Miss Trunchbull
| Agatha Trunchbull | |
|---|---|
| Matilda character | |
| Created by | Roald Dahl |
| Portrayed by |
In the film: Pam Ferris In the musical: Bertie Carvel |
Miss Agatha Trunchbull, also known simply as "the Trunchbull" or "Miss Trunchbull," is the fictional headmistress of Crunchem Hall Primary School (Crunchem Hall Elementary School in the 1996 film) and main antagonist in Roald Dahl's book and the film, Matilda, said to look "more like an eccentric and rather bloodthirsty follower of the stag-hounds than the headmistress of a nice school for children." She is a harsh, cruel educator and is later revealed to be the aunt of Matilda's teacher, Miss Jennifer "Jen" Honey.
Fictional character biography
Agatha Trunchbull is depicted as being a brawny, muscular woman serving as the remorseless headmistress of Matilda's school, feared by pupils and staff alike, notorious for her wildly excessive and idiosyncratic discipline: trivial misdeeds (including simply wearing pigtails) incurring punishments up to potentially fatal physical discipline. She denies ever having been a child herself, her hatred of them is so great.
She is revealed to be the aunt of Matilda's sweet-natured elementary teacher Miss Jennifer "Jen" Honey. Agatha served as Jen's childhood guardian after the passing of her parents. (Jen's exposure to Agatha's abuse as a little girl rendered her quite soft-spoken and timid.) Out of adoration for her schoolteacher, Matilda used her telekinetic abilities to drive Agatha from her own house one day by posing as Magnus's spirit and levitating a chalk stick to scrawl a message on the board. Agatha becomes terrified. She subsequently vanished, and gave back her house to her niece, who becomes the new headmistress immediately, in addition to her teaching duties (However, in the book, Mr. Tribly becomes the headmaster).
Portrayals
Agatha is portrayed by Pam Ferris in the film and Bertie Carvel in the musical.