Diana's views on Snape/George....I'm not an expert...

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 35633

In a message dated 23/02/02 04:11:02 GMT Standard Time, rusalka at ix.netcom.com 
writes:


> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., mlfrasher at a... wrote:
> > >  ...his disillusionment with the DEs was not a sudden 
> > epiphanous revelation, but rather, a gradual realization that
> > Voldemort and his followers were evil: their motives selfish, 
> their 
> > means unjustified, their ends corrupt, and their assumptions just 
> > plain *wrong.*  
> > 
> > I have a problem with theories that depict moral quandaries of 
> right or 
> > wrong.  If there's anything that Snape has given us in the books --
> it's a 
> > nice grey area.  
> 
> The existence of gray does not preclude the existence of black and 
> white.  In fact, you can't have gray at all unless you've got black 
> and white first.  In any case, regardless of my own view on the 
> matter, I don't think JKR is trying to present a morally 
> relativistic universe in the books; I think real evil exists in the 
> 

This concerns one of the problems I have, or at least did have, with the 
Potterverse and is one of the reasons why G.E.O.R.G.E.'S. S.I.S.T.E.R. 
D.I.A.N.A.*, whilst in most respects agreeing totally with her brother, has 
slightly divergent views.

* for those who've missed it, D.I.A.N.A. is my acronym for my Snapetheory , 
originally published as the Steady State theory and very closely related to 
George.

It used to seem to me that we were at the same time being presented with both 
a relativistic and a dualistic, Good vs Evil universe. 
We had the Evil Voldemort, with the implication that his followers are the 
forces of Darkness, lined up against Dumbledore and what we may call the 
'Light' side. In fact, because we are talking about a conflict, it's very 
hard to conceptualise it in any but a dualistic, Good vs Evil manner.
But then, we had the 'greyness' of many, if not all, of our Good characters - 
all the ones about whom we have any significant degree of knowledge, at any 
rate, leading to a battle not so much between black and white, but between 
black and grey.
This has led some of our number to try to argue for the 'greying' of our 
perception of the black characters, which in some cases is quite hard to do 
(I think one of the problems is that we tend to know less about them).
However, Diana's take on this is that the difference between the two sides is 
not just that that one side is 'Good' and one side is 'Evil', but that (more 
significantly when we come down to considering the case of this one 
individual) only one side (the 'Light' side) recognises that there is a 
distincion to be made in the first place. It's all a question of viewpoint.

I take as my text....PS/SS, Ch 17 (p211, UK version). Quirrel says,

       'A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good 
and evil.   
        Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, 
there 
       is only power, and those too weak to seek it...'

This then  the view Voldemort inculcates in his followers. 
So we have different perceptions according to our viewpoint. Yes, from the 
'Light' viewpoint, evil exists, but from the 'Dark' viewpoint, it doesn't.

Now since our protagonists are on the 'Light' side, the implication is that, 
as you say, Evil really exists in the Potterverse and Voldemort, who may or 
may not personally subscribe to the doctrine he taught Quirrel, is its 
embodiment.
 
> > Him suddenly having an epiphany, like some ray of sunshine 
> > that hits him from the sky and all the sudden enlightens him, 
> seems all hokey 
> > to me.  
> > I agree to the gradual realization that this isn't the way to 
> live, 
> > again through some personal threat to survival, and then realizing 
> that 
> > living this way is an isolated and horrible life.  
> 
> I'm all for lack of epiphanies (George nods enthusiastically from 
> the sidelines), but the idea that Snape's defection from the DEs was 
> based on the purely pragmatic realization that there's nothing in it 
> for him doesn't work for me.  I don't think it would've served to 
> win Dumbledore's trust and regard -- I think Dumbledore would've had 
> to see evidence of sincere moral repentance on Snape's part before 
> he cut any deals.  Plus, on purely aesthetic grounds, I just find it 
> less interesting to reduce Snape's motives to mere survivalism; it 
> removes much of that "principle vs inclination" tension that makes 
> the character so fascinating for me.
> 
> Marina
> 
Yes, yes, yes! Diana couldn't agree more. She likes her Snape all 
angst-ridden and tortured.
But the tension she finds in him around the time of his defection is the 
tension between the two world-views represented by the Dark and Light sides. 
Not 'Shall I ally myself with the forces of Good or the forces of Evil?', but 
the dawning realisation that there *was* after all a question to be asked in 
the first place. Mere physical survivalism doesn't come into it at all. The 
maintainance of sanity and integrity however does.

Eloise



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