Why Minerva McGonagall is not a Death Eater
This is an essay in defense of Professor McGonagall.
I read the essay by
goldenmoonrose and found that, although it was well researched, it did not convince me. I simply cannot see McGonagall as a Death Eater. I will respond to the arguments used to show that McGonagall is a Death Eater. The arguments are in italics.
Professor McGonagall never taught the students anything useful.
On the contrary, she taught them plenty of useful skills. Transfiguration is a powerful and important branch of magic. In fact, Aurors are required to have a transfiguration NEWT. How can it be claimed that transfiguration will not be useful in fighting during the war? In fact, Dumbledore was a transfiguration teacher. Would anyone claim that he did not teach his students anything useful. McGonagall is a highly competent teacher.
McGonagall was an unregistered animagus, which is suspicious.
First of all, there is no solid proof that she was unregistered. Even if she was registered, she still could have been surprised that Dumbledore knew it was her sitting near the Dursleys' house. Tabby cats are not exactly rare, are they? It could be difficult to recognise her at first glance. When McGonagall asked Dumbledore how he knew the cat was her, he replied that he had never seen a cat be so still. (I'm not sure of the exact wording because unfortunately I don't have access to the Harry Potter books right now). Dumbledore did not reply that he knew she was an animagus. He didn't say that he had discovered her secret. This is because he knew that she was an animagus and she knew that he knew. It don't believe that it was a secret held from Dumbledore. McGonagall was merely surprised that he recognised her. After all, she probably didn't spend much time around him while transfigured. Why would she?
However, let's assume that she was unregistered at the beginning of the first book. This is not a crime. Hermione said that only a few registered animagi existed in the century (I don't know how many since I don't have the books with me). Surely these were not all the animagi in the entire century? I think it is quite obvious that many witches and wizards did not register. After all, much of the usefullness that comes from being an animagus disappears when one is registered. It would help McGonagall serve the Order not to be registered. In fact, I believe that she only registered because she was a transfiguration teacher.
I believe that Dumbledore may be in animagus. In fact, I'm almost sure of it. He is a very powerful wizard and a former transfiguration professor. How could he not be one. However, Hermione did not mention that she saw Dumledore's name in the list of animagi. Of course, this could be because he became an animagus in the previous century, but I still somehow doubt that Dumbledore would reveal that he was an animagus. He doesn't exactly follow the Ministry's laws. Besides, just like with McGonagall, it would help his enemies to know what he turned into.
It is suspicious that McGonagall knew to show up at Privet Drive, but not at what time.
Hagrid knew that he was to bring Harry to Privet Drive, so he told McGonagall. However, he could not tell her at what time or McGonagall did not trust that he would show up at the time Hagrid told her he would. Hagrid might easily not know when he would show up. Everything was in mayhem. The Potters had just been killed, their house was burned down, Voldemort had dissapeared, and there was general confustion. Even if Hagrid had given McGonagall a time frame, she could easily not have trusted him. Hagrid isn't exactly reliable, is he? And McGonagall would not have wanted to miss Harry and Dumbledore's arrival.
She disapproved of all the celebrations that occur after Voldemort's downfall.
McGonagall had a point when she said that even the muggles were noticing the celebrations. It would be a shame for the wizarding world to finally be discovered merely because everyone became reckless in their partying. In addition, she is probably mourning the deaths of the Potters. True, she did not know for sure that they had died until Dumbledore confirmed it, but she had heard rumors. The fact that their deaths did affect her shows that she did care about them.
McGonagall does not favor her house.
And here I thought being objective was good. Is being fair to all students a bad sign? We know that Snape shows blatant favoritism, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. We have never seen Flitwick or Sprout show favortism. Also, McGonagall does care about her house. She wants Gryffindor to win the house and quidditch cup. Which brings us to the next point:
She is a quidditch fan. Quidditch divides the school. Therefore, McGonagall must wish the school to divide and fall.
Harry is an ardent quidditch fan. So is Ron. In fact, I would say that the majority of the school wants their quidditch team to win. Snape certainly wants Slytherin to win and turns a blind eye to the rulebreaking of Slytherins before Gryffindor-Slytherin quidditch games.
McGonagall says "They're not completely stupid" about muggles. She must be a pureblood elitist.
The view that muggles are stupid, unobservant, and boring is held by the majority of wizards. Wizards simply don't understand muggles. Even Mr. Weasley, who loves them, thinks of them more as amusing children than as equals.
Quirrell jinxes the broom McGonagall gives Harry.
That's right. Quirrell jinxes it. Not McGonagall. There is nothing wrong with the broom itself. It does not act up before in after that one quidditch game.
McGonagall was angry that the Trio had gone after the troll.
Of course she was angry. They could have been killed. The teachers, on the other hand, could have much more easily dealt with the troll. McGonagall does not encourage Harry to get himself into dangerous situations. She does not want him killed.
McGonagall did not suspect Quirrell. She must be either evil or stupid.
It seems that nobody but Snape suspected Quirrell. Are they all evil or stupid?
She discourages the Trio from protecting the stone.
She does this because they are students at the school. It is not their business to be protecting the Stone. They could have been killed. Surely if McGonagall wished Harry harm, she would encourage his recklessness and rulebreaking. However, she never does. She takes off 50 points from each student that was wandering at night because they are breaking the rules and could be in danger (what if Fluffy had killed them when they encoutered him?). She is fair. Remember that she also gave Malfoy a detention for being out of bed. Really, they deserved to get the points taken away. If any adult is to blame in this situation, it's Hagrid. He is the one who got Harry and the others into trouble for nighttime wanderings.
McGonagall dislikes divination and Trelawney. Her contempt is childish. This is because she does not like the consequences prophecies have had for Voldemort.
I think that McGonagall has every right to dislike Trelawney, who is an incompetent teacher. The divination class teaches nothing usefull. It is a bunch of rubbish. However, notice that McGonagall does not openly criticize her colleague. When Umbridge tries to through Trewlaney out, she comforts the divination teacher, telling her that she will not have to leave the school. This is not childish behavior. Also, if McGonagall were to dislike Trewlaney because of Voldemort, wouldn't she be a bit less obvious about it? If she really was Voldemort's spy she would be excellent at hiding her opinions.
McGonagall does not tell the students about the first opening of the Chamber of Secrets.
She is under not obligation to reveal such information to students. In fact, I'm sure that she doesn't want Harry investigating, because that might put him in danger. The first opening was held a secret. No one was allowed to talk about it. In fact, there is no proof that McGonagall was at Hogwarts during the first attack.
McGonagall is the first to discover the petrified Colin and the second (after Harry) to discover the petrified Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. She must be behind the attacks.
The same argument was made against Harry. He was the first to dicover Nick, Justin, and Mrs. Norris. He wasn't, however, the perpetrator. In fact, we know who was attacking the students, and it's not McGonagall.
Malfoy's plan was in the second book was to make McGonagall headmistress so that she could aid him in his nefarious plans.
First of all, McGonagall was only a temporary headmistress. Didn't Draco Malfoy make some comment about McGonagall not lasting long as headmistress? I could be wrong since I don't have access to the book, but I believe that he said something like that.
As headmistress in the second book, McGonagall did not stop the attacks.
Well, Dumbledore couldn't stop the attacks either, and he's a much more powerful wizard.
After Harry and Ron save Ginny, McGonagall says to Dumbledore "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?" She wants them to be punished.
Her statement in no way shows that she wants them to be punished. She is simply leaving Dumbledore to tell the boys whatever he wants. This is merely her manner of speaking. In fact, when Harry and Ron find Mrs. Norris, it is Snape who wants Harry punished, not McGonagall. She is not trying to get Harry into trouble.
McGonagall is sometimes emotional when it's inconvenient.
Her emotions have not much hindered Harry, so I can't see what the problem is. Some people just get emotional. People react differently to situations. As for allowing her emotions to get in the way, nobody is perfect. In the fifth book, Harry allows his emotions to get out of hand with Umbridge and it is McGonagall who reminds him of the importance of keeping calm.
She wanted the school to look good in front of Durmstrang.
I think that's just school pride.
In the fourth book, Dumbledore said that "they" would have needed to keep the real Moody alive for his hair.
They use of the plural pronound could easily refer to Crouch, Voldemort, and Wormtail.
McGonagall did not try to get Harry out of the tournament.
McGongall knew that Harry has entered a binding magical contract. He could not get out of the tournament. Notice that Dumbledore also did not try to get Harry out of the tournament.
McGonagall did not suspect the fake Moody.
It seems that for most of the book, nobody suspected Moody of being an impostor. The one who figured it out was Dumbledore and even he only pieced things together at the end. So really, if McGonagall didn't figure everything out, she is not either stupid or evil. Operating under that assumption would make practically everyone in the book and idiot.
McGonagall rushed to Draco's aid when "Moody" is bouncing him up and down.
First of all, she did not know that it was Draco. Second of all, it really is against the rules to that. He could have hurt Draco, and as a good teacher, she wants to prevent that. In fact, this is evidence of her decency. The greatest flaw in this argument is that if McGonagall were in league with the fake Moody, she would not have tried to stop him, would she?
McGonagall doesn't call Voldemort by his name.
This is no argument at all. Most of the wizarding population does not speak his name. Dumbledore and Harry are almost the only ones who do.
McGonagall never did anything useful for the Order.
We see the story through Harry's eyes. Just because Harry doesn't know what McGonagall does for the Order does not signify that she does nothing. This argument could be used against several characters. What does Mrs. Weasley do for the Order? Nothing that Harry knows of. Deos this mean that she is a Death Eater? Of course not.
In the fifth book, McGonagall got herself stunned and almost killed on purpose. She wanted to be removed from the school on purpose to aid Voldemort.
She was at St. Mungo's for a long time. She could have been killed. Surely she wouldn't do something that could kill her on pupose? The fact that she defended Hagrid shows that she is a good person. True, Dumbledore wanted her at school, but she couldn't watch Hagrid getting attacked like that. She is, after all, a Gryffindor and probably has a bit of the Gryffindor hero complex.
At the end fo the fifth book she gave Luna house points more grudgingly than she did to Harry.
This would be an example of house loyalty. It cannot be argued that McGonagall is bad because she doesn't favor Gryffindor enough and then be said that she is bad because she does favor Gryffindor and doesn't want to give points to another house (both of these arguments were used in
goldenmoonrose's essay).
After Dumbledore's death, McGonagall kept on talking about Dumbledore's trust in Snape and Snape's betrayal.
Well, she was in shock. She trusted Snape and he killed Dumbledore. I'm not going to get into the question of Snape's loyalties, but McGonagall certainly now believes that Snape turned traitor.
She moved into Dumbledore's office soon after his death. She was after is position.
What was she supposed to wait for? Once Dumbledore is dead, Hogwarts becomes her responsibility. If she were a Death Eater, she would most probably let the school fall into disarray by not taking charge. It's not as if she takes control quickly because she is hungry for power and is afraid someone else will take the position. As deputy headmistress, she would have to take charge of the school after Dumbledore until a new headmaster/headmistress was chosen.
McGonagall is not convinced that the school should open.
This seems to contradict the previous argument. If she wants the power of being headmistress at Hogwarts, why would she be so eager to take control of the school? It cannot be said that she both wants to control Hogwarts and that she wants the school to close.
McGonagall's actions have not given us any creditable reasons to believe she is a Death Eater. Besides, if she were a Death Eater, that would leave a lot of plot holes that would need to be explained in the seventh book. I don't think that there will be room for that.
I read the essay by
goldenmoonrose and found that, although it was well researched, it did not convince me. I simply cannot see McGonagall as a Death Eater. I will respond to the arguments used to show that McGonagall is a Death Eater. The arguments are in italics.
Professor McGonagall never taught the students anything useful.
On the contrary, she taught them plenty of useful skills. Transfiguration is a powerful and important branch of magic. In fact, Aurors are required to have a transfiguration NEWT. How can it be claimed that transfiguration will not be useful in fighting during the war? In fact, Dumbledore was a transfiguration teacher. Would anyone claim that he did not teach his students anything useful. McGonagall is a highly competent teacher.
McGonagall was an unregistered animagus, which is suspicious.
First of all, there is no solid proof that she was unregistered. Even if she was registered, she still could have been surprised that Dumbledore knew it was her sitting near the Dursleys' house. Tabby cats are not exactly rare, are they? It could be difficult to recognise her at first glance. When McGonagall asked Dumbledore how he knew the cat was her, he replied that he had never seen a cat be so still. (I'm not sure of the exact wording because unfortunately I don't have access to the Harry Potter books right now). Dumbledore did not reply that he knew she was an animagus. He didn't say that he had discovered her secret. This is because he knew that she was an animagus and she knew that he knew. It don't believe that it was a secret held from Dumbledore. McGonagall was merely surprised that he recognised her. After all, she probably didn't spend much time around him while transfigured. Why would she?
However, let's assume that she was unregistered at the beginning of the first book. This is not a crime. Hermione said that only a few registered animagi existed in the century (I don't know how many since I don't have the books with me). Surely these were not all the animagi in the entire century? I think it is quite obvious that many witches and wizards did not register. After all, much of the usefullness that comes from being an animagus disappears when one is registered. It would help McGonagall serve the Order not to be registered. In fact, I believe that she only registered because she was a transfiguration teacher.
I believe that Dumbledore may be in animagus. In fact, I'm almost sure of it. He is a very powerful wizard and a former transfiguration professor. How could he not be one. However, Hermione did not mention that she saw Dumledore's name in the list of animagi. Of course, this could be because he became an animagus in the previous century, but I still somehow doubt that Dumbledore would reveal that he was an animagus. He doesn't exactly follow the Ministry's laws. Besides, just like with McGonagall, it would help his enemies to know what he turned into.
It is suspicious that McGonagall knew to show up at Privet Drive, but not at what time.
Hagrid knew that he was to bring Harry to Privet Drive, so he told McGonagall. However, he could not tell her at what time or McGonagall did not trust that he would show up at the time Hagrid told her he would. Hagrid might easily not know when he would show up. Everything was in mayhem. The Potters had just been killed, their house was burned down, Voldemort had dissapeared, and there was general confustion. Even if Hagrid had given McGonagall a time frame, she could easily not have trusted him. Hagrid isn't exactly reliable, is he? And McGonagall would not have wanted to miss Harry and Dumbledore's arrival.
She disapproved of all the celebrations that occur after Voldemort's downfall.
McGonagall had a point when she said that even the muggles were noticing the celebrations. It would be a shame for the wizarding world to finally be discovered merely because everyone became reckless in their partying. In addition, she is probably mourning the deaths of the Potters. True, she did not know for sure that they had died until Dumbledore confirmed it, but she had heard rumors. The fact that their deaths did affect her shows that she did care about them.
McGonagall does not favor her house.
And here I thought being objective was good. Is being fair to all students a bad sign? We know that Snape shows blatant favoritism, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. We have never seen Flitwick or Sprout show favortism. Also, McGonagall does care about her house. She wants Gryffindor to win the house and quidditch cup. Which brings us to the next point:
She is a quidditch fan. Quidditch divides the school. Therefore, McGonagall must wish the school to divide and fall.
Harry is an ardent quidditch fan. So is Ron. In fact, I would say that the majority of the school wants their quidditch team to win. Snape certainly wants Slytherin to win and turns a blind eye to the rulebreaking of Slytherins before Gryffindor-Slytherin quidditch games.
McGonagall says "They're not completely stupid" about muggles. She must be a pureblood elitist.
The view that muggles are stupid, unobservant, and boring is held by the majority of wizards. Wizards simply don't understand muggles. Even Mr. Weasley, who loves them, thinks of them more as amusing children than as equals.
Quirrell jinxes the broom McGonagall gives Harry.
That's right. Quirrell jinxes it. Not McGonagall. There is nothing wrong with the broom itself. It does not act up before in after that one quidditch game.
McGonagall was angry that the Trio had gone after the troll.
Of course she was angry. They could have been killed. The teachers, on the other hand, could have much more easily dealt with the troll. McGonagall does not encourage Harry to get himself into dangerous situations. She does not want him killed.
McGonagall did not suspect Quirrell. She must be either evil or stupid.
It seems that nobody but Snape suspected Quirrell. Are they all evil or stupid?
She discourages the Trio from protecting the stone.
She does this because they are students at the school. It is not their business to be protecting the Stone. They could have been killed. Surely if McGonagall wished Harry harm, she would encourage his recklessness and rulebreaking. However, she never does. She takes off 50 points from each student that was wandering at night because they are breaking the rules and could be in danger (what if Fluffy had killed them when they encoutered him?). She is fair. Remember that she also gave Malfoy a detention for being out of bed. Really, they deserved to get the points taken away. If any adult is to blame in this situation, it's Hagrid. He is the one who got Harry and the others into trouble for nighttime wanderings.
McGonagall dislikes divination and Trelawney. Her contempt is childish. This is because she does not like the consequences prophecies have had for Voldemort.
I think that McGonagall has every right to dislike Trelawney, who is an incompetent teacher. The divination class teaches nothing usefull. It is a bunch of rubbish. However, notice that McGonagall does not openly criticize her colleague. When Umbridge tries to through Trewlaney out, she comforts the divination teacher, telling her that she will not have to leave the school. This is not childish behavior. Also, if McGonagall were to dislike Trewlaney because of Voldemort, wouldn't she be a bit less obvious about it? If she really was Voldemort's spy she would be excellent at hiding her opinions.
McGonagall does not tell the students about the first opening of the Chamber of Secrets.
She is under not obligation to reveal such information to students. In fact, I'm sure that she doesn't want Harry investigating, because that might put him in danger. The first opening was held a secret. No one was allowed to talk about it. In fact, there is no proof that McGonagall was at Hogwarts during the first attack.
McGonagall is the first to discover the petrified Colin and the second (after Harry) to discover the petrified Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. She must be behind the attacks.
The same argument was made against Harry. He was the first to dicover Nick, Justin, and Mrs. Norris. He wasn't, however, the perpetrator. In fact, we know who was attacking the students, and it's not McGonagall.
Malfoy's plan was in the second book was to make McGonagall headmistress so that she could aid him in his nefarious plans.
First of all, McGonagall was only a temporary headmistress. Didn't Draco Malfoy make some comment about McGonagall not lasting long as headmistress? I could be wrong since I don't have access to the book, but I believe that he said something like that.
As headmistress in the second book, McGonagall did not stop the attacks.
Well, Dumbledore couldn't stop the attacks either, and he's a much more powerful wizard.
After Harry and Ron save Ginny, McGonagall says to Dumbledore "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?" She wants them to be punished.
Her statement in no way shows that she wants them to be punished. She is simply leaving Dumbledore to tell the boys whatever he wants. This is merely her manner of speaking. In fact, when Harry and Ron find Mrs. Norris, it is Snape who wants Harry punished, not McGonagall. She is not trying to get Harry into trouble.
McGonagall is sometimes emotional when it's inconvenient.
Her emotions have not much hindered Harry, so I can't see what the problem is. Some people just get emotional. People react differently to situations. As for allowing her emotions to get in the way, nobody is perfect. In the fifth book, Harry allows his emotions to get out of hand with Umbridge and it is McGonagall who reminds him of the importance of keeping calm.
She wanted the school to look good in front of Durmstrang.
I think that's just school pride.
In the fourth book, Dumbledore said that "they" would have needed to keep the real Moody alive for his hair.
They use of the plural pronound could easily refer to Crouch, Voldemort, and Wormtail.
McGonagall did not try to get Harry out of the tournament.
McGongall knew that Harry has entered a binding magical contract. He could not get out of the tournament. Notice that Dumbledore also did not try to get Harry out of the tournament.
McGonagall did not suspect the fake Moody.
It seems that for most of the book, nobody suspected Moody of being an impostor. The one who figured it out was Dumbledore and even he only pieced things together at the end. So really, if McGonagall didn't figure everything out, she is not either stupid or evil. Operating under that assumption would make practically everyone in the book and idiot.
McGonagall rushed to Draco's aid when "Moody" is bouncing him up and down.
First of all, she did not know that it was Draco. Second of all, it really is against the rules to that. He could have hurt Draco, and as a good teacher, she wants to prevent that. In fact, this is evidence of her decency. The greatest flaw in this argument is that if McGonagall were in league with the fake Moody, she would not have tried to stop him, would she?
McGonagall doesn't call Voldemort by his name.
This is no argument at all. Most of the wizarding population does not speak his name. Dumbledore and Harry are almost the only ones who do.
McGonagall never did anything useful for the Order.
We see the story through Harry's eyes. Just because Harry doesn't know what McGonagall does for the Order does not signify that she does nothing. This argument could be used against several characters. What does Mrs. Weasley do for the Order? Nothing that Harry knows of. Deos this mean that she is a Death Eater? Of course not.
In the fifth book, McGonagall got herself stunned and almost killed on purpose. She wanted to be removed from the school on purpose to aid Voldemort.
She was at St. Mungo's for a long time. She could have been killed. Surely she wouldn't do something that could kill her on pupose? The fact that she defended Hagrid shows that she is a good person. True, Dumbledore wanted her at school, but she couldn't watch Hagrid getting attacked like that. She is, after all, a Gryffindor and probably has a bit of the Gryffindor hero complex.
At the end fo the fifth book she gave Luna house points more grudgingly than she did to Harry.
This would be an example of house loyalty. It cannot be argued that McGonagall is bad because she doesn't favor Gryffindor enough and then be said that she is bad because she does favor Gryffindor and doesn't want to give points to another house (both of these arguments were used in
goldenmoonrose's essay).
After Dumbledore's death, McGonagall kept on talking about Dumbledore's trust in Snape and Snape's betrayal.
Well, she was in shock. She trusted Snape and he killed Dumbledore. I'm not going to get into the question of Snape's loyalties, but McGonagall certainly now believes that Snape turned traitor.
She moved into Dumbledore's office soon after his death. She was after is position.
What was she supposed to wait for? Once Dumbledore is dead, Hogwarts becomes her responsibility. If she were a Death Eater, she would most probably let the school fall into disarray by not taking charge. It's not as if she takes control quickly because she is hungry for power and is afraid someone else will take the position. As deputy headmistress, she would have to take charge of the school after Dumbledore until a new headmaster/headmistress was chosen.
McGonagall is not convinced that the school should open.
This seems to contradict the previous argument. If she wants the power of being headmistress at Hogwarts, why would she be so eager to take control of the school? It cannot be said that she both wants to control Hogwarts and that she wants the school to close.
McGonagall's actions have not given us any creditable reasons to believe she is a Death Eater. Besides, if she were a Death Eater, that would leave a lot of plot holes that would need to be explained in the seventh book. I don't think that there will be room for that.