Authority and rule-breaking

[lea.macleod at gmx.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 16269


 Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> > > > 
> > Hmmm. Snape is Inspector Javert. I wonder if he will break, as 
> Javert
> > did. Any other Les Miserables fans out there want to explore the
> > similarity?


YES YES YES!!!

 I´ve been aching all along to put up this comparison, but I didn´t 
dare. I thought I made the connection only because I love the book 
(Les Mis) so much and I´m obsessed with analysing Javert´s character 
as well as Snape´s.
But now someone else has thought of this, it´s not so far fetched 
after all.

Thanks Amanda!!! I just LOVE this board and you people (yes, this is 
OT, but I´d just like to say this is exactly the thing I´ve been 
looking for!)

Catherine wrote:

> Doesn't Inspector Javert commit suicide, partly because he realises 
> that his behaviour and regard for crime and punishment has lead to 
> obsession and miscarriage of justice (or at least not proportionate 
> justice), and that ultimately his behaviour has been inhumane?

Javert commits suicide because he has failed, not because he realised 
he was wrong. He found himself trapped between two impossible crimes: 
To let a convicted criminal escape and to arrest him. This situation 
didn´t fit anywhere in his view of the world, and he just couldn´t 
cope with it. Javert´s death is not a redemption, it´s a resignation.

>This way of living could also be construed as a form of cowardice - 
> it is very easy not to have to think about things and live within 
>the  confines of an ordered society with a defined set of rules - it 
>takes  more guts to know when these are not apppropriate and to try 
>and act accordingly.

Exactly. Javert didn´t manage.

Go get the book, Catherine, and read the chapter that ends with 
Javert´s death (I only read the french version, so I don´t know the 
English title, sorry). That chapter was a revelation to me, and I 
think it may be to all people working in a legal profession. 


Andrea sent:

a very good analysis of Javert´s song "stars" in the musical. Think 
what you want about great literary classics turned into musicals, that 
song sums it up very well. Here´s the gist:

> But in his song "Stars", he talks about everything having its place 
and its  purpose, and how the stars fill the chaos "with order
  and light". And  "those who falter and those who fall must pay the
  price." Javert's suicide was because he faltered in
that duty and didn't apprehend Valjean when he had him
 at his mercy.  "Must I now allow this man to hold dominion over me?" 
 Javert literally cannot comprehend of the idea of
  letting this criminal, this element of chaos, hold the
 debt of his life. Valjean upset the entire element of
Javert's universe - Javert believed in order to chaos,
 in following your set path, whereas Valjean showed
 that a man could rise above his station and be truly
 good even after being branded a criminal. 
  "I should have perished by his hand. It was his
 right. It was my right to die as well." " He couldn't handle the 
total upset to his world that Valjean provided, and so took the 
"right"  that had been denied to him. "I'll escape now from
that world, the world of Jean Valjean."

Relating this all back to Professor Snape...<g>
   I think the relationship between Snape and the
   Potters, jr and sr, is very much like the one between
   Javert and Valjean. 

-----------------

Andrea, I agree with everything you say so far. But I do disagree with 
the following:

> Snape believes that the world does (or should) reward
>those who follow the rules, like Javert does. Yet he
> sees time and again that this irreverent rulebreaker
> gets the rewards  And then James had the nerve to actually
>save his life!  he knows
> down inside that he owes an immense debt to James that
>can never be repaid. 

I think the 
life-saving-and-being-indebted-to-your-worst-enemy-parallel between 
Javert and Snape is so obvious that it has lead us to parallel their 
characters and cases entirely. We shouldn´t do that. The parallel ends 
here.

Their reactions, their handling of this immense inner conflict will be 
different. Remember with Javert, the life-saving comes at the very 
end, and his reaction (=suicide) is immediate, while Snape has had the 
better half of his life to brood over how he can handle it.
We see in Snape what might have become of Javert if Javert had fought, 
and lived. They will NOT meet similar ends. That has been decided 
already!

Snape, in opposition to Javert, may see redemption even while he 
lives. He did not chose the "easier" way, which means resignation, but 
the harder way, and will be redeemed for this. He WILL die in the end, 
but not in that stubborn way like Javert, proving himself right.
He may die because it is his duty, but he will not die because it is 
his right. And while we may *hope* that Javert will be forgiven in 
another world, with Snape, we will *know*.

Lea