Re: Snape, evil or not?


wadkin2000@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I think part of Snape's problem is his emotional immaturity which also
contributes to his lack of interpersonal skills. There's no reason for
a grown man to have held a grudge for that amount of time and then to
transfer those feelings to Harry. Everyone reacts to outside stimuli
differently. From what we saw in the pensieve in OOTP, it seemed as if
Snape certainly didn't have a happy childhood, perhaps even an abusive
one. It's quite possible that the hexes and spells Sirius mentioned
were a result of Snape trying to protect his mother from his father.
Sons in abusive families usually defend their victimized mothers.
Possibly Eileen Snape's magical abilities, like Merope Gaunt's, were
severely curtailed by her emotional distress. Add to that the
possibility that Snape himself ws abused and dismissed by his father
(which would have fostered a sense of alienation), and you have someone
seeking recognition for an already fractured ego. You have a perfect
candidate for the death eaters, one who is seeking a sense of
acceptance and belonging.

Snape probably learned either at home or at Hogwart's not to show
emotion of any kind, viewing it as a sign of weakness by himself and
others, regardless of the cause of the emotion (..."people who wear
their hearts on their sleeve, weak people..."). His nickname by the
Marauders was, after all, Snivellus. I'm sure that wasn't by accident.

I think he's had to maintain a tenuous control over his emotions, a
control that in his eyes,

That was part of what I was trying to get at -- his control of himself
is tenuous at best. In some ways he has complete "control" in that he
has successfully buried certain "weak" parts of himself. But the
"strong" person that remains is full of almost uncontrollable malice,
seen in his treatment of his students.

I draw a distinction between this and "evil". In real life, you hear
again and again of kids who are abused, who swear that things will be
different for their kids, but who find themselves repeating the same
pattern of abuse -- even though they try hard not to. I'm not saying
that Snape feels this way, of course. Just trying to illustrate the
difference between cruelty -- even extreme cruelty -- and deliberate
evil. Snape is horrible, and if it wasn't for the control exerted over
him by DD, he would probably be even more horrible. But if his reasons
for submitting to DD's control and influence are essentially "moral"
reasons, rather than part of a self-interested plot, then that would
not be "evil".

Kish, correct me if I am wrong, but I think on the basis of this
conversation, that we don't have different definitions of evil after
all. I think its just that you believe that once a person takes
cruelty to a certain extreme (Snape's treatment of Neville) it is
simply no longer plausible to assume they could desire or aspire to any
form of goodness. Based on how real people behave, I would disagree
with that.

.

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