To clarify.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 85399

nymphadoraotonks wrote:
Carol brought up an interesting point and I want to address it
before I fall down from sleep deprivation. I do NOT think Snape is
horrible. 


michaeljacksonfan1970 responded: 
I don't think he is horrible either.  Still, I don't think his
motivations are all that clear, even after the last book. I can't
wait to read your Snape defense, though.

 
Tonks again: 
I stand by all  my assessments of Snape in the past. I love Snape. I
have called him many  things. ( He will always be Sexy Snape to me) 
 
michaeljacksonfan1970:
Sexy, huh?  Why is that?  None of the descriptions of him in the books
are really that way.  I always wonder if people who find Snape sexy
have solid romantic relationships in their real lives.  Or does their
infatuation with Snape mean they like that personality type generally?
> 
> ~Madeline

For me, at least, real-life relationships have nothing to do with it,
and I've never encountered Snape's personality in the RW so I don't
know whether I'd be attracted to it--or him. If I could somehow enter
the WW, I think I would be drawn by his cultivated voice and his
obvious intelligence, not to mention the way he sweeps and glides down
the corridors in his long cloak. I might be a bit daunted by the
apparent coldness, but I would want to prove to him and to myself that
I wasn't afraid of him, that, muggle or no muggle, I was in some ways
his equal. The Jane Eyre/Rochester thing, maybe. There's an element of
Gothic Romanticism about him. Even the black hair, black eyes, and
pale skin suggest a Gothic or Byronic anti-hero.

But he's not real, he's a literary character, so the attraction is
different. It's not about whether I could have a romantic relationship
with him (though I confess to a fantasy or two) but about figuring
out who he is and why. He seems, more than the other characters, to
belong to some earlier time. Harry and Hermione and the Weasleys, even
to some degree Lupin and Sirius, have connections to the modern world.
Snape doesn't. I can't imagine him riding a train or a motorcycle or
wearing a watch. He's steeped in medievalism and mystery. Even the
potions he so expertly brews are mysterious and he speaks about them
almost poetically, and yet we sense that he really wants to be making
better use of his prodigious talents by teaching DADA or perhaps
escaping Hogwarts altogether. He was abused or neglected as a child,
tormented and lonely as a teenager, and seduced (by Lucifer/Lucius?)
into joining the dark side. He repented for mysterious reasons and now
(mysteriously) has Dumbledore's trust. He became a spy for the good
side "at great personal risk" but he's now stuck teaching Potions at a
boarding school when he's not working (mysteriously) for the Order,
loyal to Dumbledore yet hating his job and his students--in short, a
man with a dark side who is somehow, mysteriously, on the side of
good. So many unanswered questions about his past and future, so much
to speculate about. He's endlessly compelling.

Therre's also the fact that other people, those who take him at face
value, don't like him. I don't know about Tonks or anyone else on this
list, but I find men who are maligned by others fascinating and have
an irresistible urge to defend them. (Keep me away from any Richard
III lists or I'll never get any work done.) Needless to say, I'm
looking forward to Tonks' defense, too. A toast to Snape. May he prove
his worth and survive to the end of the series.

Carol