Snape: non-Vampire, emotions vs principles

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 35713

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:
 
> S.I.A.M.E.S.E.V.I.R.U.S. (Snape Is Already Mysterious Enough, So
Extra Vampiricism Is Rendered Unquestionably Superfluous)
> 

It must be a very contagious virus; I have an advanced case of it
myself.


> 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? <

Ah, but SWEETGEORGIANISM makes no such extreme claims.  Just like the
sailors of LOLLIPOPS do not maintain that every single aspect of
Snape's life is centered entirely around his love for Lily,
Georgianists do not imagine that all of Snape's behavior is governed
solely by the cold, clear light of his intellect.  Where's the fun in
that?  Where's the angst, the tension, the gut-wrenching internal
conflict that we Georgianists find so attractive?  Of course Snape is
a man of intense and violent emotion.  That's what makes it so tasty
when his emotions steer him one way while his principles point in an
entirely different direction.  That's what makes it such an impressive
achievement when he chooses to take the principled path.  He hates
Harry with a deep, unreasoning hatred, but protects the little brat
anyway.  He wants nothing more than to give the unconscious Sirius a
boot to the head and hand him over to the Dementors, but instead loads
him on a stretcher and floats him into the castle.  Why, it's all so
emotional it's positively operatic! (With Sirius as the tenor and
Snape as the baritone, naturally.)  In fact, it's an opera in...

E SHARP: Emotional Snape Has to Abide by Rigorous Principles

(Yes, I know there's no E-sharp in Muggle music, but they have it in
Wizard music, okay?  Sheesh.)

I'm fairly sure that Snape's original decision to join the DEs was
emotionally driven, and that his current ability to override his
feelings when it really matters was something that he had to learn the
hard way at a later date.  It doesn't come naturally to him.  And
based on what you post below, your opinions on the subject aren't all
*that* different from mine:

Tabouli:
> 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.
> 

Seems like we mostly disagree about matters of degree and nuance. 
(And Lily).

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com