[HPforGrownups] Re: How Snape is like Harry

[tillrules at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 28923

In a message dated 11/7/2001 10:23:47 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
ra_1013 at yahoo.com writes:

<< 'm sorry, but when did Snape just "blab straight out"
 about Lupin being a werewolf?  Yes, I'll admit that he
 taught the class about werewolves with the intention
 that one of them would figure it out, but he never
 told the class, as far as we know.  Hermione figured
 it out, and then Lupin admitted it in the Shrieking
 Shack.  It wasn't Snape.  
 
 He certainly wasn't playing within the spirit of
 Dumbledore's request, but he was still within the >>

Actually at the end of the book, he out and out "lets slip" to a number or 
Slythierins that Lupin is a werewolf (hence Lupin has to leave).  Plus, it's 
pretty clear what he intends when he demands that the class skip forward to 
werewolves in their studies.  Snape wants to out (for lack of a beter term) 
Lupin as revenge for the imagined and real slights Lupin and the Marauders 
have inflicted upon him.  Plus, since he lost his chance to get Sirius, he 
wants to now inflict pain on someone, so he lets out Lupin's identity at the 
end of the book.  It's a very petty thing to do.

Snape's problem is that he still resents James, et al., for their popularity 
and for what they tried to do to him.     He is still bitterly nursing his 
school by grudes against them and Harry is a convenient target for him.

In Harry, he sees another James, a golden boy, who can do what he wants 
because of an imaginged prowess or due to his being liked.  This resentment 
is to the point of being irrational.  When confornted with the possibility 
that Siruis and Lupin are not the villians he so wants them to be, he 
irrationally ignores Harry, Hermione & Ron, because their explanation would 
exonerate Sirius.  Even when Sirius agrees to turn himself in, Snape refuses 
to listen, preferring to believe that the two Marauders are evil. 

Snape is not purely evil, nor is he entirely good.   He's definitely not a 
likeable character.  He's someone who is on the right side because his fear 
of Voldemort's rule is worse than his disdain for many of those on the 
"right" side.  Taht he will serve as a double agent makes him arguably brave, 
but it could also be almost self preservation due to his fears of Voldemort.  
He's really a sad petty man who is simply on the right side of the battle for 
now.

David