Snape: non-Vampire, emotions vs principles

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 35698

Porphyria:
> First off, I need to thank Judy, 
Yoris, and jklb66 for their kind words about my last post on why Snape 
oughtn't be a Vampire. I feel all gushy inside! See kids, we have to 
band together to drive a stake through the heart of this theory whenever 
it rears its ugly head. ;-) <

As Captain of LOLLIPOPS, I have a responsibility not to discriminate against crew and passengers on the basis of their beliefs.  I am aware that there are people on board my Ship sunk deep in the throat of the Vampire theory, and I have striven to make them feel welcome by providing a special Vampire Cabin, where prosthetic fangs, blood samples and hydroponically grown bulbs of garlic are provided for their entertainment.  However, at risk of causing ripples in the rigging, I'll confess that I've long been infected by the:

S.I.A.M.E.S.E.V.I.R.U.S. (Snape Is Already Mysterious Enough, So Extra Vampiricism Is Rendered Unquestionably Superfluous)

I mean, come on.  We *already* have one werewolf, one half-giant, one quarter-Veela, and at least four unregistered Animagi... do we really need to crowbar in *another* twist of this type?  Especially with a character like Snape, who already has enough mystique and torment up his swirling black sleeves. Nope, I definitely favour the solitary-pink-flamingo-in-Gothic-cathedral approach of LOLLIPOPS (colourful metaphor c/o Marina, I think!).

I also sniff at suggestions that Snape is a principle driven intellectual who wouldn't let an emotional triviality like Love Of Lily sway him.  Snape's personal vendetta against Harry a principled, intellectual, unemotional one??  Snape's reactions to Sirius, from the shrieking about his escape to the snarling, reluctant handshake, purely intellectual and principle driven??  Snape being accused of disloyalty to Dumbledore by Crouch/Moody, gripping the chair when Ginny gets taken by Riddle, sweeping into his first Potions class spouting poetry, a man divorced from emotional reactions?  Ha.  Snape is an emotional man with a sense of the dramatic and, I'd wager, no small measure of acting ability (he was a spy, after all).

What I see in Snape is a man whose emotions and principles are in continual conflict (similar to but not quite the same as what others have said about his natural tendencies towards evil warring with his better moral nature).  In the time where the books are set, he seems to have struck an uneasy balance, where he lets his emotions win the little battles, but lets his principles rule over the more important domains of life and death.  In the classroom, he lets his disgust at weakness and incompetence get the better of him, and bullies Neville cruelly, and lets his grudge against Harry manifest as sneering and victimisation.  However, in life and death matters, his alliance to the Good Side triumphs... he discreetly saves Harry from Quirrell, puts children who've attacked him and even arch-enemy Sirius on stretchers, risks his life to spy for Dumbledore.

Judging by what happens when you dig up events from his past, i.e. strong emotional reactions (to the Prank, to reminders of his Death Eater history), I'd say Snape's current incarnation as man whose principles hold tenuous sway over his emotions when it really counts may be a reasonably recent development.  If he's a principled intellectual now, I'd say he's one made, not born, probably because letting his emotions take the reins led to some serious trouble in his past.  I'd say as teenager, his emotions were king, and it wasn't until he learned some very harsh lessons that he developed the ability to control his emotional tendency towards nastiness and revenge.

Which is why I maintain my objections to the "Snape's a principled man not a mushball who'd make important decisions centred around his girl" too EWW to be TREWW line.  In my version of LOLLIPOPS, the decision to *join* the Death Eaters was an emotional one... his decision to *leave* them was the principled one.

As a child, as an adolescent, revenge seems to be the major motivating force for Snape... he turned up at 11 having learned hundreds of curses, he was bullied by the Marauders and dedicated years to trying to catch them out and get them expelled, leading to the Prank.  Carefully thought out, intellectual decisions?  Actions based around sound moral principles??  Hardly.  He was being driven by an emotional agenda, wanting to punish those who wronged him, and I'd wager that was the agenda behind his signing up to work with Voldemort.  After all, his thwarters were on the other side, weren't they?  Voldemort would give him a licence to Punish!

(also, as I've said before, a boy who feels wronged and thwarted and persecuted is a very very likely candidate for a huge crush on the first pretty girl who is kind to him.  Hence my backstory includes Lily, who *is* principled, speaking out against Sirius' victimisation of Snape, and thereby overwhelming Snape's tormented young heart).

*Then* we have a touch of George.  At first Snape revels in the torture of his foes, but once the edge has been taken off his vengeful emotions, the rational, intellectual, principled side began to surface.  What exactly is he trying to achieve by torturing Muggles and strangers?  After the initial bloodrush, he doesn't really enjoy it any more, certainly not like those vicious Lestranges and that bloodthirsty Avery.  As for those unspeakable Marauders James and Sirius, isn't he doing to others exactly what they did to him?  He hated being victimised by them, but the person he has become is no better.  He is a murderer now, killing people for no better reason than that a madman is telling him to.

The LOLLIPOPS angle here is that he already had an illustration of someone who wasn't afraid to stand up for her principles... Lily.  As his doubts grow, her memory is a moral compass for him.  She stood up for him when he was bullied, and judged Sirius harshly; now he's the bully, and she would judge him just as harshly, in fact more harshly... he isn't just taunting and Pranking, he's actually killing people.  What has he become?

This, I would argue, is actually a moral principle issue, *not* a mushy issue.  Lily as role model as much as Lily the lost love.  By her past actions, she awakened the moral conscience slumbering under Snape's vengeful, bitter emotions.  The threat to her family is what suddenly triggers Snape's recognition of the immorality of his actions, because it makes it *real*... someone he knows and loves will suffer for the rest of her life because of his actions.  Something he has already done to countless other people.

The moral crisis, already building, hits a critical mass.  The vengeful emotions that drove Snape to Voldemort seem childish and abominable; his actions since then unspeakably immoral.  Snape's principles rise up to conquer his emotions and he goes to Dumbledore announcing he wants to change sides.  Dumbledore is wary of this young man, whose thirst for revenge turned him into a Death-Eater.  Therefore, Snape must prove to Dumbledore that those vengeful emotions are now controlled and ruled completely by the principles that led him to change sides.  What better way to do this than enlist Snape's services as spy?

I say the decision to *leave* Voldemort was definitely based on moral principles, and that this fits in seamlessly with LOLLIPOPS.  Because, of course, if Snape loved Lily, why abandon the Death Eaters when they were going to kill her husband and son and leave her free for him??  Emotions would have kept him firmly under Voldemort's wing.  Only principles could send him to Dumbledore to *save* the Potters and *save* Lily's happiness, while simultaneously working against his own private longing to have Lily for himself.

Which, of course, makes the fact that Lily herself actually ended up dying unnecessarily to save Harry about as horrible an outcome for Snape as you could imagine.

No wonder he hates Harry so much...

Tabouli.


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