Marge Simpson

Marjorine Jacqueline "Marge" Bouvier-Simpson is one of the main characters of The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Marge was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on Life in Hell but instead decided to create a new set of characters. He named the character after his mother Margaret Groening. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons, the Simpson family received their own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989. She is also the tritagonist in The Simpsons Movie.

Marge is well-meaning and extremely patient matriarch of the Simpson family. With her husband Homer, she has three children: Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Marge is the moralistic force in her family and often provides a grounding voice in the midst of her family's antics by trying to maintain order in the Simpson household. She is often portrayed as a stereotypical television mother and is often included on lists of top "TV moms". She has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons—including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, and comic books—and inspired an entire line of merchandise. Marge's distinctive blue beehive hairstyle was inspired by a combination of The Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore in the 1960s.

Julie Kavner, who was a member of the original cast of The Tracey Ullman Show, was asked to voice Marge so that more voice actors would not be needed. Kavner has won several awards for voicing Marge, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992. She was also nominated for an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature for her performance in The Simpsons Movie. In 2000, Marge, along with the rest of her family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personality
Marge is generally a stereotypical sitcom mother, and she also plays the "long-suffering wife" who puts up with the antics of her children and her oafish husband. While she usually takes her family's problems with good humor, in "Homer Alone" (season three, 1992), her workload and resultant stress caused her to have a mental breakdown. After spending time at "Rancho Relaxo", during which her family barely coped with her absence, she returned refreshed and everyone promised to help out more often. Marge often provides a grounding opinion for Homer and their marriage has often been shaky.

Marge admits that she "puts up with a lot in their marriage," and has left Homer or thrown him out of the house on several occasions. One of the first such episodes to depict this is "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" (season five, 1994), where Homer starts teaching an adult education class on how to build a successful marriage. He is at first unsuccessful, but gains the interest of the class when he starts giving away family secrets, many of which concern Marge. Upon finding this out, Marge is incensed and throws him out of the house. The next day, Homer is dirty and disheveled, and begs Marge to take him back, saying the one thing he can offer her that nobody else can is "complete and utter dependence." At first, Marge does not see that as a benefit, but eventually admits that he "really [does] make a gal feel needed." Episodes that depict marital problems have become more frequent in recent seasons of the show. Through it all, Marge has remained faithful to Homer, despite temptations to the contrary such as the one in "Life on the Fast Lane", where she resists the charming Frenchman Jacques and instead chooses to remain with Homer.

Marge is a caring, understanding, and nurturing parent to Bart, but she refers to him as "a handful" and is often embarrassed by his antics. In "Marge Be Not Proud", she felt she was mothering Bart too much and started acting more distant towards him after he was caught shoplifting. In the beginning of the episode, Bart protested her "over-mothering", but as she started acting more distant towards him, he felt guilty about it and made up with her. Marge has expressed understanding for her "special little guy" and has defended him on many occasions. She once said "I know Bart can be a handful, but I also know what he's like inside. He's got a spark. It's not a bad thing... Of course, it makes him do bad things." Marge has a good relationship with Lisa and the two are shown to get along quite well. Marge over-mothers Maggie, which causes her to become too clingy and dependent on Marge. In "Midnight Towboy", Marge hires an expert to help make Maggie more independent. However, Maggie becomes so independent that she rarely needs Marge. Marge begins to miss Maggie, but at the end of the episode, Maggie starts to need her again. Marge maintains a good relationship with her mother Jacqueline and her sisters Patty and Selma.

Patty and Selma disapprove of Homer and are not afraid to be vocal. Marge has tolerated their criticism, but has occasionally lost patience with them, once referring to them as "ghouls." Marge's father Clancy is rarely referred to in the series and has had speaking parts in only two episodes. It was revealed in "Fear of Flying" (season six, 1994) that Clancy told Marge that he was a pilot, but in reality, he was a flight attendant. Marge discovered this one day and developed aerophobia of fear of flying. Clancy has not had a speaking appearance since. In "Jazzy and the Pussycats", Homer casually mentions that they once attended his funeral meaning he died sometime back.

Marge has higher morals than most other characters, once leading a family values crusade against the violent Itchy &amp; Scratchy Show and being a prominent member of the "Citizens' Committee on Moral Hygiene." She often provides a voice of reason for the town itself, but many of the townspeople are frustrated or contemptuous of her frequent failure to recognize or react correctly to breaches of social norms. Marge is the only member of the family who encourages church attendance. In "Homer the Heretic", Homer starts skipping church and Marge tells him "don't make me choose between my man and my God, because you just can't win."

In "Lisa the Skeptic", an "angel skeleton" is discovered, much to the skepticism of Lisa. As Lisa rants about the people who believe it is an angel, Marge informs her that she also believes it is an angel. She tells Lisa, "There has to be more life than just what we see, everyone needs something to believe in." In spite of her morals, Marge struggles with vices, such as a gambling addiction. While Marge has learned to cope with her addiction, it has never completely disappeared and remains an underlying problem that is referenced occasionally on the show. Politically, Marge generally aligns with the Democratic Party, having supported the candidacy of her state's progressive governor Mary Bailey, and voting for Jimmy Carter in both of his presidential elections.

Appearance
She has waist length blue hair styled into her trademark tall beehive (revealed it is naturally grey without the dye). She wears a green strapless calf-length dress, a white strapless negligee with pink bows and frills, matching underwear (The Simpsons Movie only), a red pearl necklace and red low-heeled shoes. Marge also has an impressive swimsuit collection.


 * She worn a green swimsuit in Itchy &amp; Scratchy Land, A Star Is Born Again, Crook and Ladder, In The Name Of The Grandfather, The Real Housewives Of Fat Tony, The Saga Of Carl, Lisa The Veterinarian, D'oh Canada, Heartbreak Hotel, The 7 Beer Itch and on the cover of The Simpsons Summer Shindig issue 3.
 * She also worn a black bikini in Treehouse Of Horror XXI segment: Master and Cadaver.
 * She also worn a purple and green bikini in Catch 'Em If You Can.
 * She also worn a white swimsuit in Treehouse Of Horror XV segment: In the Belly of the Boss (with a diving helmet that goes right to the top of her hair, scuba tank and flippers while swimming and retains her red pearl necklace inside the ship) and on the cover of The Simpsons Comics issue 86.
 * She also worn a pink swimsuit in Brush With Greatness, Mommie Beerest (retains her red pearl necklace and also wears a sarong), Rome-old And Juli-eh (retains her red pearl necklace), The Simpsons Comics issue 55 story: Siege on Evergreen Terrace, The Simpsons Summer Shindig issue 1 story: Homer's Guide to the Beach and a CC Lemon commercial (with a sarong on).
 * She also worn a pink polka dot bikini in The Cartridge Family, The Bob Next Door and Moms I'd Like to Forget.
 * She also worn a purple swimsuit in Skis couch gag, When You Dish Upon a Star and The Simpsons Summer Shindig issue 8 story: Poolin' Around.
 * She also worn a brown swimsuit in A Fish Called Selma.
 * She also worn a light green and purple striped swimsuit in Mother and Child Reunion (also wearing a sun visor and sandals).
 * She also worn a dark pink and purple striped swimsuit in Lisa's Belly (also wearing a sun visor and sandals).
 * She also worn a orange swimsuit in a CC Lemon commercial and on the cover of The Simpsons Summer Shindig issue 1.
 * She also worn a red bikini in The Strong Arms of the Ma.
 * She also worn a blue swimsuit in Friend With Benefit.
 * She also worn a red swimsuit in Dude, Where's My Ranch?
 * She also worn a green polka Dot bikini in The Great Money Caper (retains her red pearl necklace).
 * She also worn a dark green floral bikini with a sarong in The Simpsons Summer Shindig issue 7 story: Sun Burns!
 * She also worn a green bikini on the cover of The Simpsons Comics: Beach Blanket Bongo.
 * She also worn a pink bikini on the cover of The Simpsons Comics issue 135.
 * She also worn a light green swimsuit and pink shorts in Lisa Gets An A and Yokel Chords.
 * She also worn a red and black wetsuit in The Bonfire of the Manatees.
 * She also worn a pink wetsuit with light Pink on the sides in I Want You (She's So Heavy).
 * She also worn a green wetsuit in Holidays of Future Passed.
 * She also worn a hula-hula suit once.