Snape (was Motivations Pt 2.)

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

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From: catlady_de_los_angeles
Subject: Re: Snape (was Motivations Pt 2.)
Reply To: [Yahoo! #6621] Re: Snape (was Motivations Pt 2.)
Date: 8/11/00 5:45 pm  (ET)

> Snape seems much more interested in power than in love or interpersonal
relationships...in fact, the fact that he was a death eater adds to this
as Voldy has made the statement there is no such thing as good and bad,
just power and those afraid to use it (or something like that)...anyway...

I haven't noticed Snape being interested in power for its own sake,
as much as in being admired -- being admired is an interpersonal
relationship -- and I imagine that he yearns to be liked/accepted as
an equal by those whom he admires as much as to be admired by those he
considers his inferiors (i.e. secretly considers his equals).

I think V had different temptations for different people: power for
some, wealth for some, vengeance for some, an opportunity for sadistic
"fun" for some, immortality for some ... He could have lured Snape with
flattery and promises of future glory.

However, I like to fantasize that Snape arrived at school with already a
chip on his shoulder and extreme intelligence (we were told that he was
an unpleasant child with a big interest in the Dark Arts). He managed to
become accepted as a friend by a group of snobby (Slytherin) house-mates
(whom he for some reason admired)(this is the group of Slytherins of whom
we were told they all went over to V) because he was useful to them as
a source of homework to copy and class notes to study from.

As these friends grew up and were being seduced by V, his knowledge of
Dark Arts was another reason he was useful to them. He stuck with them
for reasons of group identity or because he got so much pleasure from
feeding his intellectual curiosity about Dark Arts, until one day he
realised that he had become a Death Eater without really noticing.

This does not contradict the just-plain-mean theory (being just-plain-mean
from an early age could account for his lack of friends, other than those
who found him useful) and can lead into either the loved-Lily theory or
the variants of the sought-glory theory: sought glory by defeating V,
but Harry did it first; sought glory by serving V, but V 'went away',
leaving him undercover at Hogwarts; sought glory of becoming Dumbledore's
right-hand man and heir ...

V could have lured Snape with flattery and promises of future glory. He
could have lured Snape with opporunities to exercise his intellectual
curiosity, offers of research grants and experimental subjects and
access to rare books. He could have lured Snape with an opportunity for
vengeance on James, whom I imagine to have been a well-loved celebrity at
school for his Quidditch playing, who would have been widely loved even
if not an athlete just because his personality was charming, and whom
Snape couldn't even dismiss as a dumb jock because he equalled Snape's
grades in every class, thus 'stealing' what Snape believed to be his own
rightful claim to glory: being the top student. And if he fancied Lily,
losing her to *James* would have been the last straw.