Snape, the "Deeply Horrible Person"

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 94327

Jen wrote:
> I'm re-reading JKR interviews and ran across this one at Quick 
> Quotes:
> 
> Q: Who's your favorite character besides Harry Potter?
> A: It's very hard to choose. It's fun to write about Snape because 
> he's a deeply horrible person. Hagrid is someone I'd love to meet. 
> 
> This seems like a *very* strong negative characterization to me. 
> It also doesn't seem particulary consistent with the canon we have 
> so far. Snape is presented as complex, bitter, angry, etc. But 
> I've never seen his behavior as "deeply horrible" in the way of, 
> say, LV's behavior.
> 
> Since we only know what JKR has given us so far, but she carries 
> with her the full knowledge of each character's past and future 
> actions, I tend to think of these interview comments as either 
> subtle slip-ups or JKR subtly manipulating the way we see a 
> character (for the future *Bang* value!).
> 

Siriusly Snapey Susan:
Wow, Jen, thanks for this.  I find it especially interesting 
because, as you say, JKR knows the full character--past & future--
and so if she used this strong language, it *does* seem to imply 
something even worse than we've seen.

I keep thinking back to a report made [I believe in Newsweek] before 
the SS movie came out, about how JKR had said some things to Alan 
Rickman which no one else knew so far and which helped him in his 
portrayal of Snape.  [I think Chris Columbus remarked about how 
strange it was to see Rickman in the role, because it was *clear* he 
knew more of what was going on than we do.]  Yet, would most people 
agree with me that Rickman's Snape has seemed *less* "deeply 
horrible" than the written Snape?  I wonder what that means, then?

Siriusly Snapey Susan