Snape's "mind set?"

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 44227

In a message dated 17/09/2002 22:45:36 GMT Standard Time, 
i_am_erasmas at yahoo.ca writes:

>So, for those of you 
>that believe Snape is acting purposefully, I invite you to come up 
>with a plausible reason for Snape to act the way he does in these 
>scenes:

> 1. PoA - Snape's Grudge
> 
> The one on one interview with Harry -- deliberately taunting Harry 
> about James. Whether he has a good reason to hate James or not, what 
> purpose could this possibly serve. Bear in mind that he is talking to 
> a 13 year old orphan boy about his dead parents. 
> 

I had more thoughts on this one.
Yes, I think Snape is being spiteful here and I'm not really defending *what* 
he says, just, as usual, trying to understand why he says it.
I think this interview goes hand in hand with his later reaction in the 
Shrieking Shack, when he tells Harry that he should be down on his knees 
thanking him and that if he hadn't intervened, Harry would have died like his 
father, too arrogant to think he might be mistaken about Sirius.

I think one of the reasons Snape loses it with Harry, is that, detest him as 
he does, he still has/feels he has an obligation to protect him.

Think about it. What is he doing when he meets Harry in the corridor before 
he goes to Hogsmeade? He knows what Harry's like. He must know that if 
there's any chance that Harry will find a way to get to Hogsmeade, he will 
take it. He clearly *really* thinks he's up to something - look at the way he 
stays to examine the witch's hump. I don't think he's just being obnoxious 
for no purpose. He's also not stupid enough to think that there might not be 
other ways out of the Castle than the ones he knows about. He used to spy on 
the Marauders: he might have already had reason to suspect that there was a 
secret passage in the vicinity. He might even have had a shrewd idea where 
the entrance was (the text certainly suggests that to me), though not knowing 
the way to open it.

So Snape warns him off. He doesn't want him wandering off into Hogsmeade with 
Black around.
But Harry goes.
And then, surprise, surprise, who should come along just as Harry emerges 
from the witch's hump after his exploits, but Snape.
What a coincidence - Snape on the third floor corridor, well out of his 
territory, at those two moments. I'm sure he does know there's a passage 
entrance there, which is why he was keeping an eye out for Harry the first 
time and why he got there so swiftly after Draco alerted him to Harry's 
presence in Hogsmeade. Like Harry, Snape is 'rarely in a place for no 
reason'.

And his reaction? Well, honestly in some ways I think it's parental. He's 
furious with Harry for deliberately putting himself in danger. He's stuck his 
neck out for him, even defended him in the presence of Quirrelmort and now 
the stupid, arrogant boy thinks he knows best and that he can do just as he 
likes.
I'd be livid, too!

And the trouble is that it's all so personal. 
If we are to believe, as many do, that Snape was the one who warned 
Dumbledore that Voldemort was after Lily and James, then he fears history 
will repeat itself.
Because he's right - James *did* die because he was too arrogant to believe 
he might be mistaken in Sirius. He trusted Sirius' judgement (leading to the 
fateful swap of which Snape is unaware), rather than Dumbledore's. But the 
end result was the same, whether Sirius or Pettigrew was the traitor and it 
depended on James trusting Sirius above Dumbledore.

So Snape tried to protect James, whom he hated and James had to have his own 
way and got killed. Now he is trying to protect Harry, whom he hates and 
Harry insists on having his own way and is apparently putting himself in 
danger of being killed.

Well, I can understand his anger and frustration. It's enough of a burden 
having to protect the boy in the first place.

And as Pippin pointed out (and as the text tells us), he was deliberately 
trying to *provoke* a reaction, provoke Harry into telling the truth, so 
there was reason for what he said, although he was clearly letting personal 
feelings get the better of him. I'm afraid I don't personally feel in a 
position to criticise. I know I've said things I shouldn't have in times of 
anger or frustration, or to provoke a reaction (and stubbornly mute children 
are particularly frustrating, I find). And of course, he gets his 
come-uppance in the end, when the Map insults him and Remus colludes with 
Harry.

Eloise


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