Snape, Trelawney, Lockhart, Skeeter (was How Snape is like Harry)

[David]

No: HPFGUIDX 28934

Cindy wrote:

> Harry gets recognition for what he 
> achieves when he snoops, but Snape does not.
> 
> Snape got no credit for keeping Harry on his broomstick.  He got no 
> credit for capturing Black, even though Black's escape was not 
> Snape's fault.  He got no recognition for whatever he did in GoF.  
> 
> From the first minute 
> Snape met Harry, he felt the need to belittle Harry for his 
> celebrity, and nothing has changed about that over 4 books. 
> 
I'd agree with this - whenever Snape taunts Harry, the theme is that 
Harry gets away with things, he has a fan club, etc.

I think the need to be recognised is a major motivation for a number 
of characters throughout the series, and it is usually presented in a 
negative light by JKR.

Lockhart's desire/need for adulation is obvious.

I'd say Trelawney's behaviour is best understood as that of someone 
who continually needs to affirm their own importance.  By announcing 
bad news to come, she hopes to get an admiring audience, and, to a 
degree, it works, with Lavender and Parvati.  She is saying 'because 
I have exclusive access to this important information you need to pay 
attention to me'.

Rita Skeeter is, apart from Snape, the most interesting.  It has 
often been stated on this list that she 'will do anything for a 
story'.  That's true in the first instance, but it's not her 
underlying motivation, IMO.  She wants recognition, in this case as 
the one whose advice should be taken.  Although we can't know, she 
acts as if she at one time applied for a job at the MOM and was 
turned down.  She is now determined to show them that they ignore her 
at their peril, and continually tries to wrest the agenda from them. 
She presents herself as someone who, if only people listened, could 
run the MOM better than Fudge and Hogwarts better than Dumbledore. 
She belittles all other authority, because she wants to have that 
authority herself.  She wants to be seen as a player on the national 
scene.

And Snape is always the one whose advice is ignored, who misses out 
on the Order of Merlin, who works tirelessly behind the scenes but is 
never recognised.  He battles it continually, but he has never 
settled in himself that Dumbledore's appreciation for the good he has 
done is enough.  And although he trusts and looks up to Dumbledore, 
he isn't quite secure in Dumbledore's appreciation of him - hence 
Dumbledore's acceptance of Harry rankles.

By contrast, Lupin's and Dumbledore's meekness is presented as a 
virtue.  Implicitly, the way Dumbledore responds to Maxime, 
Karkaroff, and Snape himself in the Goblet of Fire scene, not 
defending himself or his image, is presented as exemplary.  So the 
message is, be a Snape rather than a Lockhart, and resist the 
temptation to grab praise you want so much, but it's better yet to 
not want it, like Dumbledore, or Lupin, or, of course, Harry.

Two questions: how is Ron doing on this issue?

How did Snape feel about the Longbottoms' popularity?

David