Why did Snape react so angrily to being called a 'Coward' ??

[jenniferstmatt]

No: HPFGUIDX 133925

 Michael McHenry wrote:
> 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

Jen responds:

Good point about how Harry is supposed to love, not hate, which also 
brought to mind something I read in the recent interview transcript 
on mugglenet.com about JKR saying that now "it's personal" between 
Snape and Harry.  How plausible is it for LV to somehow use Harry's 
hatred of Snape to his advantage?  To try to get Harry to come over 
to the "dark side"? Snape becomes the object of Harry's 
attention/obsession, he somehow corners a defenseless Snape 
(contrived by LV), he draws on power that he could only access 
through hate to hurt Snape, he comes to understand why LV and the DE 
are attracted to the Dark Arts...then he remembers "Snape's Worst 
Memory", his own past, all the things Dumbledore has said about Love, 
etc., etc. - and he relents and repents and, with Snape's assistance, 
overcomes LV.  Or something like that.  I must admit, I would love to 
see Snape redeemed (or justified).