Are you connecting Snape's cruelty with his prejudice against Muggle-borns?
Well, I'm not reducing one to the other. As you say, Snape remains cruel (to Hermione) even long after he's seen through pureblood prejudice. So his cruelty is a freestanding vice! I guess I think his prejudice becomes evil rather than just ignorant and annoying precisely because of the way it interacts with his cruelty.
So does that mean I'm not taking prejudice seriously enough, say, in the case of Slughorn. Maybe. I have to think about that. I agree that Slughorn hasn't gotten past his prejudices. But he doesn't seem to act on them in any way that counts -- he respects Lily, he disapproves of DEs, etc. Like I said to Magpie above, he's an interesting moral puzzle, because which of those two facts do you take more seriously in judging him? And I don't think there's an easy answer.
Snape's using the word "Mudblood" in that scene seems to me like an emotional response in a very humiliating situation.
Yeah, I agree -- but it's also interesting that this, and not some other way, is how he chooses to respond to that humiliation.
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Well, I'm not reducing one to the other. As you say, Snape remains cruel (to Hermione) even long after he's seen through pureblood prejudice. So his cruelty is a freestanding vice! I guess I think his prejudice becomes evil rather than just ignorant and annoying precisely because of the way it interacts with his cruelty.
So does that mean I'm not taking prejudice seriously enough, say, in the case of Slughorn. Maybe. I have to think about that. I agree that Slughorn hasn't gotten past his prejudices. But he doesn't seem to act on them in any way that counts -- he respects Lily, he disapproves of DEs, etc. Like I said to Magpie above, he's an interesting moral puzzle, because which of those two facts do you take more seriously in judging him? And I don't think there's an easy answer.
Snape's using the word "Mudblood" in that scene seems to me like an emotional response in a very humiliating situation.
Yeah, I agree -- but it's also interesting that this, and not some other way, is how he chooses to respond to that humiliation.