Snape as Scapegoat (was Re: Snape-the Hero -- Snape-the Abuser)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 143271

"Sydney" <sydpad at y...> wrote:
> <SNIP>
> "Punished for WHO HE IS"?  Yikes, dude!  

Err, I think Alla is talking about Snape being punished for the
entirety of his interactions -- i.e. who he is in the sense of 
the entire pattern of his misdeeds.  Karmic or poetic justice, 
in other words.  Now, how that relates to essential character 
is a BIG question.  JKR seems to think there is a pretty tight 
connection, although not one that is simple or unalterable.  
Personally, I doubt she is working from a consistent and well-
worked out theory, here, but rather from a basic set of beliefs 
that aren't necessarily coherent or inarguable.


> I guess a lot of people are seeing Snape as fullfilling the
> 'scapegoat' role narratively.

Noooo, I think that would be more of Voldemort's role.  However, 
Snape is definitely a character who has incurred major penalties 
on one side of the balance sheet, thus raising expectations that 
these penalties will be paid in some fitting manner.  People say 
that is similar to Gollum in LOTR, although I think he is 
probably more akin to Denethor in LOTR or Thorin Oakenshield in 
The Hobbit -- i.e. a character who is not the hero or the villain, 
but one who affects the plot and who takes dramatic actions that 
require dramatic reactions to "balance" the wheel.  And note that 
in both cases, those characters' doom was closely linked to their 
general behavior and set of interactions. Thorin's doom was writ 
in his pride and anger and greed.  Denethor's was set by his 
arrogance and his habit of favoring one son over the other.  Thus 
I believe that Alla and Nora and I (and others) are saying that 
Snape's doom will be, in part, writ in his treatment of Harry.


> There isn't any chance, IMO, that this is where JKR is going 
> with Snape but that so many people WANT her to go there... I 
> dunno. It's just depressing.  

Why depressing?  It seems a rather natural and inevitable 
progression of the story.  Of course, if you mean will Snape be 
seen as the same as Voldemort, then I would say you're right.  
They are two different characters and will undergo two different 
dooms.  But simply because the doom of the one is written does 
not mean that the doom of the other will not be.  To return to 
LOTR, Sauron's doom did not spare Denethor, nor did Gollum's 
punishment release Saruman.

> It's an argument I haven't used against evil!Snape because 
> it's more of a moral argument, which is not a language we use 
> a heck of a lot in the film industry, but JKR seems such a 
> humane, generous person that I have a hard time believing 
> she'd invent a central character who piles ugliness, meaness, 
> greasiness, and uncoolness on top of treachery, cowardice, 
> and what-have-you, just so we can revel either in the vicious 
> pleasure of revenge or the smug pleasure of clemency to the 
> sub-human guy who has Nothing to Do with us Clean People.  

Well, if Snape is all those things you say then it seems pretty
inevitable that we are going to revel in one or the other.  
Otherwise, just what is she going to do with him?  I can't see 
Snape ever returning to Hogwarts, and he doesn't seem the type 
to open Ye Olde Potion Shoppe.


Lupinlore