Snape as Enneagram Type 1 (was Re: Neville/Snape Question)

[caliburncy]

No: HPFGUIDX 38125

Hi,

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "naamagatus" <naama_gat at h...> wrote:
> I would like to see a unified theory of Snape Bully-ism. Let's see
> if you can explain away, at one go, his treatment of Harry, Neville
> AND Hermione (not to mention his overall nastiness to practically
> everybody around him).

---and "marinafrants" <rusalka at i...> replied:
> There is no unified theory, IMO.  Snape finds different reasons for
> being nasty to different people.  Because he's an inventive sort of
> person, and naturally predisposed to be nasty, he can find an
> infinite number of reasons.  Basically, Snape thinks people are
> scum -- but each separate person is scum in their own unique and
> special way. :-)

In a way, I think both of you are correct.  Marina, you are correct 
that Snape believes he has individual reasons for treating specific 
people the way he does.  And these reasons are quite accurate, to a 
certain extent.  But these are also primarily conscious reasons, and 
there are certainly some levels of delusion involved in our own 
understanding of our actions.  And beyond delusion, there is also 
subconscious identification.  It is quite valid to identify that 
Snape's malice towards Harry centers around James.  And beneath that, 
we can identify reasons for his malice toward James.  But beneath 
that, shouldn't there also be a more fundamental reason as to why 
those specific characteristics/actions of James affected Snape so 
negatively?  We are not all angered by precisely the same things.  So 
I suspect, perhaps, what Naama was asking was if there is some 
underlying personality trait or experience that explains Snape's 
worldview overall, and thereby the contrarian manner in which he 
approaches almost all human relationships, rather than the specific 
justifications we can provide (totally valid as they are) for each 
specific relationship.  And in this sense, I think Naama may also be 
correct that there is a sort of "unified theory", even if it's not 
the kind you were presumably talking about.

Pophyria offers up that Snape is misanthropic by nature (and I think 
Marina said something similar/identical earlier), and this is a good 
starting point.  But it doesn't give us insight into *why* he has a 
general hatred of humanity, it only recognizes that he does.  Now, 
I'm not going to try and sell everyone on a false proposition trying 
to explain how one traumatic, tear-jerking event in Snape's past 
shaped his entire worldview, because this is never strictly true of 
anyone, in such broad and all-encompassing terms.  But I am going to 
try to hit a little deeper than the "misanthropic" identification, 
and go for a root cause, even though I don't think the root cause 
here is an event at all.  In this case, the root cause, I think, has 
to do with personality type.  I recommend that anyone with sufficient 
interest in Snape's character go to their library and read up on the 
Enneagram Type 1 (especially in the Helen Palmer books).  Snape is, 
IMO, the spitting image of this Enneagram type, specifically its 
unhealthy traits.

There is not much point in my attempting to summarize here, because I 
will do a much more lousy job of it than any book on the subject 
will, and my explanation will probably be misleading.  But just to 
pique sufficient interest to warrant follow-up, let me explain that 
the Type 1 on the Enneagram is called the Perfectionist/Reformer 
(don't get too tied up in the semantics, however--they're often 
*very* misleading with regards to the Enneagram).  Type 1's are 
driven by a passion of anger and have a corresponding fixation of 
resentment.  Their attention tends to focus on any error that exists 
in their surroundings and the need to correct that, and they tend to 
view themselves under an extremely self-righteous lens.  They have a 
need to be right, a need to control.  They are rigid, judgmental, and 
critical.  They have a strong sense of ethics and are constantly 
monitoring others (even moreso than themselves) for violations of 
that sense of right and wrong.  They tend to be black and white 
thinkers.

Of course, they have many positive qualities as well, but I am 
focusing on some of the less healthy traits because these are the 
ones most prominent in Snape.

I really do mean it when I say that people interested in Snape should 
find out about this Enneagram type.  When it dawned on me one day 
that Snape fit this so aptly, it further illuminated to me, all in 
one package, many of his actions and thoughts with regards to 
Neville, Harry, James and the rest of MWPP, Hermione.  It also 
explains why he is a Potions master, why he is so good at it, why he 
is a teacher.  It might also be used to illuminate his relationship 
with McGonagall, and with Dumbledore, and to explain why Lockhart 
ticks off Snape more than Lockhart ticks off anyone else (except 
perhaps the reader).

In a way, all of this is quite obvious, and I knew it all before I 
made the Enneagram connection.  One certainly does not have to be 
familiar with the Enneagram, in order to recognize these tendencies 
and fundamental characteristics in Snape.  But seeing it on paper so 
accurately tends to make the truth of it resonate more clearly, so 
even if you (like myself) thinks this sounds self-evident, consider 
checking it out anyway.

-Luke (Enneagram Type 5: The Observer, for those of you that I know 
now became curious)