[HPforGrownups] Some personal thoughts about ... Snape

[Carol Bainbridge]

No: HPFGUIDX 48480

After reading Ursula's note (#48394), as well as the other notes about 
Snape at http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/faq/, I had some additional 
thoughts about Snape.  Here they are:

I think basic characteristic of Snape is a very rigid nature.   This 
rigidity influences everything he does, thinks, and feels.  I think it also 
affects the way people see and treat him.

We don't know enough about Snape to know why he's so rigid; maybe that's 
just the way he is, and I think he was probably like that as a child.  As a 
very rigid person, he feels that rules must be followed exactly and those 
who don't follow the rules must be punished.  I think it is possible for a 
person to be very rigid and also basically good.  That is, I don't think 
being rigid makes a person a bad person.

I can imagine a young Snape being very upset with the Marauders because of 
their rule breaking and because they weren't getting punished for it.  I'm 
sure he wanted to get them all in trouble by finding out just what they 
were up to when they sneaked out of school at night.  I don't think that it 
helped that James was a well-liked person, not to mention a talented 
Quidditch player.  That had to be terribly galling -- not only were these 
rule-breakers not getting in trouble, but they were also popular.  I don't 
see this as simple bitterness, although I do think he is probably 
bitter.  I think it has to do with a rigid sense of justice/injustice.  If 
the world were truly just, then the Marauders would be both unpopular and 
properly punished.  Snape, on the other hand, who follows all the rules and 
does the right thing, should be the one who reaps the rewards.  Again, I 
don't see this as bitterness alone.

So why would a basically good person become a Death Eater?  Again, I don't 
think it was bitterness and I don't think it was a loss of faith in 
goodness.  I think it has more to do with control and what Snape thought 
would bring justice to the world.  True, he supposedly had an interest in 
the dark arts when he was at Hogwarts, but I don't necessarily think that's 
because he was evil or even wanted to be evil.  I think he wanted to be 
able to control people and situations.   The adults in charge at Hogwarts 
didn't control things very well if they allowed rule-breakers to go without 
punishment.  We don't know whether the Marauders got punished or not, but 
we do know that they never got expelled and that's what Snape seems to 
think the appropriate punishment is for serious rule breaking.  Snape, as a 
true Slytherin, would use any means to gain his ends, so if he thought 
becoming a Death Eater would give him the ability to control people and 
situations to create the kind of world he thought should exist, then I'm 
sure he would do it.  Why did he leave?  I suspect it would have been 
because he realized that a Voldemort world would be far less just than a 
world without Voldemort.

We see Snape's rigid nature all the time.  I think some of his anger and 
hatred of Harry comes from this, although it must have started as a carry 
over from what Snape felt about James.  Still, Harry seems to be following 
in his father's footsteps by breaking rules, not getting punished, and 
being honored.  Snape is constantly watching Harry and trying to catch him 
doing something wrong.  In a just world, Harry would get caught and 
expelled.  So why pick on Neville and Hermione?  Again, I think some of 
this is due to Snape's being a true Slytherin, but I also think it has 
something to do with Snape's rigid nature and his idea of what the world 
should be like.  Hermione is Muggle-born and Neville is nearly a 
squib.  Hermione knows just about everything a student should know and can 
do just about everything, while Neville is almost the exact opposite.  That 
has to make Snape very angry -- at both of them.  Neville is the one who 
should be doing well and Hermione shouldn't be there at all.  He wants to 
put Hermione in her Muggle place and he dislikes Neville for being so inept.

Why does he seem to favor Malfoy?  That's harder to answer, but I'm not 
sure it's so much favoring as it is being blind to some things Malfoy 
does.  I also don't know that Malfoy breaks rules so openly.  He's very 
careful when teachers are around.  I would guess, too, that Snape thinks 
Draco should get more attention than Harry does, for the very reason that 
Malfoy doesn't get in as much trouble as Harry does.  I think someone (I 
forget who) suggested that Snape sees his younger self in Draco.  I'd bet 
that is part of it as well.  I also think that it is this feeling that 
causes Snape to be somewhat blind to Draco's behavior and attitudes.

What I can't understand about Snape is that as a former Death Eater, he 
would have to know that Lucius had been a Death Eater too.  How can he 
favor Lucius' son? I have a theory and I've read the other theories, but 
none of them are fully satisfying.

Carol 

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