Is Punishment the only recompense? (was Re: Straightforward readings?)

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 140749

 
<snip most of Carol's excellent post>

JKR  provided us with clues throughout OoP that Crouch!Moody wasn't
what he  seemed. I think she's providing us with clues that Snape isn't
what he  seems, either--and she's been doing so since Book 1. I will be
very  surprised if he's nothing but a villain who's been waiting for
his  opportunity to kill Dumbledore all these years--a mere plot device
and  instrument of evil. (As an aside, what has killing Dumbledore
gained him  other than his life and the fulfillment of the third
provision of his vow?  He's lost everything--mentor, job, respect,
trust, freedom. If he's also  suffering a personal hell of remorse,
surely that's punishment enough. I,  for one, don't believe in an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a  tooth.)

Carol, not quite resisting the temptation to state once more  that
there's more to Snape than meets the eye, as we will surely  discover
in Book 7





Julie says:
I agree with everything you said, Carol. No doubt Snape has done
plenty of bad things, from his actions as a Death Eater, to his 
reliance on verbal humiliation as a teaching method. Snape may
not have been sent to Azkaban, and I think he probably never 
will be, but formal incarceration isn't the only form of punishment.
I'm sure Snape is not living the life he would have chosen, not by 
a long shot. He is living the life Dumbledore made for him--and yes,
it saved him from Azkaban--but it's still a life dedicated to  atoning
for his sins by being Dumbledore's spy. Snape didn't have to pay
up for awhile, but once Voldemort returned he started paying up
in spades. And once he was forced to kill Dumbledore (I assume
DDsMan!Snape here), whatever life he might still have had was 
completely shot to hell. And now he has to live with the knowledge 
that he killed the only man who truly believed in him, no  matter
if Dumbledore's death was necessary or ultimately unpreventable. 
 
That's a fair amount of punishment right there, but I also think 
punishment is not the only way to pay your debt to society when
you've wronged others. As I said above, there is  also atonement--
righting those wrongs as much as possible. By accepting whatever
terms Dumbledore offered, Snape was attempting to right those 
wrongs, in hopes of gaining redemption. And Dumbledore is 
just the type to chose atonement over formal punishment any
day--why let Snape waste away in Azkaban if he can help save 
the WW--if his remorse is genuine? (I do make the  assumption
that Dumbledore is right about Snape's remorse, because while
I believe Dumbledore makes mistakes, I also think he has  been 
perceptive about people when he's had the opportunity  to spend 
time with them--Tom Riddle for instance versus GoF fake!Moody).
 
Now, I realize that as Snape is atoning for some wrongs (his DE 
actions) he is committing others (his verbal abuse of certain 
students). But I find those wrongs to be lesser wrongs--and we
get into that abuse argument here, but there are greater and 
lesser wrongs, and Snape's brand of verbal abuse is way down
the scale compared to the Dursleys' abuse, let alone the wrongs
of Umbridge, Crouch Jr, Lockhart or Pettigrew, who all murdered
or attempted to murder children with no compunction or remorse.
Snape may never be punished for these wrongs, but when you put
it into perspective, they are fairly tame, and the fact that  miserable
gits find themselves ostracized and friendless may be the most
fitting punishment for their "horrible" behavior anyway. 
 

So will it be enough, that Snape makes a genuine effort to  atone,

and is punished in the more poetic sense of justice by giving his
life away to the cause of Good (and I suspect giving his life away
will be factually accurate by the end of Book 7)? Or, proving to be
DD'sMan, should he help Harry defeat Voldemort and somehow
manage to live through it all, will his good deeds outweigh his bad, 
enough that he has paid his debt to WW society?
 
I think they will. In the unlikely event Snape does survive, I think 
he will be allowed to go on his way--no doubt as miserable and
friendless as before, and without his one real believer, Dumbledore--
but allowed to live his life, such as it has become. 
 
I suspect others disagree, even should Snape prove to be  DD'sMan,
that he will have paid his debt. In that case, I agree to  disagree ;-)
I am with Carol on this one, as I don't believe in an eye for an eye.
And I like to think I'm Dumbledore's woman, through and through,
on that one.  
 
Julie 
(who also suspects part of Snape's atonement is protecting Harry's
life, with his own if necessary)
 


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