marge Dursley

### "Love to hate" factors

She cares about the Dursleys as well as her neighbor, Fubster, even if the latter's love isn't requited.

### Type of Hated Character

No information

**Marge Dursley**, often referred to as **Aunt Marge**, is the opening antagonist in *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, and a mentioned character in *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone* and *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*. Unlike the other Dursleys, who already treated Harry Potter rather lowly, Marge was even more brutal and sadistic, to the point that even her brother and sister-in-law were worried for Harry, thus making her the cruelest of the entire Dursley clan.

In the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, she was portrayed by Pam Ferris, who also played Agatha Trunchbull in the 1996 movie *Matilda*.

## What Makes Her a Hated Character?

### Both Versions

* While the Dursleys already displayed neglectful and abusive parental skills towards Harry, she escalates it even further by telling Vernon that Harry would have been sent to an orphanage if he had been dumped on her doorstep. Marge's sadism unsettles even the entire Dursley family.
* While the rest of the Dursley family have various reasons for disliking Harry, ranging from petty (Vernon had a bad experience with Harry's father James and thinks magic users are freaks for how abnormal they are) to somewhat sympathetic (Petunia was never able to reconcile with her sister Lilly, Harry's mother, before she died, something she regrets, and Harry serves as a walking reminder of that fact), Marge has no reason for hating Harry at all. Unlike Petunia and Vernon, she never even knew Harry's parents personally. Dudley was raised by his parents to mistreat Harry and didn't know better, but Marge is a grown woman who, as far as we know, has never been given any reason to hate Harry at all. While she was a witness to the way the other Dursley's mistreated Harry, nothing indicates they ever gave her a justification for treating Harry even worse than they did.
* Like the other Dursleys, she pampers Dudley with expensive gifts and talks sweetly about him.
* She insulted the late parents of her adoptive nephew Harry Potter near him, causing him to collapse and at the same time fail to convince his uncle to sign the Hogsmeade permission form.
	+ She insults Harry's mother Lilly in particular, while her sister Petunia, Harry's aunt, *is in the same room*.
* Although she didn't know Harry was a wizard and it's implied that the other Dursleys have been lying to her, this doesn't justify her actions because she wasn't supposed to be that cruel to him.

### Exclusive to Book Version

* Marge's repulsive personality stands out to the point where even her romantic feelings towards her neighbor, Fubster, were unrequited.
* Whacked into four-year-old Harry with a walking stick to prevent him from beating Dudley at musical statues.
* Although she bought a gift (in this case a box of dog biscuits) for Harry, that was only because she saw him like an animal. Furthermore, it's not like they even served any use to him. What was he supposed to do, eat them?
* She allowed her favorite bulldog Ripper to chase nine-year-old Harry up a tree until midnight in an attempt to injure him.
* She forced her neighbor Fubster to drown one of her pups just because she considered it a "weak", "underbred", "ratty little thing".

### Exclusive to Film Version

* When her brother tried to send Harry to the room to calm him down, she told him to shut up and asked Harry to clear the table, allowing him to continue to listen to her insulting his parents.
* When Harry yelled at her to shut up, she smirked at him.
* In the movie, when she insults Harry's mother, Petunia can be seen looking upset as Marge talks about Lilly and likens her to a dog, calling her a "bitch".

## Trivia

* In the movie her antagonism towards Harry has been slightly toned down when compared to the novel, as evidenced when Harry says how he gets beaten loads of times she doesn’t say anything about how they aren’t hitting him hard enough.