| “ | Much too good for children! | ” |
–Miss Trunchbull | ||
Miss Agatha Trunchbull, or otherwise known as The Trunchbull, is the main antagonist of the Matilda franchise. Miss Trunchbull is depicted as a large, muscular woman who wears her hair in a tight bun. Her outfit is a bottle-green tight pantsuit adorned with a brown belt with a silver buckle. She is a harsh, violent, unstable, misopedist, sociopathic school principal who terrorizes children, and states that she was glad that she was never one. She is also wearing a dress shirt with a necktie as well.
She made weekly visits to every classroom and tended to take over, but mostly Jennifer Honey's, probably due to her being her step-niece.
Biography
Agatha Trunchbull's parents presumably either divorced or one was widowed when she was young. She then she became the step-sister of Jennifer Honey's mother. After finishing secondary school (high school), the Trunchbull would compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics, becoming known for her hammer throw.
After her step sister died, the Trunchbull was called in to look after her step-niece while Jennifer's father, Magnus Honey, was away at work. Unknown to her step-brother-in-law, she was actually cruel and abusive to his daughter behind his back. When Jennifer was five years of age, her father died. The police concluded that Magnus had killed himself, though it is heavily suggested that the Trunchbull had murdered him so she could inherit his house and money. Miss Trunchbull blames Miss Honey for her step sister's death.
Years later, Miss Trunchbull became the principal (headmistress in the book) of Crunchem Hall, the same school where her niece taught at. She was known to use excessively cruel, unusual, and dangerous physical punishments on children, including putting them in the Chokey (a big narrow cupboard in a dripping pipe with jagged edges where the walls have broken glass and rusty nails sticking out resembling an iron maiden). (While most principals of the schools in the Crunchem Hall School District --elementary, middle, high, and college schools-- are nice and sweet like Ms. Honey, Trunchbull --the principal of the one school Crunchem Hall Elementary-- is a real witch. And from the Crunchem Hall School District --with the exception of Ms. Honey at Crunchem Hall Elementary-- past school staff, past students, parents of past students, police officers from all states and countries, and even Trunchbull's own boss have ended up in the Chokey and died. That is, so Trunchbull can forever continue her reign of terror without being caught. That is, even before Matilda's era at the school district.) The Trunchbull imposed strict and unreasonable rules, such as banning pigtails for girls and long hair for boys. Some of her harsh punishments include throwing Amanda Thripp over the fence by her pigtails, forcing Bruce Bogtrotter to eat an entire chocolate cake, and throwing Julius Rottwinkle out of a fifth-story window for eating Licorice Allsorts (M&Ms in the film) during class.
In the film, she appears for the first time at Harry Wormwood's car dealership, where the latter sells her a car that was supposedly brand new. However, after she discovers that Wormwood had swindled her, the Trunchbull decided to lock Matilda in The Chokey. Matilda later retaliated by unknowingly causing a newt to jump onto her after the cup of water spilled, leaving her in a state of panic.
A few days later, Matilda shows up at the Trunchbull's house in the evening, wrecking havoc. This causes the Trunchbull to believe that her house was haunted, as her portrait was thrown into the fireplace and burned, after which a portrait of Magnus Honey was put in its place. However, as the Trunchbull prepares to flee, she finds a red ribbon next to her car, convincing her that it was a child who had attempted to enter her home.
The next day, she confronts Jennifer Honey's class over the red ribbon, and is about to punish Matilda, before the young girl uses her telekinetic powers to write a message on the board, posing as the ghost of Magnus Honey. The message demands that the Trunchbull to hand over Jennifer Honey's home and money, and leave town forever, threatening her with death if she does not comply. Two chalkboard erasers attack her after this, and the Trunchbull faints. She regains consciousness a few minutes later, and begins terrorizing the students, charging at one young girl, Lavender, for no reason other to seriously harm her. Matilda uses her power to move Lavender out of the way, and The Trunchbull charges straight through the door and lands headfirst in the hallway. Seeing the opportunity at the now frail and day Trunchbull, the children revolt and chase her out the school. And her car malfunctions --when she starts her car-- and she drives away (never to be seen again). She drives off backwards and presumably gets into a fatal car accident with her car. That is, and she eventually dies.
Following her demise/defeat/disappearance/downfall, Jennifer Honey moves into her true home, and becomes the new principal of Crunchem Hall (Mr. Trilby becomes the new school director in the novel). Matilda Wormwood later moves in with Jennifer Honey after her family --Harry, Zinnia, and Michael-- flee the authorities, moving to Guam (Spain in the book). (Matilda insists that she would rather be with Ms. Honey so she can continue going to her real school. And she fears any further child abuse if she goes with her real family --the Wormwoods-- and moves to Guam.) The Wormwoods (eventually) make it to Guam and (successfully) get a new house there. But despite making it to Guam and settling their new life, they --the Wormwoods-- are presumably arrested, are permanently sentenced to jail, and spend their lives there (in jail) until they pass away, and eventually die. (That is, for their child abusing on Matilda and scamming their business.) This leaves Matilda on a happy life with her teacher Ms. Honey and school. Matilda (despite offscreen) shares the good news. She tells her classmates (from Ms. Honey's class) that she is going to continue going to school with them because she is now with Ms. Honey.
Personality
Agatha Trunchbull is a ruthlessly cruel, malicious, merciless, misopedist, pompous, wicked, unstable, egotistical, arrogant, narcissistic, sociopathic, and utterly evil individual. She has no qualms about harming children in the most cruel ways imaginable, and never once shows remorse for her actions. However, she is also an incredibly fearful and paranoid individual, being incredibly superstitious. This paranoia led to her downfall, as Matilda was able to use it to defeat her.
Behind the scenes
Her fate in the film differed greatly from the book; in the book, the Trunchbull was traumatized by the message on the blackboard and briefly fainted. When she awakened, she was said to have left the school “tight-lipped and white in the face.”
In the film, she lost her sanity completely, ran amok through the school, and ambushed a few of Matilda's classmates. But for each time she antagonized, she was thwarted by Matilda's telekinetic powers. Then, the entire faculty of school children, including Bruce Bogtrotter, bombarded her with objects such as food, water balloons and toilet paper, most of which opened when they landed on her. The Trunchbull was pursued savagely out of the school, where she retreated into her car and hurtled out of the school, still chased by the rebellious mob of school children. She was never seen or heard from ever again; it was also said that she eventually followed the fake Magnus' orders and gave Miss Honey back her house and her money.
Gallery
Matilda the Musical
Trivia
- The fact that Miss Trunchbull was played by Pam Ferris is ironic, as Ferris is kind towards children in real life and she would later go on to play the headteacher Mrs. Bevan in the 2009 film "Nativity".
- The 1996 Trunchbull is also compared to Marge Dursley from the Harry Potter series' third installment, Prisoner of Azkaban, as both characters were played by the same actress. Both characters torment the main protagonists, who then used their powers to end their cruel habits.
- Ferris also portrayed Mrs. White in the third series of the UK show, Cluedo.
- She according to a reddit link[1] inspired the design and appearance of Aunt Lydia (played by Ann Dowd) from the 2017 Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale.
- In the book Miss Trunchbull is Mrs. Honey's sister. After her death Mr. Honey asked her to move in to take care of his daughter. Miss Trunchbull blames Miss Honey for her sister's death and abused her.
- The musical reveals that she is responsible for her sister's death. Miss Trunchbull caused her sister's death in an acrobat accident while she was pregnant with Miss Honey. Miss Trunchbull blamed Miss Honey for her sister's death.
- In the 2022 musical movie on Netflix she will be played by Emma Thompson who previously worked with Pam Ferris in Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban.
- The Trunchbull's villainy is reminiscent of Coco LaBouche from Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, because she despises children and mistreated Kira and the Rugrats in the same manner.
- Maggie Kirkpatrick was originally considered for the role of Miss Trunchbull, but she wasn't authorized to work in the United States.
- It's widely believed that Trunchbull was based off the headmistress of Liccy Dahl (who served as a producer) - who reportedly got very creative with her punishments.
- Her line, "In this Classroom, In this School, I am GOD!" is one of the most controversial aspects of the movie.
- While speaking to Harry Wormwood, she mentions that she was never a child. This implies a rough and/or abusive upbringing, though it could simply out of spite.
- Pam Ferris (the Trunchbull's actor from the 1996 film) used to work as a gardener, and had an extremely strict and intimidating boss. Pam mimicked her boss's personality and voice while acting as the Trunchbull.
- In the book after her niece Ms. Honey says that she was once a little girl as well she claims she was not a child for very long and that she became a woman very quickly which may or may not be true.
- Despite being female, Miss Trunchbull has only been portrayed by a female actress in the 1996 film adaptation of the book. In the musical adaptation, she was portrayed by a male actor and will be portrayed again by a male actor in the musical's upcoming film adaptation.
- Though unmentioned in other adaptations which simply state that Trunchbull was never seen again after her breakdown, some play versions mention that Trunchbull was eventually arrested sometime after fleeing the school due to accidentally admitting that Magnus's ghost wanted revenge on her for his murder in a panic attack.
- Her first name came from an Ancient Greek word meaning "good". It's very ironic, because Agatha Trunchbull is anything but good.