Characteristic Dialogue

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 28724

Luke wrote:

> At Cindy's request I am going to make a (probably lame) attempt to 
> discuss the following element of Harry Potter:
> 

Good heavens!  Such an amazing piece of work so quickly!  I was 
expecting a little something (maybe, hopefully, if I were really 
lucky) in a few weeks, and Luke pulled this out in around a day.  Wow!

It will take me a few days to think about this and respond, as I'd 
like to examine what "MMMFanFic" said about how Snape's dialogue 
changes depending on circumstance.  That's really interesting.  And I 
really must go back and read the graveyard scene to see if I can spot 
anything worth mentioning about our favorite Evil Overlord, including 
how he might compare to his 16-year old self.  And don't even get me 
started on whether Pensieve Moody is any different from fake Moody.

So to keep things going, let me ask a quick follow-up question about 
a tendency in one of my favorite characters.  Into what category do 
we put Moody's "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"?  Content?  Also, if the real 
Moody resurfaces, must he have exactly the same Characteristic 
Dialogue, or can JKR play with this?  One the one hand, it isn't 
realistic that the fake Moody mimicks the real Moody's Characteristic 
Dialogue perfectly.  On the other hand, he shouldn't be too 
different, I suppose, or he wouldn't have fooled everyone.  So how 
would an author balance these two competing concerns for Moody in 
OoP, and which sub-categories of Characteristic Dialogue would be the 
easiest to manipulate to strike this balance?

Cindy (who wonders if Hagrid could have worked equally well without 
the strong accent)