Re; Re: Is Snape a pureblood?

[severelysigune]

No: HPFGUIDX 89742

 June wrote:
<< It's a class thing:
He comes over to me as rather aristocratic.  He certainly has the 
arrogance and the hauteur.  I've studied the argument that certain 
behaviour of Snape in canon is at odds with the concept of his being 
upper class, ie the swearing and the spitting.  Not so. Aristocrats, 
certainly many British ones, do not feel they have any duty to behave 
well. If they behave well, it is because they want to. "Noblesse 
Oblige" is a French remark and not a British one! They do not see 
themselves as bound by petit bourgeois definitions of what is "good 
form" and therefore will spit and swear if they feel like it.  
 
Equally, I will in the spirit of fairness point out, before someone 
does it for me, that he shows no such self-assurance in OOP -
"Snape's Worst Memory".
 
However, while his birth may well have been honourable, it looks to 
me very much as though his family background was impoverished.  This 
may account for the dingy appearance and lack of confidence. Imagine 
coming from a good family and not having the wealth that you feel 
ought to go with it!  Which would add an extra reason for his joining 
Voldemort's cause.  Such a person would be a sitting duck for 
Voldemort's anti-Muggle line. >>


Sigune reflects:
I dunno - he doesn't particularly strike me as the aristocratic type; 
I am not sure if I can explain why not. But even if you are quite 
right to point out that aristocratic roots don't equal "good form", I 
feel bound to say that likewise, arrogance and hauteur do not 
preclude aristocracy.

Somehow, I have come to think of Snape as a 'self-made man', which 
one could argue is a quintessentially middle-class concept. He is 
ambitious and hard-working. Also, judging from what we saw in the 
Occlumency lessons, he seems to have sort of reinvented himself at 
one point inbetween his schooldays and the arrival of Harry at 
Hogwarts. - As you point out, he has gained confidence.
[*Question*: is there any canon evidence of his using swearwords 
other than in the scenes from his memory?]

I don't know how this sounds to other people, but it seems to me that 
Snape's arrogance is connected with the quality of his thinking as 
Hermione signalled in PS: unlike many wizards, Snape thinks 
logically. His arrogance stems from his impatience with people who 
make errors of logic because they don't think rationally enough (to 
his taste).

It also struck me that Sirius called Snape 'Lucius Malfoy's lapdog'. 
Even when he meant it as a provocation, I get the impression 
throughout the books that Lucius Malfoy thinks of Snape as an ally or 
supporter, but in a patronising sort of way - Malfoy is the one with 
the power to make things happen and by no means regards Snape as an 
equal, which I think he would be more likely to do if Snape were on 
an equal footing with him socially.

I entirely agree with your view of him as someone who tries hard to 
better himself in the sense that he wants to make up for an 
impoverished family background. His pride and confidence at present 
may be related to a sense of achievement of sorts then. But I am not 
sure that this precludes an aristocratic family. Yet again, I have no 
definite proof, and this may be a piece of "Snape-as-I-would-like-him-
to-turn-out-to-be" :).

Yours severely,

Sigune