Vengeance on Snape?Re: Snape--Abusive?

[syroun]

No: HPFGUIDX 115658


>snip>
> Jen wrote: 
> > My thought is, does Snape really want his gifts acknowledged by 
> > the WW? The only information we have about this is in POA, when 
> > Dumbledore interprets that Snape is reeling from the loss of the 
> > Order of Merlin...Snape appears to be a loner with low regard 
> > for societal approbation. He doesn't seem the type to need 
> > outside monetary reward or intangibles...

Syroun adds:

If anything, Snape is a consumate professional. Potions are his 
forte and his teaching, whether kind or not, proves that his skills 
in this regard, are formidable.

>snip>
> Sigune:
> Yes, I've been wondering about that Order of Merlin too... But I 
> think that when it comes to assessing Snape, Dumbledore might be a 
> tad more reliable than Harry, so I wouldn't dismiss his comment 
> straight away. We don't know for sure what Snape is doing in VW2, 
> but in VW1 he was a spy, and NOT a member of the Order of the 
> Phoenix. 

Syroun adds again:
Do we really know that?

> Sigune continues:
> I agree that Snape appears a loner etc, but I don't think that 
> precludes a certain craving for recognition. I also have a problem 
> with the assumption that the WW at large knows that Snape was a 
> DE. If that is so, certainly a number of his students would know 
> so, too ("My dad says Snape's a nasty piece of work, he used to be 
> a Death Eater, you know; Papa doesn't want me > to take Potions 
> with him, he's sent Dumbledore several owls 
> already"), and it wouldn't have been much of a discovery in GoF. 

Finally, Syroun writes:

Does canon actually provide any proof that it was common knowledge 
that Snape was a DE? In fact, canon shows that Snape himself has to 
physically prove to Crouch Sr. that he was a DE by showing Crouch 
his dark mark to convince him, albeit unsuccessfuly of LV's return. 
It seemed to be quite a shock to Crouch. 

So, how could we conclude that a person like Crouch who travels in 
many circles, would not know about Snape's DE past, if it really had 
been common knowledge?

My thesis on this matter may have been discussed earlier on this 
site; if so, I apologize, but...I belive that Snape used his prowess 
in potion-making to provide LV with a potion he originally needed 
to become immortal or to remain so and in turn, served the dark lord 
in a way no one else ever had. Through that act, Snape sought, once 
and for all, to prove to the WW how superior his own skills were but 
also, erect a permanent place in society for Slytherinology and in 
doing so, spread their ideology to an adoring WW public.

After the fact, Snape realized that his actions had enabled LV to 
carry out terrible acts and instigate a horrible war that even Snape 
may not have envisioned...a war that was waged against purebloods 
that stood in the way of LV's plans. That may have been Snape's 
breaking point. 

Within our view into Harry's world, we find Snape in the difficult
position of siding with DD and even working for him, yet not in the 
teaching position that he is most skilled for. His current spying 
for the OOTP and his present siding with DD likely originated in his 
regrets about his DE past actions. Our view depicts him after that 
point that he chose to make such a fundamental change - he now seeks 
both atonement and retribution for his past mistakes, with the 
qualified trust of DD but less so from JKR.

Snape would have expected to earn voluminous accolades for 
his potion work as a DE, whether they enabled LV to be immortal, or 
performed other studendous works and perhaps thought, within his own 
Slytherinistic views, that he was making historic improvements to 
the WW. When he realized that the awful results of his acts would 
mask his "means" of actual accomplishment in having made it all 
possible, he knew that he could not divulged the fact that he was 
responsible for them in public while the reality, as an "end" could, 
perhaps never be reversed. It was too late. 

Although he is cooperating with the OOTP now, it is likely that his 
thirst for power will rear it's ugly head again and perhaps, be his 
final undoing.