[HPforGrownups] Re: JKR, Harry Potter, and the Nature of Evil

[Margaret Dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 19623

Schlobin at aol.com wrote:

> 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.

I think the important question here is why Snape so dislikes
Harry and Hermione, because that's the logical motive for his
nastiness.  I don't think a person has to be more than naturally
blackhearted (we all are, to an extent) to make unkind remarks
about people he doesn't like.  I know I've =thought= plenty of
them, though I normally don't vocalize them.

(And I do find it a little surprising that so many people on this
list come down so VERY hard on Snape for one nasty crack.  I
wonder how many of them he had to endure, in his own school days,
from people like the ones who magicked them into the Marauder's
Map for him to find.)


--Margaret Dean
  <margdean at erols.com>