The Simpsons - Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson (
née Bouvier) (voiced by Julie
Kavner) is a fictional character featured in the animated television series
The Simpsons. She is the well-meaning and patient wife of Homer. Her most
notable physical feature is her blue hair, styled into an improbably high
beehive (kept in place by Johnson's Water Seal). It was once mentioned, by
Homer, that she actually dyes her hair blue, as she's been "gray as a mule since
seventeen". With a few exceptions, Marge spends most of her time tending to
housework, minding Maggie, being supportive of Lisa, and either disciplining
Bart or defending him from Homer's rage. She was named after Margaret "Marge"
Groening, mother of Matt Groening, creator of
The Simpsons.
In a first-season episode ("Life on the Fast Lane"), Marge's age was said to
be 34; several later episodes, however, have given Marge's age as 38, possibly a
reflection on her and Homer's attending their twentieth anniversary high-school
reunion in one episode. Her birthday may be March 18 (working from the air date
of "Life on the Fast Lane") or possibly April 20 (Homer once mentioned that she
shared a birthday with Hitler); a more recent episode would suggest that her
birthday is in February, as she said that emeralds would have been her
birthstone if she had been born three months later (emeralds are the birthstones
for May). She's apparently fluent in French and German.
Marge has taken on various jobs, many of which have lasted only one episode
each, among them:
- Homemaker (1985 to present)
- Pretzel maker/saleswoman
- Police officer
- "Slot jockey"
- Trade-show model
- Realtor (she sold the infamous "Murder House" to Ned Flanders)
- Springfield Nuclear Power Plant worker
- Actress / musical singer
- Professional artist
- Substitute teacher at Springfield Elementary School
- Activist against violence in children's television
- Novelist
- Waitress on roller skates
- The church "Listen Lady"
- Tradeshow model
- Bodybuilder
- Bartender/waitress at Moe's Tavern (in "Mommie Beerest")
- Sideshow Marge (not seen, she references to it once)
Biography
Marge's family are fairly recent immigrants. They chose to come to
Springfield rather than Stenchburg because they admired the life story of
Jebidiah Springfield.
When Marge was young she harbored aspirations of becoming an astronaut.
During her youth, Marge was a talented painter. She had such an intense crush
on Ringo Starr that she painted numerous portraits of him (including one in
which they get married) and wrote to him.
Marge claims her greatest moment of stardom was back in high school when she
and her friend, Chloe, arrested a younger Moe Szyslak, who was a cafeteria
worker and had spat in some soup to "teach them to give him his first job outta
prison!"
After high school, and before marrying Homer and giving birth to Bart, Marge
worked as a waitress on roller skates at a drive-in restaurant. She sometimes
collects unemployment benefits from her short lived professions.
Marge has two older sisters, twins Patty and Selma (both also voiced by
Kavner). Her father, a former flight attendant (air steward), is deceased,
although when or how this occurred has not been explained. Her disapproving
mother, Jacqueline, lives on but is rarely seen. All members of the Bouvier
family (except, of course, Marge) smoke heavily and have gruff voices and
sarcastic, snarky demeanours. None of the other Bouvier family members approves
of Marge's marriage to Homer.
In spite of her reputation as a stereotypical sitcom mother and her
relatively higher morals compared to some characters, Marge has had her share of
escapades, which have earned her the moral disdain of Springfield's less
forgiving residents. Taking classes for road rage, time in jail for "misdemeanour
shoplifting", a gambling addiction, a predilection for alcoholic beverages, a
memorable cross-country police chase (à la Thelma and Louise), having sex
with Homer at the miniature golf course, which led to Homer and Marge running
all over town completely naked, ultimately ending with them on a football field
in broad day light being photographed, to which a humiliated Marge grumbled "It
would have to be camera day...", and mistakenly having breast implants as well
as being a cop for some time are just some of the situations that Marge has
found herself in. She also apparently makes very bad ice-cream sundaes, though
she is otherwise a cook highly regarded, especially for her celebrated pork
chops; Marge manages to feed her entire family with only twelve dollars a week
(she pads Homer's food with sawdust).
Marge is the only member of the family who actively encourages church
attendance.
As a child, Marge developed a fear of flying when she was shocked to learn
that her father was an airline steward (flight attendant). On her first day of
school, she was teased for having a lunch box with a picture of The Monkees on
it.
Marge briefly participated in student activism as a teenager in high school.
After her initial (and only) protest, she was punished by the school and was
forced to serve detention, where she happened to meet Homer for the first time.
Eventually, the two began dating each other. Marge became pregnant with her
first child, Bart, in her mid twenties; in response, she and Homer married, in a
low-budget wedding at a combined wedding chapel and casino across the state
line.
Besides husband Homer Simpson, Marge has had a number of admirers in the
past, including C. Montgomery Burns; Springfield Isotopes player Flash Baylor;
and high school classmate and ex-millionaire Artie Ziff (who recently got over
her and is now interested in Marge's sister, Selma). Probably Marge's most
persistent and obsessed admirer (who never seemed to get completely over her) is
Homer's friend and town bartender, Moe Szyslak. On many occasions, Moe has made
an effort to steal Marge from Homer: his first try was in Season 5 ("Secrets of
a Successful Marriage"); his most recent plot in tempting her to "become his" in
Aruba is in Season 16 ("Mommie Beerest"). Moe and Marge's love-hate relationship
has become a regular and famous gag of the show.
Marge's height is somewhat inconsistent. In the episode "Marge in Chains",
she is 8 ft 6 in, 6 ft 2 in excluding hair. Her beehive hairdo has been
mentioned as being 3 feet tall, which would only make her 5 ft 6 in or 5 ft 7
in. In the episode "Homer Alone", her height is 5 ft 4 in, 6 ft 2 in including
hair. In "Who Shot Mr. Burns: Part Two", in the couch gag, she is shown to be
above 7 ft with her hair, but around 5 ft without it. She is also shorter than
Homer, who has been seen as being 6 ft in his police lineup photos in various
episodes. In the episode where Marge and Homer's tryst in a miniature golf
course is foiled resulting in them running all over town naked, they briefly
stand behind a lawn display, a completely naked Marge appears to be only two
inches shorter than Homer, suggesting she is 5 ft 10 in.
Her favourite foods are buttered noodles, julienne potatoes and peach
crumble.
She has also suggested that if she was born three months later her birthstone
would be an emerald which is the birthstone of the month of May. This would mean
that Marge's birthday is sometime in February making her birthstone the
amethyst.
