Snape as Neville's teacher (was:Re: Snape as Noble teache...

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 168438

Dana:
> 
> He has a passion for knowledge and be the best in the things he is 
> interested in but that does not qualify him automatically as a 
> healer. And your suggestion that he might always wanted to become a 
> healer is ridiculous because he came to school knowing more (dark) 
> curses then most kids in the 7th year. Curses are harmful to people, 
> someone with a natural instinct to be a healer would never want to 
> know so many ways to harm another human being. Snape did not know 
> these curses so he could one day counterfeit them, he knew them 
> because he wanted to stand out knowing more about the Dark Arts then 
> any other student.  
> 
<snipping again>
colebiancardi:

anyone ever watch House?  Hugh Laurie's character is an embittered,
sarcastic man who does not have a bed-side manner, but his passion is
to find out what disease the patients have.  He doesn't really care
about the patients, but he does care about how to save them. 
Personally, if I had a weird illness, I would want House as my doctor,
not Florence Nightingale <bg>

back to the topic, that is how I view Snape.  His passion is to find
the cure, if you will, by learning what causes the curse and creating
a potion for it.  He may not be a healer (I really don't think that
word describes Snape) but he is a person who creates cures or expands
on existing cures to make them better (RE: Lupin, who stated that
there weren't that many who would make the Wolfsbane potion and that
Snape's potion gave him relief on a monthly basis)

Julie:
I love House, the character and the show! A doctor (or healer) is
not synonymous with compassion by any means, in fiction or in real
life. I agree that House is more interested in the disease than 
the patient, though I do admire his determination to "heal" his
patients of their specific diseases to the point of ignoring any
rules that might interfere. In that way his patient's welfare always 
comes first, whether or not he gives a damn about the patient as  
a person. (He certainly rarely spares a thought for a patient's
"feelings"!) I even find that single-minded focus on his patient's
welfare "noble," despite House's many other character deficits.
 
As for Snape, I see no reason he couldn't have done training as a
healer, though we have no evidence for or against. Compassion and
a concern for the patient's greater welfare are nice attributes,
but are in no way required, and are secondary to knowledge and 
competence, which Snape has (at least concerning Dark curses) in 
spades. And which might hold him in good stead to become a healer
in the future, should he survive DH. 
 
Julie 
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