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Lavender
Hortensia is an older girl at Crunchem Hall Primary School. She’s not particularly attractive, as she eats chips greedily and has a huge boil on her nose. But this ceases to matter to Matilda and Lavender as Hortensia tells them all about the pranks she’s pulled on Miss Trunchbull. Hortensia has done things like putting syrup on Miss Trunchbull’s chair, or putting itching powder in her knickers. And for these transgressions, Miss Trunchbull has locked Hortensia in the Chokey, a narrow closet with broken glass and sharp nails embedded in the walls (a person in the Chokey has to stand straight upright or risk getting cut). As Hortensia tells the younger girls about her exploits, she turns into a goddess in their eyes and inspires Lavender to put a newt in Miss Trunchbull’s water jug.
Hortensia Quotes in Matilda
The Matilda quotes below are all either spoken by Hortensia or refer to Hortensia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 8 Quotes
“I have discovered, Miss Honey, during my long career as a teacher that a bad girl is a far more dangerous creature than a bad boy. What’s more, they’re much harder to squash. Squashing a bad girl is like trying to squash a bluebottle. You bang down on it and the darn thing isn’t there. Nasty little things, little girls are.”
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Miss Honey has approached Miss Trunchbull about getting Matilda moved up to a higher class, since Matilda is so brilliant. Miss Trunchbull refuses and insists that Matilda must be terrible. Keep in mind that Miss Trunchbull is effectively the most powerful person at Crunchem Hall Primary School. The staff and students are terrified of her, and Miss Honey goes on to warn her students to never go out of their ways to cross Miss Trunchbull—the results won’t be pretty. So it’s interesting that Miss Trunchbull essentially frames little girls as dangerously powerful, and impossible to shut down. Something in the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eve
Chapter 10 Quotes
Both Matilda and Lavender were enthralled. It was quite clear to them that they were at this moment standing in the presence of a master. Here was somebody who had brought the art of skullduggery to the highest point of perfection, somebody, moreover, who was willing to risk life and limb in pursuit of her calling.
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Hortensia has just awed Matilda and Lavender with stories of tricking Miss Trunchbull and ending up in the Chokey as punishment. Hortensia’s stories earn her power in a couple different ways. First, Hortensia gains power over Miss Trunchbull by tormenting her. Putting itching powder in her knickers, or Golden Syrup on her chair, doesn’t do anything in the long run. But it does give Hortensia the satisfaction of annoying the tyrannical headmistress, whom the novel suggests fully deserves having these pranks played on her. Then, Hortensia also gains social power as she tells these stories to younger kids on the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a des
Chapter 12 Quotes
Already Lavender’s scheming mind was going over the possibilities that this water-jug job had opened up for her. She longed to do something truly heroic. She admired the older girl Hortensia to distraction for the daring deeds she had performed in the school. She also admired Matilda who had sworn her to secrecy about the parrot job she had brought off at home, and also the great hair-oil switch which had bleached her father’s hair. It was her turn now to become a heroine if only she could come up with a brilliant plot.
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Lavender has just volunteered to prepare the water jug and glass of water for Miss Trunchbull—and she wants to use this opportunity to play a trick on the headmistress. This passage shows what an effect Hortensia in particular has had on the younger students at Crunchem Hall. Saying that Lavender admires Hortensia “to distraction” because of Hortensia’s exploits shows that Hortensia has done a fantastic job of making tormenting Miss Trunchbull seem like a good, just, and even heroic thing to do. It’s how kids at school gain social currency, and it's also how they fight back against Miss Trunchbull’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollit
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Hortensia Character Timeline in Matilda
The timeline below shows where the character Hortensia appears in Matilda. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10. Throwing the Hammer
...morning, when Matilda and Lavender are on the playground for morning break, a 10-year-old named Hortensia welcomes them and asks if they’ve met “the Trunchbull” yet. Hortensia warns the girls that...
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Hortensia says she’s been in the Chokey a bunch, six times her first term. It’s terrible....
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Lavender wants to know what else Hortensia did to get time in the Chokey, but Hortensia nonchalantly says she doesn’t remember. She...
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Lavender and Matilda are in awe of Hortensia, who’s clearly a master and dedicated to her craft. Hortensia explains that the Trunchbull never...
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Matilda and Lavender ask for another story, so Hortensia tells them about a boy named Julius Rottwinkle. He was eating during scripture class, so...
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...loud playground goes silent. Miss Trunchbull is striding across the playground, shouting for Amanda Thripp. Hortensia whispers that Amanda has made the mistake of letting her hair grow long, and then...
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...before throwing her into the playing field. Matilda asks if the parents ever complain, but Hortensia says parents are afraid of the Trunchbull, too.
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Chapter 12. Lavender
Lavender’s mind is spinning. She wants to be heroic like Hortensia, and Matilda has already told Lavender about stuffing the parrot in her parents’ chimney and...
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