Margaret White

"They're all gonna laugh at you!"

- Margaret White's most famous quote "Sin never dies."

- Margaret White "This isn't your fault Carrie. It's mine. You know the Devil never dies. He keeps comin' back. You've got to keep killin' him over and over again."

- Margaret White preparing to kill her daughter Carrie in Carrie (2013).

Margaret White (née Brigham) is one of the two main antagonists of Stephen King's novel Carrie, its film adaptations, and the Broadway musical. After Chris Hargensen's death, Margaret replaces her as the true main antagonist. She is the opprobrious, vituperative, domineering, dangerous, abusive, insane (she shows possible signs of untreated schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder), and fanatically religious mother of Carrie White, who has the power of telekinesis. She thinks almost everything, especially things to do with the female body and sex, is sinful.

She was portrayed by Piper Laurie (in 1976), Patricia Clarkson (in 2002), and Julianne Moore (in 2013), who also portrayed President Alma Coin.

History
The wife of the late Ralph White and the mother of Carrie, Margaret lived with her parents, John and Judith Brigman, in Motton, Maine until 1960, when she moved to Chamberlain Center with Ralph White. The two married on March 23, 1962; shortly after, on April 3, Margaret was admitted to Westover Doctors Hospital for a suspected miscarriage. She last wrote to her mother on August 19, 1962, and later became pregnant in December that year, though she was convinced that she was afflicted with "cancer of the womanly parts".

Her husband died in February 1963 in a grisly construction accident, and she gave birth to her daughter alone on September 21, 1963. On August 17, 1966, her house was deluged with stones from the sky brought on by her daughter's telekinesis after she punished the girl particularly hard.

Margaret White was very emotionally unstable and suffered from untreated mental illness. She was an extremely abusive religious zealot who punished her daughter continually for any and all "sins", viewing her as a demon child and showing no remorse over severe emotional and physical abuse. She also heavily believed herself to be continually under assault from evil forces.

In the novel's climax, Margaret was killed by Carrie, ending her reign of terror, sadly before this occurs, the abusive Margaret is able to stab her daughter - this would later prove to be fatal and Carrie died a short time later in the arms of one of her few friends, Sue Snell. In the movie, Carrie died along with her mother as their home crumbled on top of them due to Carrie's telekinetic powers gone awry.

Media Portrayals
In the original 1976 film adaptation, she died after having been stabbed and crucified by the kitchen knifes unleashed by the stabbed Carrie's telekinetic powers.

In the 2002 TV film, she died because of a massive heart attack brought on by Carrie's power (according to the novel Carrie) when she tried to drown her daughter in a filled bathtub while reciting the "bedtime prayer".

In the 2013 remake, this version of Margaret was similar to her 1976 counterpart but was less attractive and harmed herself more severely, cutting her arm and scratching the wounds until they bled. She also banged her head against a wall and a door. She was just as mentally unstable and just as abusive and domineering towards Carrie as her 1976 counterpart, but was portrayed as slightly more sympathetic (hardly much more, though). Margaret was killed in the same way as her 1976 counterpart.

The Broadway musical portrays Margaret to be a much more complex and sympathetic character who genuinely loves and wants to "save" her daughter. She shows remorse after beating and locking Carrie in the cellar following the shower incident. In the first act finale, "I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance", Margaret reveals that Ralph had sweet-talked and raped her, then left her while she was pregnant with Carrie.

According to the 1976 film's sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2, Margaret's ex-husband Ralph, long before his death, had another wife, Barbara Lang, who had in the same way, given birth to her daughter Rachel, Carrie's half-sister.

Trivia

 * She shares a similarity to Mrs. Carmody from Stephen King's The Mist, as both deeply religious.
 * She also shares similarities to Dahlia Gillespie from the Silent Hill videogame series, as they are both fanatically religious and abuse their own daughters.
 * Piper Laurie's portrayal of Margaret earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture.