My Snape Essay -- At Last!

sheryll has kindly given me the go-ahead on this, so I am very happy to present to you my Convention Alley paper in its entirety. (Well, except for the footnotes, but if anybody wants them, let me know and I'll send you the Word document.) Anyway, here goes:

( A Deeply Horrible Person: The Unlikely Redemption of Severus Snape )

So, what do you all think?

ESSAY ADDENDA: More "Deeply Horrible" Stuff, from the Presentation

There were a few things in the oral presentation that didn't make it into the essay, or at least not in such a detailed form, so I'm adding them in here. The presentation followed pretty much the same thought flow as the essay, but I think I did a better job of backing up some of my arguments in the presentation. So here's the Special Bonus Section of the game, for those playing at home:

( What is Redemption, Anyway? )

Later, having established that JKR's Christianity does, by her own admission, have an influence on the outcome of the books, I came back to the subject of redemption in the Biblical sense and its possible impact on Snape's character arc, as well as including some thoughts on this motif in the Narnia books (since JKR unabashedly acknowledges her love of and indebtedness to that series as well):

( Has Snape Already Been Redeemed? )

And, of course, this would be further complicated by the question of just how much of his nasty behaviour is exaggerated (or at least, deliberately unrestrained) on account of his need to preserve his cover as a Voldemort sympathizer.

Finally, and less importantly, when discussing in the early part of the presentation whether or not JKR's comments about Snape in interviews should be taken at face value, I mentioned the Rickman factor -- that JKR was not only delighted with AR being cast in the part, but that he was in fact her first pick for the role -- and suggested that if Jo had really wanted the audience to dislike Snape and have no sympathy with him, she chose the wrong actor. :)

Anyway, I think those were the only really significant departures from or additions to what I'd written in the essay. So... now you know what you missed!

*******************
ETA: kizmet_42 wrote something in an e-mail regarding the essay that I think worth reposting here, as I can see that I didn't make myself quite clear on this particular point:

( I doubt very strongly that Harry and Snape will ever have any sort of non-adversarial relationship... )

However, I actually agreed with her, and said so in my reply:

( What I meant by 'resolve their mutual hostility' was not 'become friends' so much as 'declare a cease-fire'... )

I hope that makes things a bit more clear.