LID!Snape rides again (was: High Noon for OFH!Snape)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 149758

Sydney wrote:
> Sorry, what's the thematic content again of anklemonitor!Snape? 
It's not symbolic of remorse, because remorse is a selfless feeling,
and the ankle-monitor life debt is a profoundly selfish motivation. 
<snip>

Carol responds:
While I generally agree with you (notably on the important point that
Snape's remorse predates the Potters' deaths and coincides roughly
with his changing sides to spy for DD "at great personal risk"), I'm
not so sure that remorse is a selfless emotion. It's more like a deep,
biting anguish resulting from guilt for a sin or crime that can't be
undone, and IMO that remorse would certainly have intensified once the
Potters were dead and all Snape's efforts to save them had come to
nothing. (That would apply whether Snape's concern was for the hated
James or the innocent Lily and her orphaned child.)

I think that those posters who think that Snape didn't feel remorse
might want to reconsider what remorse *is*--not some altruistic,
selfless feeling, not a desire for forgiveness, not even penitence,
but more like an obsession that the guilty person can't help torturing
himself over. Here's Merriam-Webster's definition:

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French remors, from Medieval
Latin remorsus, from Late Latin, act of biting again, from Latin
remordEre to bite again, from re- + mordEre to bite -- more at MORDANT
1 : a gnawing distress arising from a sense of guilt for past wrongs :
SELF-REPROACH  

Surely Snape, who is constantly reliving the past, would feel exactly
this type of guilt rather than the kind that seeks forgiveness? He
sees Harry and remembers that his eavesdropping triggered Voldemort's
attack, and James Potter's "arrogance" kept him from accepting Snape's
warning. Guilt and resentment are all mixed up together, especially
now that he can no longer shift part of the blame to Sirius Black as
the Betrayer. And killing Dumbledore, the one man who trusted him,
whether because of the DADA curse or the UV or Voldemort or DD's
wishes or all of them together is many times worse because he cast the
spell himself--hence the pain like that of the howling dog in the
burning house. Snape in hell, a hell of his own making, a hell he
cannot escape, except perhaps through Occlumency ("The mind is its own
place/And can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell.")

REMORSE (M-W again) suggests prolonged and insistent self-reproach and
mental anguish for past wrongs and especially for those whose
consequences cannot be remedied [whereas] PENITENCE implies sad and
humble realization of and regret for one's misdeeds <snip>. REPENTANCE
adds the implication of a resolve to change.

So maybe what Snape feels is Remorse that has not yet reached the
stage of Penitence, which requires humility, and consequently his
efforts to atone for his sins (reporting the Prophecy and joining the
DEs in the first place) have not been entirely successful because
without Penitence (humbly admitting that yes, he is at fault), he
can't truly Repent and resolve to change. Anguish (remorse) is not
enough. Joining Dumbledore's side and risking his life is not enough.
Following DD's orders, even at the cost of still more personal anguish
is not enough. He must be truly penitent, humbly accepting the guilt
for his own sins, before he can live a new life.

I think that's the Christian (Anglican) perspective, reflected in the
confession from The Book of Common Prayer (the old version, which I'm
quoting here, is much more detailed and emotional than the newer
variants, which can be found at
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/hc/penitential.html
):

                . . . We do earnestly repent,
	  	and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings;
	  	the remembrance of them is grievous unto us;
	  	the burden of them is intolerable.
	  	Have mercy upon us,
	  	have mercy upon us, most merciful Father;
	  	for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
	  	forgive us all that is past;
	  	and grant that we may ever hereafter
	  	serve and please thee in newness of life <snip>.
	  	
So, from a Christian perspective (JKR's, as evident from her
interviews and DD's words on mercy), Snape *already feels* the
intolerable burden of his misdeeds (Remorse), horribly compounded by
the events on the tower. His next step, from this perspective, would
be to admit them and humbly ask for mercy and forgiveness (Penitence),
not from God or from Christ (this is the WW, after all), but from the
person who has suffered most from his "misdoings": Harry.

Now, I don't really want to see Snape humbling himself to Harry,
especially after trying so hard for six years to protect Harry and
save his life on more than one occasion, but I think that's where this
talk of remorse and of mercy (DD on the tower) *may* be leading, and
certainly *Harry* will have to forgive Snape whether Snape reaches the
stage of Penitence or not if he's going to triumph over his true
enemy, Voldemort, through Love.

Carol, noting that the sullen and rather cowardly Draco is still at
the stage of making excuses ("He'll kill me if I don't do it": "I
didn't ask *him* [Greyback] to come") and has yet to join Snape in the
agony of remorse