Snape's canon opposite/ Proving loyalty (Re: Hearing from the Great Middle)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 140250

> Alla:
>Oh, Jen I wonder about Snape al the time :-). So, here is what I am 
> wondering at the moment. Are you sure that Tom is  Snape's canon 
> opposite? Couldn't it be that those two just represent the 
> different faces the Evil can assume?

Jen: The parallel is lost, though! I'm not very knowledgeable about 
mechanics of literature, but it's interesting that the 'admirable' 
Tom Riddle was trusted by everyone except Dumbledore, and the greasy-
git Snape was trusted by no one else but. It doesn't fit that nice 
parallel to have Snape be evil, too :). Maybe it was just 
coincidence on JKR's part, yet trust is a very big issue in 
Potterverse. 

> Alla:
> LOL! You see I can call such person not just "very mean",
> but "evil", maybe not the same caliber, but definitely evil, so
> with me, it is just JKR showed us one more act of such evil person.

Jen: You'll laugh at me Alla, but I didn't understand you felt that 
way. Snape inspires so many different emotions and thoughts, and my 
bar for evil is different. But I'd rather debate it now & have the 
chance to disagree than read the series 5 years from now with the 
outcome a known quantity--we're the lucky ones.

> vmonte:
> Well there are all sorts of evil people in the world with
> different personalities and looks. Evil people use whatever gifts
> they have to get what they want. They will use their looks,
> intellect, and connections, whatever. To tell you the truth I
> think that Snape would make a more interesting villain that
> Voldemort. And yes, I also think that he is OFH, since he seems to
> have contempt for just about everybody.

Jen: I actually find Umbridge to be a better villain than either of 
them! Talk about someone out for herself. I'm wondering why her 
actions seemed particularly heinous to me, and it was probably that 
secrecy/domination thing. Like how Dumbledore described Riddle. 
Secretly sending the Dementors, trying to trick Harry into drinking 
Veritaserum, the quill. Maybe that's why Snape strikes me so 
differently, because he doesn't try to hide his nature or his 
agenda. Most of his actions are done right out in the open with 
witnesses, and he couldn't care less. 

Actually, I think Pippin is talking about a simlar idea here:

Pippin
> Lately I've been noticing JKR's comments on instincts. Dumbledore
> says that Voldemort has instincts for cruelty, secrecy and
> domination. In opposition to him, we can see that other characters
> have instincts for protectiveness, openness and willingness to 
> serve. She says that James protected Harry and Lily by instinct,
> but with Lily something more than instinct was involved.

And now more from Pippin that I have a response to:
> Snape really doesn't act to me like a man who has just committed a
> murder either reluctantly or gleefully. He acts more like one who
> has had a narrow escape and is anxious to get away before something
> worse happens.

Jen: This still seems attributable to Snape trying to get the DE's 
and Draco out of Hogwarts. He *is* quickly trying to leave, whether 
it's for the more honorable reason, or he's simply trying to save 
his own skin.

Pippin:
> Under this theory, Snape would have proved his courage to 
> himself, and would not be upset by Harry's accusation of 
> cowardice. Indeed he is not, at first, and almost banteringly
> brings up James. But then Harry says,"Kill me like you killed him."
> 
> Harry, of course, is speaking of Dumbledore. But Snape has been
> talking about *James*. And for a moment we glimpse Snape in
> hell "...his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he
> was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the
> burning house behind them--"  before he  finishes with 
> " CALL ME COWARD!" What he meant  at first, I think, was 
> " Don't say I killed James."
> 
> There's the remorse, if anyone but me is looking for it.

Jen: Today it occurred to me that Snape was loved by someone, and 
not just his mom ;), but the person he AK'd off the tower. I believe 
Dumbledore loved this wayward man with his ragged soul just as much 
as he loved the hero with his amazingly untarnished soul. Whatever 
happened on the tower, he was forgiven by Dumbledore. That moment 
when Snape's face contorted in rage and pain was very poignant to me 
because he had just killed the only person who fully trusted him and 
forgave his past, and he'd thrown it away. Even if he threw it away 
by following orders, it was still his Unbreakable Vow that led to 
that moment. I saw remorse there, too. (Not for James, though <g>). 

Jen