“Ha!” ―Edna's catchphrase “Do what I mean, not what I say.” ―Edna Krabappel No matter what you've done, I always thought there was a spark of decency in you, Bart Simpson, but I was wrong. I never thought I'd say this to a child, but you are bad on the inside.” ―Edna Krabappel[src]

Edna Krabappel (see "Love Life" below regarding her last name) was a recurring character in The Simpsons and a 4th-grade teacher at Springfield Elementary School until her retirement in 2013.

She lived at 82 Evergreen Terrace[4], but later moved to 744 Evergreen Terrace,[5] after marrying Ned Flanders, the widower of Maude Flanders. Outside school, Edna was portrayed as a typical mid-life single adult, heavy smoker, gambler, and occasional solitary drinker trying to find the right man. She had numerous affairs with many Springfieldians; her recurring choice always being Principal Skinner, usually out of pity rather than affection. From Season 23 until her retirement in Season 25, Edna Krabappel was married to Ned Flanders. She was 41 years old.

Al Jean announced Edna would be retired due to the death of Marcia Wallace (her voice actress) on October 25, 2013. The process began in "Four Regrettings and a Funeral" when "We'll really miss you Mrs. K." was shown on the chalkboard during the title sequence, which premiered nine days after Marcia's death. In the Season 25 episode "The Man Who Grew Too Much", Ned and Nelson mentioned that they miss her. Her passing was indicated by Ned wearing a black armband, but was never shown publicly. In "Dogtown", it is confirmed that Edna is deceased.[6] In "Left Behind", Bart encourages Flanders to be like Krabappel.

Contents show]

Biography

Born in Springfield on January 21, she was an A-grade student back in school and held a Master's in education from Bryn Mawr College. Her life dream once was to teach to young students; however, after years of teaching jaded her positive image, and after her husband left for another woman, their marriage counselor, Edna started drinking her days away. She got fired from teaching in a prestigious private school[7], and eventually made her way into Springfield Elementary. From then on, she was portrayed as a caricature of the American public school system, as evidenced on the occasion when Lisa steals all the teachers' editions of the textbooks (which contain the answers). Moreover, dealing with Bart Simpson and his shenanigans did nothing but aggravate Edna's apathy.

Edna apparently did come from Springfield, as she can be seen running through the background in Springfield High School when Clancy Wiggum is being videotaped as a hall monitor,[8] suggesting that she probably left Springfield young but returned when unable to keep up with her dream life. Moreover, she graduated from Springfield University.

Krabappel, like many other teachers at Springfield Elementary School, smoked heavily, especially during school hours. It was also implied that Edna Krabappel drank heavily, as when Marge arrived at the school to use a restroom and noticed Edna sleeping in class and uttering "stupid hangover".[9]

During her more recent years at Springfield Elementary School, in general, Edna didn't care at all about teaching the children properly anymore. Edna was usually annoyed by her straight-A student Martin Prince. Her attitude towards her class ranged from a bit of fondness to open dislike. She was known to remark that her students would end up in blue-collar jobs, such as gas station attendants. Edna fought hard for improved materials, leading a strike against Principal Skinner. During class time, Edna presented material in a monotone, apathetic manner, indifferent to the children's disinterest.

Edna was usually shown to be involved with many activities around Springfield. Edna was a member of the Investorettes.[10] She was also a member of Marge's book club, although nobody in the club seems to read the book they are supposed to. Edna seemed to be friends with fellow teacher Elizabeth Hoover, as they were often seen smoking together and often made comments and criticisms about the state of Springfield Elementary to each other. When Edna thought she had met her dream man through a personal ad, Miss Hoover seemed to be her confidante; Edna showed her the letters and discussed what she would do on future dates.[11]

She seemed to get along with Lisa, as seen in “Treehouse of Horror XX”.

Physical appearance

Edna had short brown hair with the most upper part being a bit puffy. She usually wore spiraling earrings, a thin green jacket with a lighter green undershirt, a dark turquoise skirt, and dark green slip-on shoes.

Love Life

The most recurring theme about Krabappel was her non-existent love life, and as a result, loneliness and desire for a partner. She is divorced; her first husband ran off with their marriage counselor. She did talk about her ex living somewhere else exotic, but at one time, a man at the local gas station, while diagnosing a fault with her car, tasted sugar in the gasoline and states "Your ex-husband strikes again!" [12] As a result, she severely missed a man's love and the cozy delights of couple-hood and partnership, and it was occasionally implied that she felt her biological clock ticking. She was shown as very sexually aggressive: she tried to pick up Joey Kramer (Aerosmith's drummer).[13] She had an on-again-off-again relationship with Principal Seymour Skinner [14] and once had sex in the backseat of her car with a Sushi chef.[15] She can be seen at a Green Day concert on top of Seymour's shoulders wearing a t-shirt saying "Not my boyfriend" with an arrow pointing down at Skinner in The Simpsons Movie.[16] She also had a relationship with Comic Book Guy (whom she almost married)[17] and a pen pal who she believed was the man of her dreams, Woodrow.[18]

It is shown in a flashback that Krabappel was in a serious relationship with Moe Szyslak when she first moved to Springfield, before meeting Skinner or even becoming a teacher. She was about to run away with him (and possibly get married) but then changed her mind when she met Bart Simpson, a student she believed needed help. (This story may or may not be canonical, as it was part of a tale told second-hand or possibly made up)[19] Indeed, Krabappel appeared to be the object of many a man's desire, as evident by Sideshow Bob's outrage when his romantic date with her is ruined by a spying Bart: "You only get one chance with Edna Krabappel!" One time, during an "edutainment" show at Springfield Elementary School, she did a balloon dance wearing nothing but balloons while she pops them to the tune of "Fever," Mortifying the audience (especially Bart, who even went as far as to say "Kill me!" from witnessing it). This event was also implied to have driven Homer to steal concessions as compensation for having to sit through and watch it (or as he put it to Lisa, "I saw Krabappel's butt. I paid!")[20] She often had dinner at The Pimento Grove with her on-again, off-again dates. She was also seen kissing Jacques on camera footage in Burns' Surveillance Room. She once danced with Bart in Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind.

In "Ned 'N Edna's Blend", she married Ned Flanders. From then on until her death, she was referred to simply as "Edna", so it is unknown if she kept her maiden name, took Ned's surname, or chose a hyphenated name like Krabappel-Flanders.

At the end of "The Man Who Grew Too Much", Ned is shown remembering a happy memory of dancing with Edna. He then looks at the picture of her next to the one of Maude, saying sadly that he misses her laugh. Outside, Nelson laughs, then admits he misses her too. The black armband Ned is wearing shows Edna had died some time previously as they generally mark the remembrance of a deceased person. Edna's death had been hinted at earlier in Season 25 in "Four Regrettings and a Funeral" when a sad Bart wrote, "We'll really miss you Mrs. K." only one time on the chalkboard during the opening sequence. The episode premiered on November 3, 2013, nine days after Marcia Wallace's death. In "Looking for Mr. Goodbart", her gravestone is finally shown; it has written the iconic phrase "Ha!" on it. She had died from being hit by Homer’s car.

Personality

Edna Krabappel is defined by her cynicism, short temper, loneliness, and uncaring attitude towards her students. Like nearly all of the teachers of Springfield Elementary, she constantly butts heads with fourth-grade juvenile delinquent, Bart Simpson. Despite this, Bart and Edna are close friends at heart, so much that he nominated her for Teacher of the Year and went to a movie with one another when she was depressed that Skinner had blown her off. Edna is quite the disciplinarian at times, an example of this would be when the new yo-yo craze overran her classroom and in response, she confiscated the toys, but despite this, she is normally quite ignorant towards their well being or concern.

Edna has something of a reputation among the other teachers. She is a sexually-experienced woman and was not above using her own sexuality to reel in guys. A good example of this is when she was writing to her "boyfriend" Woodrow and delivered a very appealingly sultry picture of herself. Edna's reputation is revealed when Lisa and Bart were sent to the third grade and the teacher (non-discreetly) coughed over her breath "slut" while referring to her and while showing her students a sex education video Edna remarked that "she's faking it." However, despite this, Edna is a lonely and depressive woman, such as shown when she tried to bargain the students to stay behind by saying she'll do their homework and such was further shown when she tried to get a hot date and to be only met with a dial tone. It causes her to pound her fist on the table and yell "I NEED A MAN!"

Edna was a woman of vice. She enjoys to smoke cigarettes (even in class which was banned by school laws) and was something of a heavy drinker and normally taught classes with a hangover. She takes no effort in hiding her dislike of children and is normally left very irritated by her star student, Martin Prince. Edna displays a mostly sarcastic denouement, normally using jabs or biting quips towards students. She isn't normally aggressive towards children, but if her temper is pushed to its limits, Edna would lash out. Even if this was very rare, so far the only time that she was violent towards students was when she slapped Bart Simpson square across the back of the head.

Marriage

She was originally married to Mr. Krabappel, who apparently ran off with their marriage counselor after their marriage struggled, but was later engaged to Seymour Skinner, who she almost married in Season 15, before marrying Ned Flanders, who she got together with at the start of Season 22 and married in Season 23, and stayed married until Edna was killed off, after her voice actor's death at the hiatus of Season 25 and Season 26 in summer 2013.

Trivia

She had a red marking pen named "Old Reddy".

Her last name is a spin on the word "crab-apple", as she was originally supposed to be a constantly crabby teacher. It is also reminiscent of Miss Crabtree, the crabby teacher in the "Little Rascals".

She seemed to be a fan of the European comic book/film character "Barbarella", as she was seen wearing her costume during the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con."

Despite her death, she appears alive and well in "Tapped Out", along with Frank Grimes, Alice Glick, and several other “dead” characters (except Maude, oddly). However, this is non-canon to the series. In addition, Mrs. Krabappel was still alive at the time of the game's release.





Non-Canon Appearances

The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.

Treehouse of Horror

Edna had appeared in the Treehouse of Horror Series. In Treehouse of Horror III, she is a zombie-like other Springfielders, this was the first time she was a zombie in the Treehouse of Horror series. She was also indirectly responsible for the zombie phenomenon, as she sent Bart over to the library, which was how Bart stumbled upon the spellbook and later his (accidentally) reviving all zombies in Springfield. In the Treehouse of Horror V segment "Nightmare Cafeteria", she is among the teachers who eat some of the children after a certain someone explains how he made the discovery. Towards the end of the segment, all but a few members of the 4th and 2nd-grade classes remain, and she is shown to have gained a significant amount of weight. However, she is oddly thin again when chasing Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse down the hall. In the Treehouse of Horror XVI segment "I've Grown a Costume on Your Face", she appears to be a snake. She was in all segments in Treehouse of Horror XIX; she was killed by celebrities in the 2nd segment and presumably killed by Tom Turkey in the 3rd. In Treehouse of Horror XX, she was a major/secondary role as Bart forced Lisa to try to kill her but Lisa killed Bart instead and walked away with Edna as both were pleased with Bart's death in the first segment "Dial M for Murder". In the second segment, "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind", she is seen as a muncher zombie, but is only seen twice for less than a second.



Future

In "Bart Gets an "F"", where Bart has a vision where he is held back in fourth grade for many years. An elderly Mrs. Krabappel asks Bart Sr. for the name of the pirate in Treasure Island. When he cannot come up with the name, Bart Jr. whispers the proper name, Long John Silver, to his father. Mrs. Krabappel says she wants to speak to both Bart Simpsons after class. This is clearly non-canonical, only being a figment of Bart's nightmare.

In "Lisa's Wedding", Edna is seen at Lisa's wedding and Selma Bouvier threatens to stuff her hat down her throat if she catches the bouquet. Oddly, Maude Flanders appears at the wedding.

In "Future-Drama", she is seen at Moe's Tavern with Elizabeth Hoover when Homer and Bart attempt to find women but only find Edna and Ms. Hoover.

In "Holidays of Future Passed", it is implied that Homer killed Edna. She also appears on Lisa's Ultranet friend requests.

Behind the Laughter

Creation

Her last name is pronounced crah-bopple and is a play on the fruit "crabapple" and it is also a reference to the teacher Miss Crabtree from the 1930s Little Rascals series. Part of the original joke of her last name was that nobody ever mispronounced her name and called her "Miss Crabapple", Milhouse was the first to make this joke which had the other students in class amazed and feeling stupid for not noticing it before. In "Grade School Confidential", Homer mentions that he had called her "Crandall" for quite some time.

International versions

In France, Edna Krabappel was called Krappabel: "Kra" sounds like "cra-cra" which is used by young children to describe something dirty and "ppabel" sounds exactly just like "pas belle" (not pretty). Homer Simpson even called her "Cracrapoubelle", which has "cra-cra", which infants in France say for "dirty", and "poubelle" which is French for garbage can. In the Québec French version, she retained her original name.

In Italy, she was called Edna Caprapall : Capra in Italian means Goat, and Caprapall recalls the image of a goat.

: in Italian means Goat, and Caprapall recalls the image of a goat. In Spain, her name was pronounced Edna Carapapel , which means "paperface" in Spanish.

, which means "paperface" in Spanish. In Latin America, "Krabappel" is kept as-is, though in some episodes from earlier seasons (when many names were replaced with Spanish ones), her surname was "Clavados" ("nailings" or "divings"). This is referenced in Grade School Confidential, where Homer mistaking "Krabappel" for "Crandall" was changed to him mistaking it for "Clavados".

Retirement

Marcia Wallace had provided the voice for Edna but died of pneumonia-related breast cancer on October 25, 2013. Al Jean has stated that the character of Edna would be retired.[21] A brief scene at the end of the episode showed Ned mourning her loss, though her cause of death yet remains unknown. In Holidays of Future Passed, Ned mentions that Edna was killed by Homer; however, future episodes are usually non-canon. As such, her cause of death has not yet been determined nor revealed.

In "Left Behind", she is voiced using archive audio saying the line, "Remember, if you can teach one kid one thing, then today will be a success." from a previous episode when Bart tells Ned that he hopes that he can be as good as a teacher as she was.

Gallery

The full image gallery for Edna Krabappel may be viewed at Edna Krabappel/Gallery.

Appearances

Citations



