Snape, the "Deeply Horrible Person"

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 94371

Jen:
> 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. 

<snip>
> This seems like a *very* strong negative characterization to me. 
<snip>

Thanks for this JKR's quote. For me it fits exactly. We have fun 
reading Snape, as JKR has fun writing him, *because* he is a deeply 
horrible person, not in spite of it.

JKR has managed to write a story which is simultaneously a Cinderella 
story and a Cinderella parody. The Dursleys are horrible people too, 
and like Snape they are horrible in an entertaining way, so JKR gets 
them to do a double job for her, or actually a triple job: Firstly, 
we pity and identified with Harry when he is abused by them. 
Secondly, we laugh because the abuse is portrayed in a funny way. 
Thirdly, we cheer when Harry pays them back what they deserve. In the 
case of Snape it gets even better, because unlike the Dursleys he is 
a capable person with some admired qualities and a critical role in 
the war against Evil. So in addition to the three jobs above, we also 
appreciate him and want him to be redeemed. Plus we fall for his 
vampire-like charisma. Amazing. I can't recall any character of any 
author who gets simultaneously so many different and contradicting 
responses from the reader. 

I suspect, however, that JKR did not plan for Snape becoming so 
popular, even more popular than Harry. Part of this popularity is 
maybe because the grown-up sophisticated reader appreciates Snape's 
machiavellian complexity more than Harry's teenage naiveté. But 
popularity as usual has its negative side effects, so there is a 
tendency to read Snape in a more positive light than he is portrayed, 
which IMO is completely counterproductive. I want the deeply horrible 
Snape to be redeemed because he'll help saving the WW, but I don't 
want him to turn out the nobel and wronged hero. This will ruin Snape 
as a character.

Neri