TBAY - Choleric!Snape

[Judy]

No: HPFGUIDX 47031

"Can I have a seat at the table?" asked Judy Serenity. "I'm dying for
a good Snape discussion."

"Ah yes," said Eileen. "A good Snape discussion! I want blood on
Snape's hands. I like Sadist!Snape because it makes him so much more
interesting, so compelling."

Judy looked into Eileen pale face and glittering eyes. It was only
Judy's detached, serene nature than kept her from backing away from
Eileen.

"If Snape truly enjoyed torturing others, he simply wouldn't be
redeemable," Judy said. "Normal people don't go around inflicting pain
'just for fun.' A person who does that is a severe sociopath. Snape
lacks the qualities of a sociopath -- an ability to charm others, a
lack of introspection, a desire for action, a lack of remorse for
hurting others, poor impulse control, an inability to learn from one's
mistakes. Now, Sirius on the other hand...." her voice trailed off.

"The Sirius Apologist is watching you," boomed Dicentra.

"Since when did sadism equal sociopathism?" asks Eileen steadily.
"Socipathism is as you said, a lack of introspection, a lack of
remorse for hurting each others, poor impulse control, an inability to
learn from one's mistakes. One can have a taste for cruelty and not
lack all these positive qualities, you know?"

"No, I didn't mean that sociopathy was the only possible cause of
cruelty," said Judy, but she wasn't sure Eileen had heard the last
part of her sentence; the singing from the bar was quite loud at the
moment.  "What I meant was, normal people experience distress when
they cause or witness the suffering of others.  They may do cruel
things under certain circumstances, but cruelty is not something they
seek of their own accord, not something they do *for fun*.  Normal
people are not born with a taste for cruelty. I believe that people
who enjoy cruelty for its own sake -- the Macnairs of the world -- are
generally sociopaths, complete with the full constellation of
sociopathic traits such as lack of introspection and poor impulse
control. Snape does not fit into this category...." 

"I don't buy this idea that normal people have no taste for cruelty,"
Eileen interjected. "Just take a look at the entire Soviet system.
Dekulakization, for example. Have you read any of the accounts of the
cruelty ordinary young men and women engaged in on behalf of the Party
towards the 'kulaks?'"

"Er, no, I'm afraid I haven't," Judy said.  "The small amount of time
I can steal away from Snape Studies is spent studying Chinese history.
I've read about the cruelty inflicted by ordinary peasants during
Mao's 'Anti-Landlord campaign.'  Will that do?"  

"Close enough," said Eileen. "The same point holds. These weren't
sociopaths. They were ordinary people, well some of them anyway. It's
my humble belief, after studying way too much 20th century history,
that everyone has a taste for cruelty." 

"I would disagree," Judy said. "I would say that everyone has a
*capacity* for cruelty; that they might behave cruelly under certain
social conditions, but that very few of these people really would
*want* to act cruelly if left to their own devices.  As evidence, look
at Stanley Milgram's famous experiences on obedience.  He had an
authority figure command ordinary people to give what they thought
were dangerous, even lethal, shocks to an innocent victim. Most of his
research subjects complied and continued giving shocks until the
authority figure told them to stop.  However, as Milgram noted, the
subjects did not enjoy shocking the victim.  In fact, the subjects
seemed quite conflicted and distressed at giving shocks and were
greatly relieved to learn that the 'victim' had not actually been
hurt. Furthermore, when other, similar, subjects were asked to shock a
victim, but allowed to set the shock level themselves, almost all of
them picked low levels of shock.  Only one out of 40 subjects
voluntarily selected the highest level of shock available." 

"Hmm, interesting," said Eileen.  "But perhaps not relevant.  After
all, no one would call Snape 'ordinary', so what ordinary people want
may not apply to him. In fact, Snape is quite different from ordinary
people. Consider Elkins' famous treatise on Snape's personality..."

Elkins looked up wearily.  "Can't a person get any work done around
here?  I am so sick of reading that thing."  Then she sighed, and
started reading. "I tend to see him as someone whose *impulses* all
lead him in one unerring direction -- but in a direction that he has
chosen to reject on abstract and purely philosophical grounds. In
other words, I see him as a Dark Wizard. In instinct. In impulse. In
inclination. To some extent, perhaps even in essence.... The
suggestion that Snape left the DEs because when it came right down to
it, he lacked a taste for torture or murder, for example, has always
left me a bit cold because in my reading of Snape, of *course* he has
a taste for it. A taste for it is *exactly* what he's got. His taste
for it...well, that's sort of his problem, isn't it?"

"Thank you, Elkins," said Eileen. "You see, Judy?  Snape has a natural
taste for cruelty.  You have to agree with that, don't you?"

"No, in fact I don't agree," said Judy. "As you may know, I've devoted
almost my entire professional career to the study of Snape.  His past
actions.  His psychology and personality.  His likes and dislikes. 
His -- well, never mind that part.  The point is, I just can't buy the
theory of Snape's motives that is being proposed.  You --  Eileen,
Elkins, and perhaps others -- are saying that Snape is a natural
sadist, someone who enjoys hurting others *for sport*.  And, I think
canon opposes this reading of Snape's character, even if Snape does
say a lot of nasty things to the Gryffindors during potions class."

"Just *what* canon opposes Sadist!Snape?" asked Diana.

"Both the fact that Dumbledore hired Snape -- and what *Sirius* said
about Snape."

"Sirius?" asked Eileen.  "Sirius despises Snape."

"Indeed he does," Judy said.  "But, you will note that Sirius never
says anything about Snape being a sadist.  He says that Snape knew a
lot of curses, didn't wash his hair, and wanted to get the Marauders
in trouble.  Sirius *doesn't* say that Snape engaged in wanton
cruelty.  If Snape had been torturing small animals in Magical
Creatures class, or practicing painful curses on the younger students,
or kicking around the house-elves, don't you think that Sirius would
have mentioned those things, rather than criticizing Snape's
hairstyle?" 

"Still," said Dicentra, "Snape must have been just as bad as the other
Death Eaters. Consider the scene after Harry encounters the Pensieve,
when Harry asks how Dumbledore could tell that Snape had truly left
the Death Eaters.  There's no reason why Dumbledore couldn't have told
Harry right then and there that Snape had developed a distaste for
Voldemort's Death-Eating ways. There's nothing so secret about that.
He could have explained to Harry that Snape wasn't as bad as the rest.
Surely Harry should know something like that. But no, Dumbledore's
sitting on a Bang, as sure as I'm standing here. Snape turned back
after having been in up to his eyebrows."

Judy said, "Oh, I'm sure there's a Bangy reason why Snape left the
Death Eaters, one that Dumbledore can't tell Harry, but it's not proof
that Snape is a sadist.  Quite the contrary.  I believe that Snape
left the Death Eaters because of his love for Lily; Snape's feelings
for her made him realize how evil the Death Eaters were. The details
are so 'eeewww' that I'd rather not go into them again, but you can
read my theory in post 34857.  Of course, Snape would be mortified if
Harry knew he had been in love with Lily.  That's why Dumbledore
refuses to tell Harry why Snape left the Death Eaters."  

Eloise, who had been sitting quietly at the table, suddenly looked up.
 "Snape, much as it pains me to admit it, isn't, apparently, a
terribly nice, kind, loving person. I'm afraid that I *can* see him
joining in with the other Death Eaters. Like Elkins, I think that
unfortunately he *does* have a taste for that sort of thing, although
I'm not sure whether he actually enjoys it or whether it isn't more of
a reflex. But for some reason, he began to question Voldemort's
philosophy. Maybe he twigged that Voldemort was the only one who
*really* benefited, that even if he sought power for himself, he would
always be controlled by Voldemort."

"No, that can't be it, Eloise," Judy replied.  "If Snape enjoyed
torture, and only left the Death Eaters because he felt that Voldemort
wasn't sharing power enough, then Dumbledore would have never taken
him in." 

Eileen tapped her fingernails on the table impatiently.  "You keep
attacking the Sadist!Snape theory, Judy, but you haven't offered any
alternative.  If Snape isn't a natural sadist, then why was he a Death
Eater in the first place?  Why is he so mean to the Gryffindor
students?  Just what's your explanation for Snape's behavior?"

Judy looked as though she had never been asked a more flattering
question.  "Oooo, I thought you'd never ask!  My theory is that Snape
has the sort of personality that naturally angers easily.  Back when
it was believed that personality was dominated by bodily fluids, he
would have been said to be full of bile.  I rather like using the
concept of the four humours when discussing Snape -- he does teach
potions, after all.  So, I call my theory Choleric!Snape." 

"Choleric?" asked Diana.

"It's just an old name for bile," Judy explained.  "In the past, it
was believed that happy people had plenty of blood, placid people had
lots of phlegm...

"Yuck!" George exclaimed from behind the bar.

"Don't blame me, I didn't come up with that bit about phlegm," Judy
said. She turned back to her fellow Snape theorists at the table. " A
sad person was said to have be melancholic -- full of black bile,
whatever that is -- while someone like Snape was said to be choleric,
full of yellow bile. So, I'm saying that Snape has a naturally
resentful, envious personality.  He sees the world as hostile to him.
 He believes he's being treated unfairly, even when he's not.  And
when he IS treated unfairly -- *cough*prank*cough* -- he's downright
implacable.  He's mean to the Gryffindors because he's convinced that
they are getting privileges they don't deserve.  And, I believe that
he joined the Death Eaters because he thought that those opposing
Voldemort, even Dumbledore himself, wanted him dead."

"Yeah, but is he really all that different from the other Death
Eaters?" Diana asked.

"I'd say that he is," Judy replied. "I admit, he gets angry too
easily.  He doesn't know how to forgive.  But, leave him alone, and
he'll leave you alone.  He doesn't go after people whom he feels have
never hurt him.  You can't say that about the other Death Eaters --
they were torturing the campground owner and his family after the
Quidditch World Cup, just because they *could*.  Snape wouldn't do
that.   Even back before he joined Dumbledore's side, there's nothing
to suggest that he ever *enjoyed* hurting people who had done nothing
to him. Snape eventually realized that the Death Eaters did not share
his values, that he had made a terrible mistake in joining them." 

"But, he was hostile to Harry from the moment he met him," interjected
Eileen. "Try explaining that!  Harry had never done anything to him."

Judy replied, "Well, I said that Snape wasn't a natural sadist, but I
never said he was *reasonable.*  He gets angry when he isn't entitled
to. He resents the fame of "the boy who lived" just like -- exactly
like -- he resented the attention that James Potter received.  He
blames Lupin for the prank, even though there's no evidence that Lupin
helped plan it.  When Neville injures himself, he's furious that
Neville has disrupted class.  His choleric personality is a serious
flaw -- but it's not evil the way that being a sadist is evil." 

Judy finished talking.  She tried to pour herself another cup of tea,
but found that her teapot was empty.  "Hey, George!" she called
towards the bar. "Could you get me some Jazmyn tea? Jazmyn really
seems to agree with me."


~~ Judy Serenity, who has found that it's easier to swim around the
Bay than she expected, and says, "Come on in, the water's fine!" to
Amanda