Marge Simpson
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"hrrm!" -Marge's catch phrase
Marjorie "Marge" Bouvier Simpson
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Character Information
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Marjorie "Marge" Simpson (née Bouvier) voiced by Julie Kavner, is the well-meaning and patient wife of Homer Simpson. Her most notable physical feature is her blue hair, styled into an improbably high beehive (kept in place by Johnson's Water Seal); she is proud to have never met anyone with taller hair outside Graceland. Homer once mentioned in Secrets of a Successful Marriage that she actually dyes her hair blue, being "gray as a mule since she was seventeen".
Marge spends most of her time doing housework, minding Maggie, being supportive of Lisa, and either disciplining Bart or protecting him from Homer's wrath. She was named after, and loosely based on, Margaret "Marge" Groening, mother of series creator Matt Groening. In many ways, Marge Simpson is modeled on the stereotypical 1950s suburban housewife, by using stereotypes such as her faux pearl necklace.
Personality
In spite of her image as a stereotypical sitcom mother with relatively high morals, Marge, who can appear naive and gullible, has her share of escapades to the disdain of Springfield's less forgiving residents. She once had a tumultuous stint as a police officer in the Springfield Police Department, took classes for road rage, was jailed for "misdemeanor shoplifting", became a gambling addict, showed alcoholic tendencies, engaged in a memorable cross-country police chase. These are just some of the strange situations in which Marge has found herself. She also displays a surprisingly strong will. In "The Joy of Sect", she escapes brainwashing by the Movementarian Church, and in "Bart-Mangled Banner", while in prison, she questions Lisa when Lisa begins losing her beliefs after watching propaganda cartoons. Marge is the only member of the family who actively encourages church attendance. She also appears to have significant athletic ability, as seen in her escape from the Movementarian cult. She is bilingual, being fully fluent in French.
Marge is a talented painter. She had an intense crush on Ringo Starr, and painted several portraits of him (including one in which they are depicted as married) and wrote to him as a teen, but received a response only 25 years later. This inspires her to enter an art contest. While in that art contest, her portrait of a drunk Homer asleep on the couch won a competition against two other paintings.
Marge apparently makes very bad ice-cream sundaes, though she is otherwise a highly regarded cook. She is especially celebrated for her pork chops. She manages to nourish her entire family with only twelve dollars a week (she pads Homer's food with sawdust). She also prepares various commemorative hams, including an emergency ham, a condolence ham, an earthquake ham and a celebration ham. Her specialty, which she makes to celebrate Bart's best dental check-up ever (only three cavities) is butterscotch chicken.
Politically, Marge generally aligns with the Democratic Party. She once mentions that she voted for Jimmy Carter ("twice" according to Lisa) and supported the candidacy of their state's progressive governor Mary Bailey, and also claimed to have been extremely depressed when Lyndon Johnson died.
She rarely swears and when she does it is used for shock effect, she warns Bart not to swear as well as encouraging Homer to use a swear jar. Normally she uses euphemisms such as 'What the Hello Kitty'
Besides Homer, Marge has had a number of admirers, including C. Montgomery Burns, Moe Szyslak, 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 Bouvier). On several occasions Moe has tried to steal Marge from Homer. His first attempt occurs in Season 5 ("Secrets of a Successful Marriage"), and his most recent attempt occurs on a flight to Aruba in Season 16 ("Mommie Beerest"). Moe's and Marge's love-hate relationship has become a recurring gag.
Marge also has tattoo of "Homer" or "Homer Simpson" on her "you know what" that she mentions in "Homer to the Max" and is one of the factors of opposing Homer's, then, name change.
It was mentioned that Marge is a compulsive gambler, and at one point, Marge isn't allowed to enter a gambling house by the rest of the family.
Hair
Marge has confessed that her hair is not really blue but is, in fact, gray. The fact that she dyes it was previously revealed by Homer, while teaching an adult education class. It was revealed in "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" that Marge dyes her hair with blue #56. Because of her unusually large hairstyle, her height is reported to be 8'6", as noted by Apu in the episode "Marge in Chains". Marge was once shown thinking that her hair stands at least 18 inches above her head. In The Simpsons Season Four DVD, Matt Groening states that the original idea behind Marge's hair was to conceal large rabbit ears. The gag was intended to be revealed in the final episode of the series, but was scrapped early on.
As a teen, Marge had waist length hair that she always wore down, but got the idea to wear it up in her beehive for senior prom in the episode, "The Way We Was". As shown in the episode where Marge's hair starts falling out in clumps, her hair is now close to knee length, as a lot of hair would be needed to create her tall beehive.
In the Simpsons world, people with blue hairs are very common (other example being Milhouse and his parents).
Jobs
When she's not cooking up a storm at the Simpson home, Marge is out living the wild life. She's been tempted to start a life of crime by her neighbor, Ruth Powers. Another time she became a Springfield police officer and had to arrest Homer. As the Simpson babe she's even had a smooth-talking bowling instructor try to put the moves on her. Marge's one-episode jobs have included:
- Pretzel maker/saleswoman
- Cop
- Real-estate agent
- Springfield Nuclear Power Plant worker
- Professional artist
- Substitute teacher at Springfield Elementary
- Semi-professional bodybuilder
- Novel writer
- The "Listen Lady" who answers calls in place of Reverend Lovejoy
- Semi-professional gambler
Age
As with many Simpson characters, Marge's age changes to serve the story. In first-season episodes "Life on the Fast Lane" and "Some Enchanted Evening", Marge is said to be 34, but her age was later changed to 38, possibly because she and Homer attended their twentieth anniversary high-school reunion in one episode. In seventeenth season episode "Regarding Margie", Homer mentions that Marge is his age, meaning she could be anywhere between 36 and 40. In "Bart After Dark" she claims to have lived in Springfield for 37 years.
The Simpsons Hit & Run
Marge is playable in the fourth level as she tries to find out what is wrong with Bart, but makes several appearances in the first level. She often gives Homer missions and even drives him in her Canyonero in the sixth mission of that level as she attempts to stop Bonestorm 2 hitting the shelves. When characters use the Canyonero in levels two, five, six and seven, Marge appears in the car.
