Edna Krabappel

**Edna Krabappel–Flanders** (see "Love life" below regarding her last name) was a 4th Grade teacher at Springfield Elementary School, who lived at 82 Evergreen Terrace[1], and later 744 Evergreen Terrace,[2] after marrying Ned Flanders, the widower of Maude Flanders. Outside school, Edna was portrayed as a typical mid-life single adult, heavy smoker, gambler and occasional solitary drinker trying to find the right man. She had numerous affairs with many Springfieldians, her reoccurring choice always being Principal Skinner, usually out of pity rather than affection. From Season 23-25, Edna Krabappel was married to Ned Flanders. She was 44 years old.

Al Jean announced Edna would be retired in due to the death of Marcia Wallace (her voice actress) on October 25, 2013. The process began in "Four Regrettings and a Funeral" when "We'll really miss you Mrs. K." was shown on the chalkboard during the title sequence, which premiered nine days after Marcia's death. In the Season 25 episode "The Man Who Grew Too Much", Ned and Nelson mentioned that they miss her. Her passing was indicated by Ned wearing a black armband. In Dogtown, it is confirmed that Edna is deceased.[3]

## Biography

Edna was born on January 21, 1946 in Springfield. She was an A-grade student back in school and held a Master's in education from Bryn Mawr College. Her life dream once was to teach to young students; however, after years of teaching jaded her positive image, and after her husband left for another woman, their marriage counselor, Edna started drinking her days away. She got fired from teaching in a prestigious private school[4], and eventually made her way into Springfield Elementary. From then on, she was portrayed as a caricature of the American public school system, as evidenced on the occasion when Lisa steals all the teachers' editions of the textbooks (which contain the answers). Moreover, dealing with Bart Simpson and his shenanigans did nothing but aggravate Edna's apathy.

Edna apparently did come from Springfield, as she can be seen running through the background in Springfield High School when Clancy Wiggum is being videotaped as a hall monitor,[5] suggesting that she probably left Springfield young but returned when unable to keep up with her dream life. Moreover, she graduated from Springfield University.

   Krabappel, like many other teachers at Springfield Elementary School, smoked heavily, especially during school hours. It was also implied that Edna Krabappel drank heavily, as when Marge arrived at the school to use a restroom and noticed Edna sleeping in class and uttering "stupid hangover".[6]

During her more recent years at Springfield Elementary School, in general, Edna didn't care at all about teaching the children properly anymore. Edna was usually annoyed by her straight-A student Martin Prince. Her attitude towards her class ranged from a bit of fondness to open dislike. She was known to remark that her students would end up in blue-collar jobs, such as gas station attendants. Edna fought hard for improved materials, leading a strike against Principal Skinner. During class time, Edna presented material in a monotone, apathetic manner, indifferent to the children's disinterest.

Edna was usually shown to be involved with many activities around Springfield. Edna was a member of the Investorettes.[7] She was also a member of Marge's book club, although nobody in the club seems to read the book they are supposed to. Edna seemed to be friends with fellow teacher Elizabeth Hoover, as they were often seen smoking together and often made comments and criticisms about the state of Springfield Elementary to each other. When Edna thought she had met her dream man through a personal ad, Miss Hoover seemed to be her confidante; Edna showed her the letters and discussed what she would do on future dates.[8]

### Romantic life

The most recurring theme about Krabappel was her non-existent love life, and as a result, loneliness and wish for a partner. She is divorced; her first husband ran off with their marriage counselor. She did talk about her ex living somewhere else exotic, but at one time, a man at the local gas station, while diagnosing a fault with her car, tasted sugar in the gasoline and states "Your ex-husband strikes again!" [9] As a result, she severely missed a man's love and the cozy delights of couplehood and partnership, and it was occasionally implied that she felt her biological clock ticking. She was shown as very sexually aggressive: she tried to pick up Joey Kramer (Aerosmith's drummer).[10] She had an on-again-off-again relationship with Principal Seymour Skinner [11] and once had sex in the backseat of her car with a Sushi chef.[12] She can be seen at a Green Day concert on top of Seymour'sshoulders wearing a t-shirt saying "Not my boyfriend" with an arrow pointing down at Skinner in The Simpsons Movie.[13] She also had a relationship with Comic Book Guy (whom she almost married)[14] and a pen pal who she believed was the man of her dreams, Woodrow.[15]

It is shown in a flashback that Krabappel was in a serious relationship with Moe Szyslak when she first moved to Springfield, before meeting Skinner or even becoming a teacher. She was about to run away with him (and possibly get married) but then changed her mind when she met Bart Simpson, a student she believed needed help. (This story may or may not be canonical, as it was part of a tale told second-hand or possibly made up)[16]Indeed, Krabappel appeared to be the object of many a man's desire, as evident by Sideshow Bob's outrage when his romantic date with her is ruined by a spying Bart: "You only get one chance with Edna Krabappel!" One time, during an "edutainment" show at Springfield Elementary School, she did a balloon dance wearing nothing but balloons while she pops them to the tune of "Fever," Mortifying the audience (especially Bart, who even went as far as to say "Kill me!" from witnessing it). This event was also implied to have driven Homer to steal concessions as compensation for having to sit through and watch it (or as he put it to Lisa, "I saw Krabappel's butt. I paid!")[17] She often had dinner at The Pimento Grove with her on-again, off-again dates. She was also seen kissing Jacques on camera footage in Burns' Surveillance Room. She once danced with Bart in Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind.

In "Ned 'N Edna's Blend", she married Ned Flanders. From then on until her death, she was referred to simply as "Edna", so it is unknown if she kept her maiden name, took Ned's surname, or chose a hyphenated name like Krabappel-Flanders.

At the end of "The Man Who Grew Too Much", Ned is shown remembering a happy memory of dancing with Edna. He then looks at the picture of her next to the one of Maude, saying sadly that he misses her laugh. Outside, Nelson laughs, then admits he misses her too. The black armband Ned is wearing shows Edna had died some time previously as they generally mark the remembrance of a deceased person. Edna's death had been hinted at earlier in Season 25 in "Four Regrettings and a Funeral" when a sad Bart wrote "We'll really miss you Mrs. K." only one time on the chalkboard during the opening sequence. The episode premiered on November 3, 2013, nine days after Marcia Wallace's death. In "Dogtown", her gravestone is finally shown; it has written the iconic phrase "Ha!" in it.

## Personality

Edna Krabappel is defined by her cynicism, short-temper, loneliness and uncaring attitude towards her students. Like nearly all of the teachers in Springfield Elementary she constantly buts heads with fourth grade juvenile delinquent, Bart Simpson. Despite this, Bart and Edna are close friends at heart, so much that he nominated her for Teacher of the Year and went to a movie with one another when she was depressed that Skinner had blown her off. Edna is quite the disciplinarian at times, an example of this would be when the new yo-yo craze overran her classroom and in response, she confiscated the toys but despite this, she is normally quite ignorant towards their well being or concern.

Edna has something of a reputation among the other teachers, she is a sexually-experienced woman and was not above using her own sexuality to reel in guys. A good example of this is when she was writing to her "boyfriend" Woodrow and delivered a very appealingly sultry picture of herself. Edna's reputation is revealed when Lisa and Bart were sent to the third grade and the teacher (non-discreetly) coughed over her breath "slut" while referring to her and while showing her students a sex education video Edna remarked that "she's faking it." However despite this Edna is lonely and depressive woman, such was shown when she tried to bargain the students to stay behind by saying she'll do their homework and such was further shown when she tried to get a hot date and to be only met with dial tone it causes her to pound her fist on the table and yell "I NEED A MAN!"

Edna was a woman of vice, she enjoys to smoke cigarettes (even in class which was banned by school laws) and was something of a heavy drinker and normally taught classes with a hangover. She takes no effort in hiding her dislike of children and is normally left very irritated by her star student, Martin Prince. Edna displays a mostly sarcastic denouement, normally using jabs or biting quips towards students, she isn't normally aggressive towards children but if her temper is pushed to its limits Edna would lash out, even if this was very rare, so far the only time that she was violent towards students was when she slapped Bart Simpson square across the back of the head.