The Stabat Mater ("Standing Mother") and Feminine Imagery in Deathly Hallows

The "Stabat Mater" image is one that orginiates in the crucifixion story in the Gospels and has been used in several recent movies. It means "mother standing" and refers to Mary standing at the foot of the cross, bearing witness: "so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too" (Luke 2:35). In the movie "the Boondock Saints" (of which I know Pauli is also a fan), as Il Duce and his twin sons prepare to finish off the great slippery crime lord in the courtroom they have highjacked, there is a woman in the audience who hides her face - Il Duce comforts her with something like "it will all be over soon, but for now you have to watch" ... in other words a woman being told "you must stand and bear witness to the justice." In both of "The Ring" movies produced thus far there is a teenage "Stabat Mater" in the opening killings by the demon-child Sumara: a teenage girl who is present to witness (in the first one, done most excellently by Gore Verbinski, of "Pirates of the Caribbean" fame - I like the Ring 2 and thought it had some great development of themes from movie 1 and some distinctive Japaneese style from the directore, but I likes Verbinski's actuall directoral work better - the girl in Ring 1 is the "Becca" character, who nicely becomes a "prophetess" from the experience, she can read the mark on Naomi Watts' character of having seen the video-tape). But in the Gospel account of the Crucifxion, Mary the Blessed Mother does not stand at the foot of the cross alone, she stands with two other women. The "Locus classicus" is John 19:25 - "Near the foot of the cross stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." Ever since I saw/read Tonks in book 5 making faces for Ginny and Hermione at the table in #12 Grimmauld place, I was really impressed by what Rowling was doing with feminine identity/psyche. That scene impressed me very much as a young woman who is in a role younger and more "lively" (as an eligable bachelorette) than the mother figure, but is also older than the girls, a "grown-up," and who seems to be sort of "mentoring" the girls in being a girl who is really and truly interesting in a distinctly feminine way of "palyfulness" (which, given that little thing Rowling had on her site in the journal on wanting girls not to be duped and controlled by the "wafer-thin supermodel" image of femininity, I think is right up Rowling's alley). And, low and behold, in book 7 Tonks makes what I think is a very pointed return to a scene right alongside Ginny. "As the walls trembled again, he led the other two back through the concealed entrance and down the staircase into the Room of Requirement, It was empty except for three women: Ginny, Tonks and an elderly witch wearing a moth-eaten hat, whom Harry recognized immediately as Neville's Grandmother" (DH 624 - emphasis added). A few preliminary sideline notes are in order here. The first is that this is a really unique passage that sort of jumps off the page at you when you realize the "oddity," in realtion to the rest of the texts involving Ginny, that she is here refered to as a "woman." The second is, quite simply put, that Neville's Gran rocks and quite simply kicks *ss. But on to the specific "Stabat Mater" content of this post. These are not just any 3 women, they are 3 very representative women: a grandmother, a mother (and a new mother at that ... later we get the experienced mother of Lewis' wife-of-the-captain from Till We Have Faces, whose "wounds" are "where a woman's are when she has had eight children" ... in Molly's well-noted "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" [DH 736] ... Bellatrix's "What will happen to your children when I have killed you? ... When Mummy's gone the same way as Freddie" is a direct affront to the mothering feminine image, and directly after she [Bella] has been, pointedly, attacking particularly the daughters, dueling Hermione, Ginny and Luna all at once) ... and a woman who is a daughter, Ginny (specifically a daughter in the story ... obviously all women have been daughters, but we don't see, for instance, Molly's mother or Neville's great grandmother). These 3 women, representing 3 stages of feminine life, stand gaurd at the ROR end of the tunnel ... Gran Longbottom is even the one with the prudence to close the portal one Aberforth is no longer keeping post at his pub to guard the entrance. They all eventually join the fray, and one dies, but at this point, coming into the crescendo, into Rowling's great "battle rally" scenes that rival even Mel Gibson's horseback speech in "Braveheart," these 3 representative women "stand gaurd" together (Note that in the Gospel account, it is "only 3 wome" plus one man ... John , the "disciple whom he loved" ... all the others deserted in that hour). PS Oh, and on the whole thing of Aberforth - and all the aspersions of "fooling around" with goats ... this too, contrary to all the insinuations made by Rita Skeeter and others, has to do with a tender emotional connection with a female family member. The reason his patronus is a goat is revealed in passing and has to do with his love for his sister. So, in case any missed it: "I was her favorite ... She liked me best. I could get her to eat when she wouldn't do it for my mother, I could get her to calm down when she was in one of her rages, and when she was quiet, she used to help me feed the goats" (DH 565 - emphasis added). A final note - I REALLY like the "whispering woman" image Rowling employs. I do not have time to track down the myriad times that Hermione whispers meaningful things in Deathly Hallows, but the others that really stuck out to me are at the Burrow when, just before she kisses Harry, Ginny whispers something like "there's the silver lining I was looking for" and when the trio have despaired and cannot produce patronuses in the final battle and Luna's, Ernie's and Seamus's Patronuses appear (1 from each house except Slytherin) and Luna whispers the encouragement to Harry "We're all still here ... we're still fighting"(DH 649) ... (Ron is dead on: Luna is a really great character in these books). What it really reminds me of is Constantine's (Keanu Reeve's character in the movie a few years ago) description of the way the "influence peddlers" whisper in the ears of mortals - something like " their slightest word can give you just the encouragement you need, or turn your favorite pleasure into your worst nightmare."