Sadistic Teachers (was:Re: Teaching Styles)

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 148086


> Renee:
> But the toad incident wasn't the only incident I
> mentioned in my post, though it's the only one you address. Snape 
does
> crack a smile, and a horrible one at that, when he is about to 
torment
> Harry over the Marauder's Map, for instance, and I believe Alla
> mentioned yet another example.  

zgirnius:
Poor BetsyHP has been working hard lately...I think she deserves a 
break <g>.

You read the "horrible smile" and "terrible grin" (the latter 
appearing after "Snape's sallow skin had gone the color of sour 
milk") as indicators of pleasure, or the anticipation thereof? I 
don't find this consistent with the descriptions in the text. For one 
thing, I find the actual construction of the two sentences highly 
suggestive of something forced, and not pleasureable.

"Snape's thin mouth curled into a horrible smile."
"I would hate for you to run away with a false idea of your father, 
Potter," he said, a terrible grin twisting his face.

In both quotations, it is not Snape who is the actor (syntactically 
speaking). Snape does not smile horribly or grin terribly. His mouth 
curls, and the terrible grin twists his face.

Snape actually starts the scene (PoA, "Snape's Grudge", starting p. 
282 US Paperback) off with a businesslike and emotion-free 
interrogation of Harry. He has good reason to suspect Harry has been 
off to Hogsmeade without permission (Draco saw him, or at least, his 
head, there). And the matter is serious, because Sirius Black has 
already made two incursions into the castle itself (with, everyone 
presumes, the intention of getting to Harry). If this was all about 
the chance to bother Harry, this is where we ought to start seeing 
his enjoyment.

Harry decides to brazen it out. He feigns innocence. Snape *knows* 
Harry is lying to him. Something I missed in my first reading. But 
post HBP, it is the only reasonable conclusion to draw:

Harry tried to look mildly surprised.
"I don't know, Professor."
Snape's eyes were boring into Harry's. It was exactly like trying to 
stare down a hippogriff. 

Clearly, Snape was using Legilimency here. It is after this point 
that Snape's demeanor changes. He starts to speak softly (indication 
of growing anger, with Snape.) When Harry suggests Draco is 
hallucinating (!) this escalates to snarling. And then we get 
the "horrible grin" and Snape launches into the speech about famous 
Harry Potter and how he is just like James.

Snape finds himself, I would say, in a position he finds ironic to a 
painful degree. Here he is, James' despised old 
enemy/target/victim/insert favorite descriptor here, trying to 
protect James Potter's son from James Potter's traitorous `best 
friend'. (Statement not true, but presumably an accurate reflection 
of Snape's beliefs at the time). Who is not cooperating, in a manner 
Snape finds reminiscent of James's. That's what I get from 
the "horrible smile", anyway. And the second "terrible grin" is all 
about Snape's memory of the `werewolf incident', not about enjoying 
the pain he is causing Harry. I think Snape becomes far too wrapped 
up in this scene in his own emotions and issues to be giving much 
thought to the effect he is having on Harry, let alone enjoying it.

I would like to make clear that I am not suggesting this was the 
correct way to talk to Harry under the circumstances, or nice, or 
excusable, or any of the above. I am not saying he had a `right' to 
talk to Harry like this. All I am trying to say here is that Snape 
was NOT having a swell time tormenting Harry.