Snape as Byronic hero

[kiricat2001 <Zarleycat@aol.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48474

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eillim022861 

 The classic 'Byronic hero' is Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre who has a 
> dark secret, shows evidence of mental cruelty and is not 
classically 
> attractive. (Comparisons?)

> Back to Snape. I agree that not all the epithets fit, but for me 
the 
> gothic imagery that surrounds him, his personality, image and 
> surrounding mystery definately lends itself to the description of 
> Byronic hero.

Okay, help me out here. When discussing literary figures, in this 
case heroes, subcatagory Byronic heroes, do the definitions of 
Byronic hero apply to a reader's perception of a character, or with 
how the other characters in the literary work view the subject?  To 
continue with Snape as the potential Byronic Man, is he Byronic in 
how we relate to him or in how he interacts with and is percieved by 
the other Potterverse characters (I was a science major, okay?)

I'm thinking of the attraciveness aspect. Setting aside film 
portrayals, it's obvious from discussions on the list that a lot of 
people find Snape attractive. I'm not one of them. But, it also seems 
clear that JKR is not trying to portray Snape as a physically 
attractive man. Nor, to my recollection, is there any instance in the 
books where any implication is made that any of the other characters 
see him as attractive.  

So, does the fact that there doesn't seem to be canon support for 
Snape's attractiveness negate at least that part of the Byronic hero 
concept? Or is canon outweighed by the positive reaction to Snape's 
attractiveness that lots of readers have?
 
> Finally with regard to Snape's 'attractiveness', I agree with 
> Porphyria that if JKR had intended to make him unattractive she 
> failed, (well with me anyway). 

No, she didn't.  ;-)  

Marianne, who freely admits she doesn't understand the Snape 
attraction factor that's out there, but who also thinks Snape is the 
most layered, interesting character in all of Potterverse.