The dynamic Snape (was: Twist JKR? )/ Which characters are dynamic?

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 141769

 
> Betsy Hp:
 
> Let's take McGonagall as an example.  She's pretty much the same 
> character from when she first transforms from a cat in the opening 
> of PS/SS to her first staff meeting as Headmistress of Hogwarts in 
> HBP.  But that doesn't mean she's not dynamic.  She reacts 
> differently to Dumbledore than she does to Umbridge.  She's one way 
> with Harry, another way with Neville, and another way with 
> Hermione.  IOW, she's a fully-fleshed character rather than a 
simple 
> stereotype.  But she is who she is.  Even with relatively little 
> page space JKR has managed to create, IMO, a three dimensional 
> character who doesn't sound just one note whenever she appears.

Hickengruendler:

I do not think that McGonagall and Snape aren't three dimensional. 
And I also would agree that McGonagall is not a stereotype but a 
believable character in her own right. She might start as the 
stereotype of the old tight lipped spinster, a la Fräulein 
Rottenmeier in Heidi. But at the latest the moment she wanted Harry 
to become Quidditch player for Gryffindor this stereotype was broken 
and she started to become a more-dimensional character. Similarly, 
Snape started as the stereotype of the classic villain, but at the 
end of PS, we realized there is more to him. And now, even if Snape 
turns out to be villain, he will still be more than a stereotype, 
because the informations we got about him made him more-well arounded 
and more deimensional. But is this the same as dynamic? Sure, 
McGonagall behaves differently according who is around her, but don't 
we all? She doesn't develop over the course of the books. If Umbridge 
would have already come to Hogwarts in the second book, than 
McGonagall would have behaved the same way around her as she did in 
book 5. The same is true for Snape. Sure he acts differently around 
different characters, but he does consistantly so. He treated Draco 
pretty much the same in book 6 as in book 1, and he does the same 
with Harry. Which is why I think the biggest dynamic happened in the 
relationship between McGonagall and Trelawney, especially from 
McGonagall's side. This was an "the enemy of my enemy" is my friend 
case, but it was a change in their dynamic.
 
Hickengruendler