I agree with what you've written so much. Dumbledore was not a candidate for being severed from morality by loving the wrong person. Dumbledore was self-involved. What he loved in Grindelwald was the reflection of himself and his true ambitions. When he found disaster, he blamed the reflection without ever looking at himself, except to say, "I can't love another personally."
The reverse is Snape, who, while losing his love through his racism and search for power, later clung to the memory of that love like a lifeline to good. Snape acknowledged his errors and tried to change at least some aspect of his beliefs. But he shut himself off from others, as well, and never received love from anyone, especially not Dumbledore -- far from it. That's why Dumbledore's tears at seeing Snape's Patronus and his "Poor Severus" comment stick in my craw so much. What a hypocrite. At least Snape had the courage to love and not reject it as a weakness.
And you are right: why is the solution to a mistake in love closing yourself off to love forever? It does read like a punishment for being transgressive, for both superior Dumbledore, who dared to love the wrong man, and inferior Snape, who dared to love a supposed saint.
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Date: 2008-03-09 08:15 pm (UTC)The reverse is Snape, who, while losing his love through his racism and search for power, later clung to the memory of that love like a lifeline to good. Snape acknowledged his errors and tried to change at least some aspect of his beliefs. But he shut himself off from others, as well, and never received love from anyone, especially not Dumbledore -- far from it. That's why Dumbledore's tears at seeing Snape's Patronus and his "Poor Severus" comment stick in my craw so much. What a hypocrite. At least Snape had the courage to love and not reject it as a weakness.
And you are right: why is the solution to a mistake in love closing yourself off to love forever? It does read like a punishment for being transgressive, for both superior Dumbledore, who dared to love the wrong man, and inferior Snape, who dared to love a supposed saint.
As others have said, "the stupid, it burns."