Does Snape hate muggleborns?

[sallygrist <sally@gristiegraphics.co.uk>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51254

After following the recent thread, "Who's more out of line?", it 
started me thinking that Snape's mistreatment of Hermione may 
possibly be indicative of his hidden loathing for muggleborns.

Although I don't really have much evidence to support this, it does 
lead me to think that as an ex-Death Eater, Snape must have at some 
point upheld the racist beliefs of both Salazar Slytherin and 
Voldemort. Otherwise he would have been in conflict with the 
fundamental principles of the Death Eater movement right from the 
start. Is there any canon to show that Snape is, or was racist?

As I see it, there are a number of possibilities regarding Snape's 
opinion on mudblood prejudice:

A) As a DE he supported this prejudice in the past, but something 
happened that made him change his mind, possibly the reason why he 
left the group.
- I guess this is opening the door to a much bigger subject; if we 
knew what happened in Snape's past, we'd know the answers to a lot 
of other questions too so I'm reluctant to open that can of worms.

B) He never really went along with this prejudice, but became a DE 
because the rest of the theoretical 'prospectus' looked pretty 
appealing anyway.
- Its a pretty wishy-washy theory, but given that we know next to 
nothing about Snape's past, its reasonable to assume that he could 
have been in a situation where he felt that the benefits of becoming 
a DE outweighed the disadvantages.

C) He was never prejudiced and only became a DE because he was 
acting as a spy for the 'good side'
- So if he was always a good guy, then we still don't know the true 
reason why he has such a chip on his shoulder. Could a schoolboy 
feud *really* make someone *that* bitter and twisted for years to 
come?

D) He is still prejudiced, but keeps his opinions hidden.
- Which he might do if he were anxious not to give off DE signals to 
all and sundry, but instead lead people to believe that he's a 
reformed character. We know that Dumbledore trusts him, but we don't 
know if he's really shed all those DE ideals. Just because he no 
longer wishes to associate himself with a company of underworld 
terrorists, it doesn't mean he's suddenly become whiter than white. 
If he *were* still harbouring loathsome thoughts towards 
muggleborns, sneaky attacks such as the teeth incident could be a 
suitably gratifying way of relieving a few pent-up emotions.


So regardless of Snape's current state of mind, the facts remain 
that at one time or another he probably was racist towards 
muggleborns. He currently displays an outward dislike for Hermione, 
however, no more so than he does for Harry so this doesn't 
necessarily mean that his negativity towards her *is* racially 
motivated. As unpleasant as Snape can be to Hermione, as far as I'm 
aware, references to 'mudbloods' are always voiced by the Malfoy 
clan, or from Riddle/Voldemort, and never by Snape himself. Clearly 
it wouldn't do his image much good to be openly voicing opinions of 
this nature, but OTOH he doesn't hesitate in making his private 
feelings towards Harry public, as irrational and unpopular as they 
may be. 

But we don't know the full reason why Snape hates Harry in the first 
place. Its possible that he hates him because he caused the downfall 
of the Dark Lord, who's ideals and opinions (theoretically) Snape 
held in the highest regard. In which case his hatred of Harry is 
just a manifestation of his loathing of mudbloods, and like 
Voldemort, to him Harry is the reason his idealistic world of 
pureblood wizards doesn't exist. 

But if he does still withhold his mudblood prejudices, surely he 
would be more vindictive towards not only Hermione but all the 
wizards who are not of pureblood descent? I think that to him, 
Hermione is less of a walking epitame of everything his fundamental 
beliefs stand against, and more just an 'irritating know-it-all'.

So does anyone have any canon to show that Snape supports, or has in 
the past supported Slytherin/Voldemorts' prejudice of muggleborn 
wizards? And if he did, but no longer subscribes to the theory of 
racial hatred, what happened to make him change his mind?

Sally

I normally just lurk, its taken me all day to piece together 
something I think may be worthy of submission so please go gentle 
with me