JKR, Harry Potter, and the Nature of Evil

[Schlobin at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19622

> Some people might think Snape's greatest desire is for personal 
glory, like
> Ron's -- but I think this is a red herring, like the rumour that 
Snape wants
> the DADA job.  I think Snape's greatest desire is to redeem himself,
> frankly:  to somehow atone for the things he did as a Death Eater.  
He seems
> to be obsessed with finding and stopping evildoers, or those he 
perceives to
> be evildoers (Quirrell in PS/SS, Sirius in PoA), and the most 
passionate
> we've ever seen him was when he thought Sirius, that evil murderer, 
and
> Remus, that vicious killer werewolf, were in league with each other 
and had
> confunded Harry, Ron and Hermione into helping them.  We've already 
seen how
> Snape's zeal to hunt down evildoers can actually lead him to judge 
people
> too harshly and hastily and not give them a chance.
> 
> Any more thoughts?
> --
> Rebecca J. Bohner
> rebeccaj at p...
> http://home.golden.net/~rebeccaj


Rebecca, thanks so much for posting!

Hmmmm..Snape is then like Inspector Javert?

I really don't think Snape's greatest desire is to redeem himself.
I cannot figure Snape out. I can understand that he became a Death 
Eater and then changed/transformed. But I cannot understand his 
vicious, abusive treatment of Harry and Hermione. That makes me think 
that he is still evil, even if he is allied with Albus Dumbledore.
The things that he says and does to Harry are evil. There is 
absolutely no excuse for what he says to Hermione about her teeth.
That is an abuse of power and is inexcusable, and more importantly, 
indicates that the person who does it is evil and corrupt.

Susan