Cataloging Snape's Behavior, Pt. II CoS (very long)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 115679


HunterGreen wrote:
> <huge snip of stuff I agree with> It is rather hard to defend him
[Snape] when he's being cold to Lupin at every opportunity, but then
again, Lupin doesn't seem bothered by it (and he is dutifully making
that potion for Lupin, although I'm sure he *detests* having to do it).

Carol notes:
I agree that Snape should be given credit for dutifully making that
potion for a man he detests, but we need to understand that 1) he
thinks that Lupin was in on what he sees as Sirius's plot to kill him
(the reckless and very dangerous Prank). 2) He does not share the view
of many readers that werewolves are innocent victims of prejudice. He
holds the view of most people in the WW that werewolves are highly
dangerous (and not fully human) and he is (rightly) concerned for the
safety of the students. And 3) he thinks that Lupin is helping Sirius
Black, an apparent homicidal maniac, to get into the castle.

Lupin is presented from the beginning as a sympahtetic character
(although there are hints of something mysterious and ominous about
him) and Black is shown, after some very scary and unstable behavior,
to be innocent of the crimes Snape understandably believes him to be
guilty of. But surely Snape's coldness to Lupin, and even his rage in
the Shrieking Shack, are understandable given the "facts" as he sees them.

I think a catalogue of Snape's behavior in PoA need not be
incriminating as long as we realize that he is not privy to our
after-the-fact knowledge and that he has reasons for being unable to
view either Lupin or Black objectively. Snape is Snape, and of course
he's very far from perfect, but mistaken assumptions and prejudice
against werewolves (viewed by the writers of Harry's textbooks and the
entire WW as Dark Creatures) don't make him evil.

Carol 

Carol