SeverusSnapeAByronicFigureinHarryPotter《哈利˙波特》中的拜伦式英雄西弗勒斯˙斯内普

1、Severus Snape: A Byronic Figure inHarry Potter哈利 波特中的拜伦式英雄:西弗勒斯 斯内普Abstract: At the end of the twentieth century, a storm called -maniasweptPotter across the world with the publication of a series of books titled Harry Potter . It is beyond imaginationthat over 450 millioncopies have been sold world

2、wide and translated into 67 languages.Potter-mania has expanded to become a significant cultural phenomenon.In the story, Harry Potter is the everymanhero, while Severus Snape, Potter Potions Professor, displays many traits of the traditional anti-hero and appears to be less attractive and agreeable

3、. After the release of the final book of the seriesHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, however, Snape turns out to be a more complex character of significant importance, whose characteristics are worth analyzing. This thesis therefore intends to analyze Snape in the light of Byronic heroism, and a

4、ims to reach the conclusion that he is more of a Byronic hero than a villain.Keywords: Harry Potter; Severus Snape; Byronic Hero【摘要】二十世纪末，随着一套名为 哈利 波特的小说的流行， 世界掀起了一阵 波特旋风 ，这套小说在世界范围内的总销量达到 4.5 亿本，被翻译成 67 种语言。 波特旋风 已经成为了一种文化现象。故事中的主人公哈利 波特是 平民英雄 ，而他的魔药课教授西弗勒斯 斯内普则体现了传统反派人物所应有的特征，缺乏吸引力且惹人讨厌。然而，在这部系列小说

5、的最后一部哈利 波特与死亡圣器面世之后，人们发现斯内普原来是一个十分重要，性格复杂的角色，他的性格特征值得探讨。本文意在用拜伦式英雄主义的观点来分析斯内普，论证他并不是单纯的反派人物，而是一个亦正亦邪的拜伦式英雄。【关键词】哈利 波特； 西弗勒 斯斯内普；拜伦式英雄ContentsIntroduction11. Literature Review11.1 On Harry Potter1 Potter-mania1 the Author of the Novel221.2 On Byronic Heroism33342. The Byronic Hero Severus Snape42.1 C

6、haracteristics of Severus Snape4442.2 The Root of Snape Being a Byronic Hero77773. Byronic Heroism of Snape Embodied inHarry Potter83.1 Dark Sides of Severus Snape8883.2 Bright Sides of Severus Snape9 Always Love for Lily Evans9 s Man: A Double Agent1011 Heroic Ending11Conclusion12Bibliography13Intr

7、oductionAt the end of the twentieth century, there were few people in the English-speaking world who had never heard of a boy named Harry Potter. During the past decades, 450 million copiesof the total seven Harry Potter books have been sold. There are translated versions in 67 languages, from Hindi

8、 to Ancient Greek.The firstHarry Potter book-Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone-was published inJune 26th, 1997. Since then Harry Potter Mania swept the whole world almost over night. Thcast spells not only on children, but also on adults, a growing number of the adults finbooks irresistible （

9、刘瑶. 2007:1） To the publishing industry, Harry Potter wrote a saga ofsalvation. Potter-mania has expanded to become a significant cultural phenomenon. A lot ofresearch work about the novels appears froma broad range of perspective within literature,religion, education, psychology, sociology, and even

10、 the media communication, etc.While Harry Potter is the everymanhero in the story, Snape tends to appear as ananti-hero, who is dark, serious, intelligent, mean, selfish, and imperious. With the developmentof the story, Snape s characteristics are more and more complex. He is on the good side workin

11、gas a doubleagent forDumbledore, and pretends tobe a loyal servant to the Dark LordVoldemort( Harry s archenemy), but in the end he kills Dumbledore instead before Harryand manifests his dark side completely. Just when everyone thinks that he betrays the trust of all,his death reveals a lot more tha

12、n what people believe.This thesis intends to explore the characters ofSeverus Snape in the light of ByronicHeroism. Tomake a thorough research on his complex characters, firstly, the backgroundinformationis needed, thenthe definitionof Byronic Heroism is provided, Snape scharacteristics are analyzed

13、 in the following chapters and the major part of this thesis focuses on displaying Snape s character through detailed contents, therefore, to conclude that Snape is not merely a role of traditional villain but a Byronic hero.1. Literature ReviewTo a better understanding of the thesis, the background

14、 information is needed.1.1 On Harry Potter“ Potter-mania”Pottermania is an informal term first used around 1999 describing the craze Harry Potter fans have had over the series. Fans held midnight parties to celebrate the release of the final four books at bookstores which stayed open on the night le

15、ading into the date of the release. In 2005, Entertainment Weekly listed the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as one ofEntertainment s Top Moments of the previous 25 yearshe. Whenfinalbook,t Harry Potter andthe Deathly Hallows was released in the UK, the queues outside the boo

16、kstore were said to bemassive .The series has come with its share of criticism as well. Allegations of witchcraft and theOccult found in the text, and legal disputes, one doctor coined the term Hogwarts headacha letter to the New England Journal of Medicine shortly after the release of Order of the

17、Phoenix, the longest book in the series, at 766 pages in the UK edition, 870 pages in the US edition, and over 250,000 words. He described it as a mild condition, a tension headache possibly accompanied by neck or wrist pains, caused by unhealthily long reading sessions Harryof Potter .1The symptoms

18、 resolve themselves within days of finishing the kboo.His prescription of taking reading breaks was rejected by two of the patients on which he discovered this headache.Moreover, its domino effects almost have magic influences over every circle of the merchandising from films to wizard robes. This p

19、revailing hurricane even won its own name Harry Potter Mania 刘瑶(2007:2）, short as -Pottermania . Also this huge success has made J.K. Rowling, themother of Harry Potter the, first person to ever become a billionaire by writhing books. the Author of the NovelBackground knowledge on Rowling is importa

20、nt in understanding the Potter-mania as well as the characters in Harry Potter, especially since many of the characters and scenes share some of the same traits as the author herself.Joanne K. Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Bristol England, and so it is natural for the stories to take place in

21、 the surrounding area. Rowling describes herself as being petite, with busyred hair, freckles, and glasses;much like her character Hermione Granger. Rowling s love foranimals can be seen in her gamekeeper character, Hagrid (Kirk 2003:12-13)The. love of Harry s mother and the loss of his parents are

22、the crux of the plot, the emotional center. The death of Rowling s own mother was an artistic outlet which drove her to continue writing (Kirk2003:53).Also, the character of Severus Snape is a real person that J.K. Rowling has encountered in her early life, he taught her chemistry and employed her m

23、other as an assistant at Wyedean School near Chepstow.Rowling s own mythical journey is not much different than that of her fictional characters: loss, rejection, success;and the journey continues for both her and her characters. (Bailey 2006:16)The books chronicle the adventures of a wizard, Harry

24、Potter and his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story are concerns Harry quest to overcome the Dark wizard LordVoldemort, whose aims are to become immortal, to conquer the wizarding world, subjugate Muggles

25、(non-magical people), and destroy all those who stand in his way, especially Harry Potter.Harry Potter is an orphan raised by Dursley family who make him sleep in the storage spacebeneath the stairs. He does not know his parents were wizards and he is also in fact a powerful wizard until he is in hi

26、s eleventh birthday when Rebeus Hagrid, the caretaker of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry visits him. Harry adventures begins when he starts to attend the school and becomes a close friend of two other young magicians, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. He is gradually building a confrontat

27、ion with the evil wizard who killed his parents. All in all the Harry Potter series is chronicling the life of the young, orphaned wizard Harry. Theseries is beginning when Harry is eleven and following him through adolescenceand youngadulthood until seventeen.Severus Snape is Harry Potter s Potions

28、 Professor in Hogwarts, whom Harry has the most problem with: Atthe start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he dbeen wrong. Snape didn t dislike Harry-he hated him. (Rowing1997:136) Snape holds a grudge again

29、st Harry because James Potter, Harry s father, used to make fun of Snape when they were students in Hogwarts, and most importantly, they rivaled each other in love, and James Potter married Lily Evans, the2woman Snape loves all his life. Snape s love for Lily underlies his decision to help keep Harr

30、yalive in the pact reached with Dumbledore, and plays double agent for him throughout the story.1.2 On Byronic HeroismThe Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of English Romantic poet Lord Byron. It was characterized by Lady Caroline Lamb, later a lo

31、ver ofByron s, as being mad, bad, and dangerous to know 48)(Gross.The 2001:1Byronic hero first appears in Byron semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem Childe Harold Pilgrimages (18121818).A Byronic hero exhibits several characteristic traits, and in many ways he can be considered a rebel. The Byr

32、onic hero does not possess heroic virtue the inusual sense; instead, he has many dark qualities. With regard to his intellectual capacity, self-respect, and hypersensitivity,the Byronic hero is larger than life, andof his withtitanicthepassions,lo his pride, and hiscertainty of self-identity, he los

33、es also his status as a traditional hero (Thorslev 19Often the Byronic hero is moody by nature or passionate about a particular issue. He alsohas emotional and intellectual capacities, which are superior to the average man. These heightened abilities force the Byronic hero to be arrogant, confident,

34、 abnormally sensitive, andextremely conscious of himself. Sometimes, this is to the point of nihilism resulting in his rebellion against life itself (Thorslev 1962:197). In one form or another, he rejects the values andmoral codes of society and because of this he is often unrepentant by society s s

35、tathe Byronic hero is characterized by a guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime. Due to these characteristics, the Byronic hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination.Therefore, in conclusion the Byronic hero typically exhibits several of the following traits:Arrogant;Cunning and

36、 able to adapt;Cynical;Disrespectful of rank and privilege;Emotionally conflicted, bipolar, or moody;Having distaste for social institutions and norms;Having a troubled past or suffering from an unnamed crime; Intelligent and perceptive;Jaded, world-weary;Mysterious, magnetic and charismatic;Seducti

37、ve and sexually attractive;Self-critical and introspective;Self-destructive;Socially and sexually dominant;Sophisticated and educated;Struggling with integrity;Treated as an exile, outcast, or outlaw, etc. (Thorslov 1962)From above descriptions, Severus Snape s characters satisfy most of the definit

38、ions. In the following chapters, this question will be fully discussed.31.2.3 Byronic Figures in LiteratureAfter Childe Harold s Pilgrimage, the Byronic hero mappearancede in many of Byron sother works, including his series of poems on Oriental themes: The Giaour (1813), The Corsair(1814) and Lara (

39、1814); and his closet playManfred (1817).Byron s influence was manifested by many authors and artists of the Romantic Movementand by writers of Gothic fiction during the 19th century. Lord Byron was the model for the titlecharacter of Glenarvon (1816) by Byron erstwhile lover Lady Caroline Lamb and

40、for LordRuthven in The Vampyre(1819) by Byron s personal physician, Polidori. Captain Wentworth inPersuasion by Jane Austen (1818), Claude Frollo from Victor HugoThe Hunchbacks of NotreDame (1831), HeathclifffromEmilyBront? Wutherings Heights, Edmond Dantes fromAlexandre Dumas The Count of Monte Cri

41、sto (1844), Rochester from Charlotte Bront?Jane sEyre (1847), Dorian Gray from The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde, and JamesSteerforth from Charles DickensDavidCopperfields (18491850) are other later 19th-centuryexamples of Byronic heroes.The Byronic hero is also featured in many conte

42、mporary novels, and it is clear that LordByron swork continues to influencemodern literature as the precursor of a commonlyencountered type of antihero. The lead character, Stephen Dedalus, of James JoyceA Portraitof the Artist as a Young Man(19141916) is one of the most famous literary heroes of th

43、is genre.Erik, the Phantom fromGaston Leroux Phantoms of the Opera(19091910) isanotherwell-known example from the early twentieth century.2. The Byronic Hero Severus Snape2.1 Characteristics of Severus SnapeIn the first novel of the series, he is hostile towards Harry and is built up to be the prima

44、ry antagonist until the final chapters. As the series progresses,Snapecharacters becomes more layered and complex. Over the course of the series, Snapeportrayals evolves from that of a malicious and partisan teacher to that of a pivotal character of considerable complexity and moral ambiguity.His na

45、me: Severusmeans strict in Latin; it reflects his character of seriousnessandsharpness. Also, this name reminds us with snake 钱and文文，沈serpent婷婷 2010:52(）, indicating his dark sides. However, he looks like his name, but in fact is a brave man inside.From the beginning of the first novel: Harry Potter

46、 and the Sorcerer s stone(1997), Snapeis described as ateacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose and sallow skin (Rowling1997:126). He has shoulder-length, greasy black hair which frames his face, and cold, black eyes.He wears black, flowing robes which give him the appearance of an overgrown ba

47、t1997:288) Even when he is a young man, his appearance is also not so attractive: stlook , being round-shouldered yet angular , havinga twitchy walkthat recalleda spiderand long oily hair swinging about his face (Rowling-645). 2004:640Although Severus Snape does not fit in the category of handsomeli

48、ke other Byronicheroes, but his inner character which is more than just superficially charming.Snape is generally depicted as being cold, calculating, precise, sarcastic, and bitter. He strongly dislikes Harry and often insults him by insulting his father, James Potter. As the series4progresses, it

49、is revealed that his treatment of Harry stems from Snapewith James bitter rivalrywhen they were in school together. In particular, James and Sirius bullied Snape, which made him shut in emotionally. Rowling further described the young Snape as insecure and vulnerablein one of her online interviews:

50、Given his timein overSnapeagawould not have become aDeath Eater, but like many insecure, vulnerable people he craved membership of something big and powerful, something impressive. . He was so blinded by his attraction to the dark sidehe thought Lily would find hi m impressive if he became a real De

51、ath Eater.The adult Snape, on the other hand, is portrayed as very self-assured and confident of his abilities, Snape typically displays a very calm and collected demeanor, rarely at a loss for words or taken off guard. His temper, however, is sometimes short where Harry is concerned and positively

52、flares when dealing with his erstwhile tormentor Sirius, or when accused of cowardice. His otherwise impassive and aloof attitude seems to stem from his belief that people who cannot control their emotions are weak. Like some other prominent members of Slytherin house, Snape is shown to be a clever

53、and cunning wizard. He is intelligent and has a keen, analytical mind. In another interview, Rowling added that Snape is immensely brave, and when asked if sheconsidered Snape a hero, replied: Yes, I do; though a very flawed hero-hero,.An perhapsanti.He is not a particularly likeable man in many way

54、s. He remains rather cruel, a bully, riddled with bitterness and insecurityand yet he loved, and showed loyalty to that love and, ultimately, laiddown his life because of it. That s pretty heroic!Thus, compares to the list of the traits of Byronic hero, Snape fits most of it.Snape as a teacher does

55、often seem to be arrogant. He is certainly vastly impatient with slow pupils; he calls them abig bunch of dunderheads (Rowling. 1997:137). Given the information in the book, Snape is a child who is lonely, isolated and inarticulate, also he gets bullied in the school by James Potter and his friends,

56、 and thus he aligns himself with an even bigger bully group, the Death Eaters. It is not uncommon for people with low self-esteem to compensate by appearing to be arrogant. Snape knows that he is a brilliant potion maker, which gives him confidence, as does his fascination and skill with the Dark Ar

57、ts.As Severus Snape plays the double agent for Dumbledore, he is sent to the most dangerous and powerful wizard Lord Voldemort, his ability to pretend loyal to him, and his brilliant Occlumency, the protection of the mind from outside intrusion or influence, which helps him hoodwinked Voldemort.He p

58、retends to be on the team Lord Voldemort, which is a task that requires skills and weariness. One of the scenes, he is asked to take the Unbreakable Vow with Draco mothers Narcissa. An Unbreakable Vow is a magical incantation in which one wizard makes an oath to another. If the person who accepts th

59、e conditions of the Unbreakable owV breaks them, they die. When Narcissa first begs Snape to help Draco, Snape agrees, however, when she suggests the Unbreakable Vow, Snape hesitates, Narcissa sister Bllatrix says, Arentyou listening, Narcissa? Oh, hell try, Im sure. The usual empty words, the usual

60、 slithering out of action. (Rowling 2005:35) Under the circumstance he needs to figure out how to get out of the dilemma, Snape consents to take the vow at last. When Narcissa adds the last part of the V ow, which requires Snape to kill Dumbledore if Draco fails to do so, Snapeshand twitches on hear