What's in it for Snape? Finding motive...

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 97148

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" 
<vmonte at y...> wrote:
> What motivates Snape?  Is he really working for the Order, 
> Voldemort, or himself? Is he good, bad, or neither? 
<snip>
> Harry is capable of having friends, yet, Snape cannot.<<

Pippin:
Why do you think Snape has no friends? He seems to be on  
good terms with Filch,  Dumbledore and McGonagall. 


Vmonte: 
> I still feel that Harry's occulmency lessons with Snape were 
really  DD's way of letting Harry learn more about "Snape the 
person."  I feel that Snape really reveals his himself during these 
lessons. <

Pippin:
Yes, and it's also DD's way of letting Snape learn more about 
Harry. 

Vmonte:
>> How long did it take Snape to realize that Voldemort was 
 coning/manipulating him?  Snape is a very intelligent person. It 
 seems so unlikely that he would ever let someone like 
Voldemort (or  anyone for that matter) lord over him.  

 Remember when Sirius tells Harry that there were a lot of 
purebloods  that at first believed that Voldemort had the right 
idea?  They  approved of Voldemort's dislike of mudbloods. I 
think this is what  first interested Snape into becoming a DE. 
 We know by cannon that Snape is a racist! He calls Lily a nasty 
name  in the penseive memory.  He would rather be hung 
upside down before  allowing a mudblood come to his 
defense.<< 
 

Pippin:
I think Snape would have been furious with *anyone* who came 
to his aid. Snape could never forgive James Potter for saving his 
life. That happened when Sirius was sixteen, *before* James 
and Lily were an item, and James was a pureblood, so racism 
can't have had anything to do with that.  Maybe Snape is, or was, 
deeply biased against Muggleborns, but maybe he was just 
uncontrollably angry at Lily and called her the worst name he 
could think of.  It doesn't make him a dyed in the wool racist any 
more than Ron's "Get away from me, werewolf!" means he'd 
want to join up with Umbridge.

The question I have is how did Snape become a member of that 
gang of Slytherins Sirius mentioned in GoF--they certainly 
weren't in evidence at the OWLs.  Snape might have joined 
Voldemort because they expected it of him, just as Marietta 
joined the DA. 

But suppose Voldemort recognized that Snape would make a 
superb Occlumens, and taught  him to control his emotions. 
With his mind clear of anger, Snape's logical abilities would 
assert themselves. He might have decided that taking orders 
from Voldemort,  is not what he wants to do for the rest of his life. 
Since that's what he would have to do if Voldemort wins, there is 
then no scenario in which helping Voldemort would achieve 
Snape's ends. 

Vmonte:
> Here is my problem with Snape.  I find it hard to believe that 
> knowing what we know about him that he is working for either 
> Voldemort or DD.  He seems to have contempt for both sides.  
>He also  craves recognition (obvious when you read PoA). 

Pippin:
Snape has loads of contempt for Harry, but that doesn't equal 
contempt for Dumbledore. Sirius had contempt for Snape, for 
example, does that mean he wasn't sincere in his support of the 
Order or his desire to see Voldemort defeated?

Pippin