[HPforGrownups] Re: Why did Snape react so angrily to being called a 'Coward' ??

[Michael McHenry]

No: HPFGUIDX 133897

> Ladi lyndi <ladilyndi at y...> wrote:
> 
> > Personally I think it was simply because Snape knows he is a coward.
> 
> I'm forced to agree (although I also agree that the whole question of
> Snape's actions on the tower and subsequent is speculation, as the
> text is written to be as open-ended as possible)
> 
> And I think he is particularly sensitive to the issue right then,
> because he has just taken the cowardly way out. 
<snip>
> I also suspect, when Harry faces him, Snape wants to kill Harry very,
> very badly indeed - but is too much of a coward to go through with it.
> Thus, more sensitivity to the issue.



Snape is furious when Harry call's him a coward.  If you believe in
ESE!Snape, then forget his motives for being upset - pay attention to
his reaction to his intense anger:
Snape tells Harry (in a loud voice) not to call him a coward.  That's
it, unless you count repelling Harry's litany of curses.

Snape does not:
1) Crucio Harry just for the ESE fun of it
2) Sectumsempra Harry's wand arm to hummiliate him.
3) Step on Harry's face
4) Say anything really hurtful back, perhaps something crude about
Lilly and how Harry is really Snape's bastard love child
5) Waste any time stopping other DEs from hurting Harry
6) Forget to give Harry fighting tips

Snape is protecting Harry.
(begin circle-back logic)
Snape is upset *because* the boy he is protecting for the cause he
represents is calling him a coward in the midst of extremely painful
circumstances.

JKR wants the reader to doubt Snape to make Harry's anger look even
more justified.  Harry is supposed to love, not hate.  My guess is
that this will be a major theme of book 7.  Anyhow, if Snape really
was ESE, she wouldn't have revealed it in chapter 2, but at the tower.

Another theory: Snape has two tattoos.  On his forearm is the dark
mark.  On his chest in two-inch high print are the words "Red
Herring".

-mgm