A psychanalytical essay about Snape and the riddle's solution.

[elanor_x]

 On my friends page I have just found one of the best Snape essays I have ever read and believe me I have read a lot! [The picture is from cabepfir's art collection, which can be viewed here.]

Taming the Prince - A psychanalytical essay about Snape and JKR by ~cabepfir

Quote 1: " There is a permanent contradiction inherent to JKR’s attitude toward his creature, a contradiction that prevents JKR in seeing – and most of all, in writing – Snape through a limpid lens. No matter that she called him “a gift of a character” (Edimbourgh Festival 2004); in her hands, such gift seems double-edged. In this essay I’ll try to analyse the relationship between author and character, JKR and Snape, utilizing some features of the psychanalytical criticism. The obvious premise is that such an operation is always extremely delicate and fragile, and I give it here most as a suggestion, a provocation if you want, than as a solid interpretation tout court."

In this essay she also explains why Umbridge can leave the HP world alive and joyfully unpunished, while Snape must be killed; the symbolical meaning of Harry's inability to free the Gryffindor’s sword without Ron's help; Snape's Oedipus complex [Quote 2] and why she considers Snape as a woman despite his "sex god" status in fandom, using Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic and comparing him to Heathcliff. She even claims that Snape dies as a woman on many levels [Quote 3]. There are many additional, original things, which I didn't mention, since it would lead me to quoting half of this essay. Hope you enjoy the essay and I would love to hear your opinions about it!

Quote 2: "He cares only about the magical side of life, derived from his mother, and exonerated his father in taking his mother’s surname as nickname. Hermione Granger knew it better: the Prince is a woman, Eileen Prince. PrinceSnape fashioned himself after a woman, his mother. And JK Rowling can’t love romantically a character who is, in fact, a woman. Thus it is someway consistent that she finds strange that fans have come to love a character who is, for her, deprived of his own sexuality."

Quote 3: "At the end, Snape is condemned to die from bleeding, as a woman with her menses or of childbirth. Like a caustic retaliation for the Snape-is-a-vampire theory, the snake – traditional enemy to women since Eve’s ages – bites Snape in the neck, as vampires traditionally do with their female victims. Bleeding to death, Snape gives Harry what we could perhaps call metaphorically his “child”, his memories by which Harry would die and be born again. Snape gives birth to a Harry freed from the Voldemort within him."

 

About my riddle from one of the previous posts:

The riddle's solution is :

 
The video can also be seen here: From pagan deity to modern sex symbol - Snegurochka revealed. mary_j_59 mentioned a tale she read as a child and I found with wiki's help one possible version of this Russian fairy-tale, beautifully illustrated – "Snegurochka", aka "The Snow Maiden".  

[I meant c) as a right answer, but d) too could be true with one of the correct explanations]. 

[The following paragraph was translated from wiki's Russian entry about this character]

She traditionally wears white-blue clothes with fur collar. Before the revolution girls dressed up as Snow Maidens, trimmed Christmas trees with them and presented stage versions of fairy-tales, fragments of a play by Alexandr Ostrovsky or opera too. However, Snegurochka didn't play the hostess's role together with Father Frost. The Snow Maiden's character got its' contemporary representation in 1935 in the Soviet Union, after the official permission to celebrate New Year had been granted.  In books from that period about the organization of New Year celebrations she appears together with Father Frost, as his granddaughter, helping him entertain children. 

Under the cut you can see different portrayals of The Snow Maiden and read Frost Maiden's Dance lyrics. Enjoy!  

 

Frost Maiden's Dance lyrics

As cold wind comes forth from the woods of ever mist
The light fades away with the winds of north
From the father of all nights and mother of north
Was bred the seeds of maiden of cold

A maiden of frost clad in wintry shadows
Skin of pale blue and hair of snow white
With chants and spells she summons the frost
Creating the snow that covers the ground

The frozen wind blows sweeping the land
Great white plains, like huge glaciers
Frost Maiden's dance leaves her marks
The age of ice has arrived

[from the Spookypie Doll Gallery]

Comments

[anehan]

Such lovely pictures, especially the ballet one.

[kaskait.livejournal.com]

That was a fantastic essay.

But I don't agree that JKR didn't find her teacher attractive. I think she did. She didn't understand why and was ashamed of it.

[sunnyskywalker]

I never noticed that we get Umbridge to replace Snape as Most Hated Teacher right when JKR wants to introduce a sympathetic memory of Snape. That observation alone made the essay worth reading.

[indongcho.livejournal.com]

The pictures are beautiful. I love them all the more because of my slight obsession with Russian clothing...

Ah, found it! I was just looking for the link to that Russian clothing site I have on my favorites. So many folders... And now I remember why I've never bought anything from them- the cheapest dress or blouse is $70. Yeesh.