Despised lackey or social equal

[ladyramkin2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 90266

This is such a fascinating thread, one of the most interesting we 
have had for some time.  Can I make a small, slightly OT point. 
Someone (Julie?) saw the position of a teacher in WW as similar to 
that in the Victorian age and cited Nicholas Nickleby as an example.
But Nicholas was always "a gentleman" even when working for Squeers 
and was not in any way a trained teacher.  Julie (this time I'm sure 
it was Julie!) went on to describe Snape in terms I totally agreewith:

>I tend to read Snape (his dress speech patterns, method of teaching, 
emphasis on respect and obedience) as someone who has struggled for 
what he has and is very much on guard against losing it, rather than 
born to wealth and power and easy social connections like the Malfoys>

This is a perfect description of another Dickens character, Bradley 
Headstone from Our Mutual Friend, a teacher who has dragged himself 
up by his bootstraps and lives in fear of losing what it has cost him 
so much to achieve.  Like Snape, he is a power-house of barely 
controlled passion, and he has his own Lucius Malfoy in Eugene 
Wrayburn, born to wealth and power and easy social connections.

Sylvia