Simple!Snape? (was: Draco, Snape and Others: Castles in the air?)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 124866


<Snip>
> 
> The more fundamental problem with simple!Snape is that it does nothing
> to resolve the apparent contradictions in Snape's character: 

That is a good point.  However, I'm not sure that Snape's character
really IS all THAT contradictory.  What I mean by that is that human
beings are very complex creatures, given to all kinds of
self-contradiction, foolishness, and illogical behavior.  George
Patton was a great general and a brave man sincerely dedicated to
bringing about the Allied Victory in WW II.  He was also arrogant,
petty, vain, ambitious, capable of feuds extending over years with
some of his most important allies (particularly Montgormery),given to
almost breathtaking viciousness and cruelty toward subordinates he
perceived as having crossed him or having failed him, and not above
using the lives of American soldiers as chips in the high stakes game
of building his own reputation.  Pappy Boyington was one of the
greatest American aces of WWII, a pilot whose men (the famous Black
Sheep Squadron) admired him greatly for his bravery and leadership
skills.  He was also a drunk and a gambling addict who had been
sentenced to join the Army by a court as punishment for welching on
debts and getting into drunken fights, and whose own men (the same
ones who admired him a squadron commander) often expressed contempt
for the way he handled his personal life and treated the people close
to him.

Which is just to say I'm not really sure that Snape's contradictions
are all that extraordinary.


> 
> 1. He is mainly interested in his own survival, yet he's ready to risk
> his life instead of simply running away and leave the others to take
> the risks.
> 

Interested in his own survival in the long run.  However, he is
possessed of bravery and willing to fight for that survival.  He may
well believe that fighting is the ONLY way to win through to survival,
and that running away would merely ensure his eventual demise.  I'm
not sure that is really much of a contradiction.  After all, most
soldiers in combat units (particularly soldiers who have been drafted
into major wars) say they are fighting for their survival and the
survival of their comrades, but they don't run away.


> 2. He's so fascinated with the Dark Arts that he can't be trusted to
> teach DADA without loosing control, yet he had enough control to
> desert Voldemort, the greatest Dark Arts expert of them all.
> 

Yes.  However, Voldemort is also, under this scenario, someone he has
come to realize is insane and whose policies will eventually lead to
the death of one Severus Snape, either on the end of an Aurors spell
or during a purge by Voldy.  His interest in staying alive over rides
his fascination with the Dark Arts.  If he was made DADA teacher,
however, the exposure might simply be too much.  Many alcoholics will
give up alcohol when their bodies start to fail.  Their desire to live
overrides their need to drink.  That doesn't mean it would be a good
idea to hire them as bartenders, however.

> 3. He has the courage to risk his life for a big cause, yet he doesn't
> have the courage to let go his grudge to a man that is now dead for 14
> years.

Once again, think of Patton.  He had the courage to risk his own
safety on a regular basis, but didn't have the courage to bury the
hatchet with Montgomery, his most important ally who he HAD to work
with in order to win the war.  That is silly, but it is very standard
human behavior and I don't think it requires any special explanation
in Severus' case.  

Or think of it another way within the context of HP.  Sirius had the
courage to stand 12 years in Azkaban but not the courage to trust DD
when DD said Snape was to be trusted with Harry's Occlumency lessons.
  Does that mean there is something bizarre about Sirius we haven't heard?


> 
> 4. He wants Voldemort destroyed enough to change sides and risk his
> own life, yet he can't bring himself to help the only person who has
> the power to destroy Voldemort. 

Once again, I'm not sure he knows what the prophecy said.


> 
> 5. He is cool and calculated enough to be a double agent, yet not
> enough to keep his temper when teaching Harry Occlumency.

Pappy Boyington was one of the coolest aces of the war under enemy
fire.  But he regularly got into screaming matches and out and out
brawls over a game of poker.  Patton once stood immobile directly in
the path of a Luftwaffe strafing plane, trusting his air defenses to
bring it down before the bullets reached him.  Yet he couldn't have a
simple conversation with another general officer (British OR American)
without screaming profanity at the top of his lungs (at least until
Eisenhower out screamed him).


> 
> 
> So if simple!Snape is correct, it mainly means that JKR is lousy with
> her characterizing as she is lousy with delivering long-promised
> bangs

I don't think it would make her lousy with characterization at all. 
It would simply mean she has painted Snape as a very believable human
being who is full of contradictions, but no more so than most people
and a lot less than some.


Lupinlore