[HPforGrownups] How Snape is like Harry

[Susanne Schmid]

No: HPFGUIDX 28914


 
  Amy Z <aiz24 at hotmail.com> wrote: 
<Susanne wrote, of The Man in Black:

<>But why the heck doesn't he go to Dumbledore?

<Clearly the time has come for me to unveil my New Insight About <Snape,even though I ran it by a couple of friends offlist and <they were unimpressed <sniff>.  It is simply this:  that <although one of Snape's defining characteristics is undoubtedly <a strict adherence to rules, he also has an independent <vigilante tendency that is positively Harrylike.  He doesn't <contravene Dumbledore's wishes or break rules, but he does <operate independently.  His actions frequently evoke the same <reaction in the reader as Harry's:  "Why didn't he tell someone <[namely AD]?" 

I don't know who said this, but it is a truth (rather a commonplace one, too) that we hate in others what we hate most in ourselves. Banal as this observation is, it might give us some insight into my beloved Potions Master's character (Thank you Amy, for creating the opportunity of yet another Snapeologic analysis).

What does he hate about Harry? He tells us so at the beginning of the first Potions class: "Mr. Potter! Our new celebrity!" He hates Harry for his fame, later on we discover that he hates his rule-breaking, his being-like-James, his "strutting around" (like James), his "inflated ego" and he wants to punish the boy.

Translation: I, Severus Snape, have risked my life so many times- consciously, mind you, not just by being there as a stupid baby from which a curse rebounded. I have saved lives, but nobody thanked me for it. I played spy, but the only one who appreciates it is Dumbledore- of course, it would be dangerous to tell everybody what I did, because it would blow my cover which I might need, if Voldemort comes back. I'm forced to keep everything good and decent and worthy I ever did in my life a secret and this eleven year-old *boy* gets it all and has done nothing. Even Albus Dumbledore is always on his side, he's got a soft spot for the boy and where others would certainly be punished, Potter gets away with a benign smile and maybe a warning. Rationally, I know that I'm an idiot to be jealous of a boy, but I hate him for provoking this jealousy in me, I hate him because he is The Boy Who Lived and having lived is his only merit, whereas I am The Spy Who Risked His Life, having to stand aside and watch-possibly with a friendly smile- while he does his veni vidi vici act. I can't admit this to anybody, and only very rarely to myself. But I can try and make his life hell.

<Some examples:
<-his many activities in PS/SS, already detailed.  What was he <doing going after Quirrell on Halloween (troll incident), trying <to get past Fluffy, etc.?  If he was so suspicious that <something so hazardous was afoot, why play the hero?  Tell AD <what you suspect is going on!

One thing, though, has to be said in his favour: He didn't know that Voldemort was involved. If he thought that Quirrell just wanted to steal the stone in order to become rich and immortal, it was something he could have dealt with himself (lame excuse, but love blinds!)


<-his skulking around in GF "The Egg and the Eye"--again, doing a <little independent investigating in dangerous times.  Is this <wise?

Oh, but here you're *really* unjust: First, it happened near his office and probably also his rooms, so it's only logical that he went to see whether somebody tried to get at his private stores. And when he saw his office door open, of course he went to search for the culprit and maybe even to alert Dumbledore- but on his way he came across Filch and Moody.

<-his zeal to catch Black in PA--going outside the school and all <that rather than alerting Dumbledore or Fudge.  He wants to <catch Sirius and Lupin himself.

I would give him the bonus of a spontaneous reaction, seeing that a dangerous killer is in the Shriekikng Shack, holding three of his students hostages, together with the werewolf he had already suspected of helping him. The first impulse is to go there and do something, moreover because in Dumbledore's presence, killing Black might result a little difficult (I'll give you that!)

<I find this similarity between Snape and his favorite <rulebreaker very interesting, especially since one of Snape's <pet peeves is Harry's tendency to play independent <investigator.  One might even speculate that one reason Snape <resents Harry is that Harry's recklessness reminds him of a <quality he suppresses and dislikes in himself.

<Amy

Seems we came to the same conclusion, anyway, I would exclude the rule-breaking as part of Snape's character. He doesn't hate it in Harry because he wants to do it himself, but because Harry *can* do it, without consequences.

Susanna/pigwidgeon37 (Snapeologist, Snapist and proud of it)

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"Before we begin our banquet, I would like 
to say a few words.  And here they are: 
Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
            --HP and the Philosopher's Stone
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