Snape's many good points (and Sirius' many bad points)

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 34699

Continuing the Snaper/Sirist debate:

First, the topic of Snape's (many!) good points.

I've already said quite a lot about this in post #33370, and don't 
want to clutter the list by repeating it all.  Also, Marina has said a 
lot about Snape's brilliance and bravery.  But, I didn't say much 
about Snape's brilliance in post #33370, because I thought it was so 
obvious.  So, let me let me add a few points that may not have been 
made before.

Brilliance and talent:
  It's not just Snape's ability to make Wolfbane Potion and Mandrake 
Restorative Draught that counts in Snape's favor here.  (By the way, I 
expect Mandrake Draught *is* hard to make; otherwise, why would 
Lockhart brag about his alleged ability to make it?) It's also the 
fact that Snape was made Professor of an important subject, and Master 
of Slytherin house, at a very young age.  I don't buy the argument 
that Dumbledore gave Snape a professorship just to give him sanctuary 
against the DE's.  First, as we've seen, there's no evidence that the 
DE's are out to get Snape; they may think he's really on their side 
still.  And, I don't think Dumbledore would gave out a professorship 
on that grounds.  In other cases where Dumbledore seems to have given 
a position as a favor (Hagrid, Filch) it was more of a manual labor 
position.  Dumbledore could have made Snape "Assistant Caretaker" or 
something, if Snape just needed sanctuary. 

But wait, there's more! 
I think it's no coincidence that JKR always calls Snape the Potions 
*Master*, a title that she never uses for Binns, Flitwick, Hagrid, 
etc.  Only Dumbledore and McGonagall also get called Master or 
Mistress.  (By the way, in the Japanese translation, I believe those 
three get called "Professor", while the other faculty just get called 
"teacher.") And as others here have noted, it's McGonagall and Snape 
that Dumbledore relies on the help him when there's a crises, not the 
other faculty.  

But that's not all!
We're only discussed Snape's ability in Potions.  What about his Dark 
Arts skills?  (Remember, we're talking about whether he's talented 
here, not whether he's *nice*.)  About the first thing that's ever 
said about Snape is Percy's comment, "He knows an lot about the Dark 
Arts."  And of course, Sirius says, "Snape knew more curses when he 
arrived at school than half the seventh years."  (These quotes are 
from memory, but they're pretty close to the originals.) These skills 
are quite different from knowing about Potions; we never see a Potion 
mentioned in any Dark Arts class. 

And if you order now, you get a ginsu knife!
I think spying on Voldy and surviving requires brillance.  Voldy has 
the ability to detect lies.  For a spy to answer Voldy's questions 
without lying and without giving himself away would take skill indeed. 
     

Bravery:
  In addition to his other brave acts, we know that Snape is doing 
something quite dangerous at the end of GoF.  In fact, it's dangerous 
enough to make Dumbledore visibly worried about Snape, and Dumbledore 
being visibly worried is rare.  
   Also, throughout GoF, Snape remains quite calm about Voldemort's 
gathering strength, while Karkaroff is reduced to a bowl of quivering 
jelly.  ("Then flee, Igor, flee.  I will make your excuses," Snape 
says, or something similar.) 

While I'm defending Snape, Cassie mentioned the incident with 
Neville's toad.  There is no question that Neville was scared, and 
that is bad.  However, I'm not sure Trevor the toad was in any danger. 
Remember, in the Potterverse, there are generic antidotes to poisons. 
Futhermore, Snape would have known what possible poisons Neville could 
have come up with, so he would have known the ingredients in neville's 
potion.  It's quite possible Snape had an antidote ready, in case 
Trevor got sick. 

By the way, this in on a different topic, but Pippin wondered if Snape 
had convinced James that Sirius was the spy, therefore causing James 
to pick Peter as the Scret-keeper. No, we know that Sirius himself was 
the one who convinced James to switch secret-keepers; Sirius says it 
was his idea to have Peter be the secret-keeper.  


Ok, now on to Sirius' many bad points.

A lot of people here have given various excuses for "The Prank."  
However, I don't see the prank on Snape as the worst thing Sirius has 
done.  Instead, I think it's his actions in PoA.  Sirius has this "I'm 
going to get revenge on Peter single-handedly, no matter what it 
costs" attitude that causes other people a lot of suffering.  People 
have said how Snape scares the students -- what about Sirius?  The 
students think a murderer is in the school, and Ron thinks Sirius 
tried to stab him.  Because of Sirius, there's Dementors at the school 
all year, who scare all the kids, make Harry faint, depress Hagrid, 
and try to give Harry "The Kiss."  Think of all the punishment Neville 
gets when Sirius steals his passwords -- he suffers for a lot longer 
than from any punishment Snape ever gave him.  The whole wizarding 
world is terrified, with kids in London not being allowed out alone.  
No work is getting done at the ministry. Even the muggles are scared. 
And, Sirius could have avoided all this, just by sending Dumbledore an 
owl saying "Check out Ron Weasley's rat!" 

If it's OK for Sirius to injure and terrify people, why is it so awful 
for Snape to be snippy and threaten students with detention?  Anyway, 
Sirius did more than cause fear.  He slashed the Fat Lady for no 
reason, and she is discribed as being quite traumatized by it.  And he 
broke Ron's leg, and apparently never apologized.



And now, before we Snapers and Sirists come to cyber-blows, let me 
point out that I can see why a reader might like either, both, or 
neither character.  I think Snape is written somewhat inconsistently, 
as are all three of James' friends.  Is Sirius the half-mad slasher of 
PoA, or the reasonable, concerned godfather of GoF?  Is Snape the 
oh-so-cool master of snide remarks, or is he ranting with spit flying 
from his mouth?  Whether one likes these characters depends a lot on 
how one resolves the inconsistencies in the way they are written.  So, 
I hope no one will make too much of various readers' perferences for 
one character over the other.