Snape/Lily and respect, was Snape and Respect
pippin_999 <foxmoth@qnet.com>
foxmoth at qnet.com
Sat Feb 1 18:22:38 UTC 2003
No: HPFGUIDX 51369
I said:
> As to all that goes on in Snape's head I couldn't begin to
guess,
> but I will submit a LOLLIPOPS apologia for Snape's behavior in
> this scene. He has once again arrived just too late to prevent a
> Muggle-born witch from taking a curse meant for Harry Potter.
Shaun:
>>OK... if that is true, I *might*, just *might* be able to forgive
him. If his reaction was one born of frustration at his falure to
save someone who he thinks he should be saved, or born of
guilt, or of memories of the past that welled up inside him, I
could*maybe* have a little sympathy for the man in this case. Still
unacceptable, but less than deliberate cruelty.
But I find that hard to credit - because of this:
"Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, 'I see no
difference.'"
That pause. For me to grant him sympathy, I have to assume he
had enoughself-control that none of his feelings were apparent
in his face or manner at all - but not enough to stop himself
making that comment<<
Amanda, premier Snapologist, agreed with Shaun:
>>Ah, Pippin, you know my leanings, but I can't give you this one.
Snape is cold and matter of fact. I don't get any vibes of this sort
from this scene. I think he's just being, as someone pithily put it,
a right bastard.<<<
Oh for goodness sake, you two! This is *Snape* we're talking
about. Snape doesn't have to *think up* insults. They're like
Kleenex -- they pop out instantly from some reservoir of inner
spleen.
I guess I will have to guess at what goes on in Snape's head
after all--
As usual, in this scene Snape knows both more and less than
the reader. Things that Snape is aware of and the reader isn't
include, for this example, the whole Snape/Lily history, whatever
it might be, exactly what Snape's responsibility for Harry is, and
that Dark Wizard trick of using Imperio to force one innocent
wizard to curse another. Like the reader, Snape's been told
there is a Dark Wizard who can use mind control trying to kill
Harry. What the reader knows and Snape doesn't is that what
just happened in the corridor is nothing more than a school boy
spat.
Snape definitely has more responsibility for Harry than teaching
him potions, BTW, for he attends the Champions Briefing after
the Goblet gave Harry's name, which has nothing to do with
potions or Slytherin House. His good cop, bad cop scenes with
McGonagall are, IMO, some of the sliest humor in the series. But
I digress.
So Snape comes on the scene, having heard a bellow from
Goyle, who is hurt but unlike Hermione is not "whimpering in
panic,"panic-stricken," or "terrified."
Snape has also heard Hermione's "terrified cry", but doesn't
know that it was her, because the first thing he asks is, "And
what is all this noise about?"
Snape learns that Harry and Draco exchanged curses and
calmly sends Goyle off to the Hospital Wing. Then Ron draws his
attention: "Malfoy got Hermione!," with what, of course, Snape
does not know.
Now *I* think it possible that something about the situation
triggered an unconscious association with the Muggle-born
witch who died taking a curse for Harry Potter. And it hit Snape
like the Hogwarts Express. So Snape just locks up for a
moment, as frozen as Hermione. Ron and Harry, of course, think
he's not paying attention.
So Ron yells, "*Look*!" and Snape, who has no idea why his
mind just did this terrifying thing to him but who knows that there
is a Dark Wizard who specializes in mind-control on the loose,
calls on all the emotional control he has available, turns on the
coldest vampire stare he can manage and forces himself to look
at Hermione...who, godsbethanked, is only suffering from the not
very dangerous Densaugeo curse, but seems to be on the verge
of hysterics the silly witch, and why can't Weasley that overgrown
lout take her to the Hospital Wing instead of staring at me? Oh,
he expects me to do something, is that it? Doesn't feel like
playing the hero today? Very well..."
He's not thinking, "what's the nastiest thing I can say to a
helpless teenage girl", he's thinking, "how do I make this
hysterical underage female get herself under control without
blowing my cover, and what the hell just happened to me?"
To borrow a phrase, that's my story. And I'm sticking to it.
Pippin
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