There is No Room for Misinterpretation of this Book
an essay by Fabula Rasa
You are quite wrong if you think there is. Snape kills Dumbledore under coercion, because he is forced to, because it has in all likelihood been agreed upon between them. And Dumbledore consents to it. More: he goads him to it, when he senses that Snape's resolve is about to waver. How do I know this?
Dumbledore does not plead.
But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly.
"Severus. . ."
The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading. . .
"Severus. . . please. . ."
Okay, case closed. I'm sorry, but if you are so ON CRACK as to think Dumbledore -- ALBUS DUMBLEDORE -- is pleading for his own life, then just go home, 'kay? Because Dumbledore does not, would not, could not ever conceivably, plead for his own life. Nuh uh. Couldn't happen. Couldn't happen, because it would be such a violation of his character as Rowling has portrayed it as to bankrupt her credibility beyond all repair. Remember this exchange from the battle at the Ministry?
"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.
"You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore, still closing in on Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks.
The man who says that -- the man who knows the truth of that deep in his ancient bones -- would never stoop so low as to plead for his life. If Rowling's books have a philosophic heart, it is death. How do we think about death? How much do we fear death? Should we fear it at all? Should we seek to stave it off? And how? Right from the start, her books are a Dance of the Macabre, a giant Necro-Carnival. Ghosts who have held off the dreadful day of mortality by embarking on shadow existences. Dark wizards who would shed innocent blood to keep their cold claws around their mockery of life. Mothers who would willingly die to cover a beloved child in the armor of love. Death, death, death. What is it Voldemort fears? Death above all. What does his very name mean? Flight from death. Over and over again, Rowling hammers it home that death is not the greatest evil. Fear of death is the greatest evil, because it is he who loves his own life and will do anything to save it who is capable of the greatest atrocities imaginable.
Dumbledore does not plead.
The book's philosophical center aside, Dumbledore is an accomplished -- perhaps the most accomplished -- Legilimens. If he read his death in Snape's mind and heart, what possible use would pleading be, even if his character did allow it? None. He can see into Snape's mind here, as he does into Draco's earlier, I have no doubt. It's why he says "please" -- not because he sees his own death, but because he sees Snape waver. He sees the indecision and the agony, the I-can't-don't-make-me-do-this. How do I know this? Because
Dumbledore. Does. Not. Plead.
If Dumbledore can be broken, if at the end he can be consumed by fear for his own life, if he can be made to plead whimperingly for that life, then pack up and go home, Harry, because the darkness has already won. No, Dumbledore's death is a great victory, because his life is not taken from him; he lays it down. Yes, Rowling is invoking Aslan at the stone, she is invoking the kings of Numenor who laid down the gift, she is invoking all those "who loved not their lives unto the death." Deal with the allusions. It is the corrosive love of life that is her story's pulsating heart, and what the hell kind of message is that for a children's book? Kiddies, gather 'round, because Auntie Jo's going to tell you why in the long run your precious coddled safe widdle life should be tossed aside like so much dross if it stands for one minute between you and the good you were meant to achieve on this earth.
Dumbledore. Does. Not. Plead.
I know lj in general and my f-list in particular is pullulating with the Snape-is-really-loyal theorizing, and some of it has a frantic, desperate quality. But all of it overlooks the clincher in the case, and the clincher has nothing to do with Snape. Snape's actions, dissected, scrutinized, examined, tell us nothing conclusive. They are not meant to. It is Dumbledore who gives the game away to us, Dumbledore who is the tell. We know Snape is one of the good guys, simply (and I would argue, ONLY) because we know that there is no way Dumbledore would beg for his life. Therefore, Dumbledore must be begging for something else: death.
Severus. . . do it now.
Severus. . . please. . . you must. You must sacrifice the queen to save the king. You must secure your own position forever. You must preserve Draco from this dreadful thing. You must. Please. Severus. Hear me.
All you people who think Albus Dumbledore could ever, ever plead for his own life?
You are quite wrong.