| “ | Besides even if you didn't do it, I am going to punish you. Because I'm big and you're small, and I'm right and you're wrong. And there's nothing you can do about it. You're a liar and a scoundrel and your father is a liar and a cheat! You're the most corrupt lowlives in the history of civilization. Am I wrong? I'm never wrong. In this classroom, in this school, I. AM. GOD! | „ |
| ~ Trunchbull to Matilda and the classroom, and her most infamous quote. |
Agatha Trunchbull is the main antagonist of Roald Dahl's 1988 novel Matilda, as well as its 1996 film and musical adaptations.
She is the domineering and abusive principal of Crunchem Hall Primary School. She prefers to subject students to extreme punishments.
She was portrayed by Pam Ferris in the 1996 film, Bertie Carvel in the musical, and Emma Thompson in the 2022 film.
What Makes Her Pure Evil?[]
In General/Background[]
- After the mysterious apparent suicide of her brother-in-law, Miss Honey's father, she takes over her house by apparently hiding her brother-in-law's will and abuses Miss Honey instead of taking care of her, forcing her to become her servant, beating her up and nearly drowning her if she didn't bathe like she wanted, and precluding her from even going to college to serve as her housemaid.
- Despite giving her niece an allowance, such an allowance was miserable, and she became furious when Jennifer decided to move into a cottage.
- It's strongly implied and speculated by Matilda that Trunchbull murdered Magnus herself so she could have full control over his wealth and usurp his estate. Trunchbull noticeably freaks out when the chalk writes that it's Magnus's ghost when she wasn't afraid of the floating chalk before, and outright faints when "Magnus" threatens to get her "like [she] got [him]".
- Prefers to give undeserved extreme punishments to the students that involve torture, regardless of what their age is, to the point that, according to Hortensia, some leave the school in stretchers, making them unbelievable so the parents will not believe their children. Among those:
- Throws Julius Rottwinkle off the window of his class for eating some candy during her lesson, breaking some of his bones.
- Grabs Amanda Tripp by her hair and throws her for not liking her pigtails, and even insults her mother for thinking they are cute.
- Sadistically, makes Bruce Bogtrotter eat a whole chocolate cake for allegedly stealing a slice from hers and then breaks the plate on his head when all the students cheer for him.
- Forces Nigel Hicks has to stand on one foot and turn around for the rest of the class because he didn't wash his hands.
- Pulls Rupert from his hair because he didn't answer a math question correctly, leading him to feel pain on his head for a whole week.
- Pulls Eric Ink from his ears just because he mused that she started her life as a baby and for not answering correctly a spelling question, and mocks him by saying that he will look like a pixie for the rest of his life.
- Grabs Wilfred by the leg because Miss Honey hadn't taught him how to learn a multiplication table in reverse.
- Though the children manage to drive her out of the school and humiliate her at the end, she is never fully brought to justice and could still come back and continue her crimes in the future. While it is speculated that she got arrested at one point after fleeing the school, it is never shown in the story, and thus she still qualifies as a Karma Houdini.
Matilda[]
- She also punishes students for pranking her, even those who may not have pranked her if she doesn't know for sure who did.
- She prefers to lock students who annoy her in a torture-contraption called the Chokey. The contraption is in a closet space that contains nails, glass, and sharp objects. She would keep them locked inside the Chokey for hours.
- Threatened to have Matilda expelled from the school for a prank she didn't commit and later accused her of humiliating her in class (though Matilda actually did that, but with her mental powers).
- Though she hints about a bad childhood when she says she's glad she never was a child, her monstrous actions and abuse show it doesn't detract from the monster she is. The fact that she is proud of her bad childhood makes her even less sympathetic.
- She is portrayed very seriously, with nothing redeeming about her character.
Exclusive to the Film[]
- Most of her actions and the punishments she gives in the novel are shown, but in addition:
- Seems to have thrown Julius Rottwinkle from the second floor instead of the first floor for eating M&Ms during class, though Hortensia fortunately specifies that he survived.
- Nearly gets Amanda Tripp killed when she grabs her by her hair and throws her, as Amanda was nearly impaled by a pointy fence, which she narrowly missed.
- Forces Bruce Bogtrotter to eat a slice of chocolate cake for stealing a slice from hers and then forces him to eat the rest of the cake (that is said to be filled with Cookie's (the school's cook) sweat and blood) sadistically. When the students cheer for Bruce and he finishes the cake, she still breaks the plate and on his head but takes him to be punished and then has the whole school stay five additional hours. She also threatens that anyone who objects to her orders will be thrown into the Chokey.
- She rejects Miss Honey's advice to put Matilda in a better class because of her delusion that children must be tortured to grow up, analogizing children to shot puts that go further with more force, even though Matilda is very smart. Also, she plays a very creepy game where she throws darts on a dartboard covered with photos of children and rudely pushes Miss Honey out of her office, almost hitting her with a dart.
- Additionally, she tells her niece that "everything she does is for her own good," although it's made clear that her actions are done out of pure sadistic pleasure.
- Though she is friendly towards Cookie the School Cook, this is only shown for a second, so the fullest extent of their relationship is not shown. In fact, Cookie congratulates Trunchbull's defeat and joins in the riot, heavily implying they really did not get along well.
- She ends up putting Matilda in the Chokey just because Harry Wormwood, Matilda's father, scammed her by selling her a faulty car, something that Matilda didn't do and had no part in, plus she deserved to get scammed.
- She assures Matilda that even if she didn't put a newt in her water jar (which would have been impossible, as Lavender put the newt in her jar while Matilda was locked inside the Chokey), she will still punish her because of her authority, (which she gloats about) and arrogantly declares that she, the Trunchbull, is never wrong and is god of the school.
- She violently kicked a black cat (who was unharmed) because she saw it as bad luck, although the cat shows no hatred towards her.
- She threatens to kill Mr. Wormwood for scamming her.
- She observes the chocolate box's lid tilted by a little bit, even hanging up on Wormwood, who made a way bigger problem for her (giving her a bad car). Even though nothing was stolen, she tries to murder Miss Honey and Matilda when they sneak into her house, despite not knowing who was there. The scene reveals her to be a sadistic thrill-seeker, challenging the intruders with "come out and fight like a man" (even though she's a woman), jumping off a balcony, and chasing them with a hammer throw, saying "some rats are gonna die today!" It shows that she loves going on a big adventure to hurt anyone who "breaks the rules," no matter how ridiculous those rules are or what she has to go through to do it.
- She is seen wrecking her own house (actually Miss Honey's stolen house) by throwing javelins in the walls to damage them. She did other vandalism in the earlier chase scene. Meanwhile, Matilda uses her powers from a safe distance to mischievously torment Trunchbull, including burning Trunchbull's favorite portrait of herself and making Magnus's portrait fly over Trunchbull's head to replace the lost photo, as the clock jumps to midnight. While Trunchbull was sad to be treated this way, and the scene was especially funny, it was only comedic karma. She did so much worse to so many other kids, and Matilda had to do it to stop her. Note that she never knew about Matilda's powers and thought they were real.
- She finds Matilda's ribbon on her own car and threatens to lock up Matilda in a place where no one will ever see her again, nor with the crows be able to leave their droppings on her simply because Matilda broke into her house (the first time, not the second time). When Miss Honey took the blame for the break-in, she revealed that she broke Miss Honey's arm when she was only 7 years old and nearly did it again at that moment, and even the children were surprised that Trunchbull would go that far.
- She was tricked by Matilda again into thinking that Magnus's ghost was going to kill Agatha unless she gave Miss Honey her house and money back and ran away from town. Her reaction only shows how pathetic she is. Although it was reasonable for her to be scared at the message, she continues to attack random children who did nothing wrong, throwing a boy out a window again and trying to squash Lavender against a door, with Matilda saving both of them while punishing Trunchbull, who cowardly exits the school as the children throw water balloons and food on her for revenge.
- While she has plenty of comical moments, even the children who are terrified of her laugh at her sometimes. That's only because the story is a comedy, and she is still the whole reason the story is dark at all, with nothing redeeming about her character. She is only funny when she can be laughed at from a safe distance. If anything, all of her comical moments only show just how dangerously crazy she is or are played by a well-deserved karma.
Exclusive to the Musical[]
- She forces her pregnant stepsister, Miss Honey's mother, to work at the circus as a trapeze artist or be jailed up, and then cuts the rope to kill her sister, yet Jennifer managed to survive and be born.
- She murders her brother-in-law with a pistol, Miss Honey's father, one night after he comes home early and discovers that his daughter was starving while chained to the cellar, then frames his death like a suicide. While this is heavily implied yet unconfirmed in the novel and the film, it's confirmed in the musical.
- Most of her actions and the punishment she gives in the novel and the film are shown, but unlike both the novel and film:
- She swings Amanda Thripp by throwing her into the air, causing Amanda to fall to the ground or in the arms of other students.
- She forces Bruce Bogtrotter to eat an entire cake, but when he finishes it with the help of his friends, she has him locked up in the Chokey and forced to wear a sign saying "I Got Put In The Chokey" just to humiliate him more.
- She has some teenage students work for her by scaring and bullying the children, making them torment kids like they were tormented by her.
- She attempts to replace all of the school's classrooms with Chokeys to create an educational system where children will be tortured and not seen or heard.
Trivia[]
- Despite being Pure Evil in Danny DeVito's film adaptation, in his Matilda review, the late film critic Roger Ebert described the Trunchbull as a "villainess children can enjoy because she is too ridiculous to be taken seriously and yet really is mean and evil," despite the fact that Trunchbull's comical moments don't detract from her villainy at all and she is still portrayed seriously.
- Ironically, her first name, Agatha, means "good." This is very contradictory, as Trunchbull is anything but good, which is fitting for her Pure Evil status.
External Links[]
- Agatha Trunchbull on the Villains Wiki.
- Agatha Trunchbull on the Wikipedia.
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 Pure Evils
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Literature Animated Features Live-Action Films | ||