Snape is one of those characters that I can’t JUST hate or love. I don’t despise him, but he’s not my favorite character. He has his strengths, but he also has his flaws. He’s not a hero, but he’s not the villain either. Snape came from an abusive home. In school, he was a halfblood in Slytherin, and I’m assuming that he faced some bullying because of that too. On top of that, as much as I love them, the marauders - the most popular kids in hogwarts - weren’t exactly nice to him either. His mother and Lily were literally the only people who ever liked him, and cared for him. It’s often pointed out that his behavior towards Lily was obsessive - and it was. But Lily was the only person who cared for him. He viewed James as a threat to their friendship and her affections. He didn’t want to lose the one person who wouldn’t hate him. He joined Voldemort, the man who killed people like Lily - was that unacceptable? Yes. He told Voldemort about the prophecy, and when he realized that his actions would lead to Lily’s death, he bargained for James and Harry’s deaths in place for Lily’s life. There is no question that he loved Lily - but he was selfish and immoral. Don’t forget that he was perfectly willing to let a child and man die. Perhaps he thought that with James and Harry out of the picture, Lily would love him. However, Snape did spend the rest of his life trying to protect Harry. He was in the position where he was hated by the Light side for being a former death eater, and hated by Voldemort’s side for working with Dumbledore. Since he and Dumbledore knew that one day Voldemort would return, his every move had to be a calculated decision. Upon Voldemort’s return, he would have to continue his role within his ranks, and try his best to give the Order information. While his treatment of Harry and all students except the Slytherins was cruel, he actually didn’t have another choice. But was his cruelty towards students over the top? Yes. He definitely could have toned it down a little so that he wasn’t the worst fear of students like Neville. There’s no excuse for abusing the students, and humiliating and tormenting them, especially students who did nothing to him and would be mentally scarred for years. His actions made sure that Voldemort wouldn’t suspect him, and would trust him. However, once again, there was no need for him to have Remus fired. That was an action out of spite and anger. Additionally, while he saved Harry many times during the school year, he viewed Harry as James, and refused to believe that he didn’t put his name in the Goblet. It was like Severus was trying is best to see James in Harry. For him, Harry was the reason Lily died - she died protecting him. Furthermore, the fact that he was responsible for Voldemort going to the Potters in the first place didn’t exactly help matters. The harassment that Harry faced from Snape during occlumency lessons was also a calculated decision. Snape had to try to teach him at least, however, he couldn’t risk Voldemort looking into Harry’s head and finding out that Snape was helping him. (A rather stupid move by dumbledore, in my opinion, I mean the mutual hostility between Harry and Severus would never work if he needed Harry to shield his mind) Now, in the Order of the Phoenix, when Umbridge was holding Harry captive, once again Snape had to keep up appearances. He gave Umbrdige fake veritaserum, told her that he had no more when she wanted to give it to Harry, and did warn the order when Harry told him that Sirius was in danger. And in the last battle, Snape did help Harry a lot, especially with passing on information before the Battle of the Seven Potters, giving Bellatrix the fake copy of Gryffindor’s sword, and giving Harry the real one. Furthermore, he saved students from being tortured by the Carrows by sending them to Hagrid for detentions and punishments Let me just say one thing. If Snape had not acted the way he did, many students would be dead when Voldemort took over Hogwarts. He NEEDED to act that one to continue being a double spy. Some of the things he did were out of anger and spite, but the other things were out of necessity. Does that make him a good person? No. But does that make him a horrible person? No. I mean, he wasnt a hero. But he wasnt an evil villain either, When it comes to Snape, we can’t just look at the situation as black or white. There are shades of gray. He wasn’t JUST good, and he wasn’t JUST bad. Many of his actions were good, and many of his actions were horrible. And that makes him a human being with both strengths and weaknesses. We can appreciate and agree his good qualities and actions, while disagree with and dislike his bad qualities and actions. (This is my personal opinion.) ~ Cassiopeia
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 23:49:32 +0000
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