[HPforGrownups] Snape's treatment of Hermione

[Porphyria]

No: HPFGUIDX 37523

Rohit/Columbiatexan asked:

> OK, almost done with this extremely long post--anyone
> wondering why Snape seems to single out Hermione so much
> as the target for his anger? 

I had a couple of observations on this. For one thing, I think part of 
the reason Snape is so annoyed by Hermione is that she has a tin ear for 
his rhetoric. She insists on interpreting him literally when he's making 
some sweeping dramatic gesture, and I think that really grates on him 
because a lot of his sense of authority is tied up in how well he can 
intimidate people. For instance, in the first Potions class, when Snape 
is trying to make Harry squirm with his "fame isn't everything" speech, 
she acts like he's actually asking the class questions. He isn't, he's 
making a point about not fawning over Harry, and she misreads it. 
Similarly, when Neville was messing up his Shrinking Potion and Snape 
swooped over to humiliate him over how orange it was, Hermione 
interrupted him and threw off-track what I think was originally Snape's 
attempt at teaching-through-intimidation. His point was not that 
Neville's potion should end up perfect, but that Neville should know how 
to do it alone. After she pipes up he became just as happy to corner her 
into disobedience (by threatening Trevor) as he was to take points off 
of Neville. And lastly she interrupted him when he was having his giant 
"vengeance is mine" speech in the Shrieking Shack. I think he found that 
one hard to forgive.

Granted, his treatment of her in GoF is even more unwarranted, although 
with the Rita Skeeter article I'd still be tempted to say he preferred 
having the attention on himself rather than on her. Some of it is just 
to amuse the Slytherin of course, or just because he can't resist a 
sarcastic remark when an opening jumps up right before his eyes, as with 
her teeth.

Also, I'm not sure if he has any sense of her being respectful and 
thoughtful towards him. Her concern over him in the Shack was while he 
was quite unconscious (and it's not like she so much as pulled out a 
handkerchief to stanch the flow of blood from his head). And he's not 
around to hear them debating whether he's the one trying to kill Harry 
or not.

So the question would be why does she defend him over and over? I think 
to some extent it's for structural reasons; Harry needs to be in the 
middle balanced by the little Ron devil on one shoulder telling him 
Snape is evil and the little Hermione angel on the other shoulder 
telling him Snape is good. And it does fit with her character that she'd 
usually be trusting of professors and give the benefit of the doubt to 
people in general. Maybe she feels really guilty about setting him on 
fire that time (when, if she hadn't accidentally knocked over Quirrell, 
she would have directly contributed to Harry's death). I like to imagine 
she's the authorial voice at these moments telling us the reader that 
Snape's really a good guy. Either that or she's discovered that he 
secretly owns a kitten, but that would be pure speculation. :-)

~~Porphyria


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