Snape and DADA

[eloise_herisson]

No: HPFGUIDX 111928

Jenny:
> Just a question that keeps popping into my head. Does anyone
> else ever wonder WHY Snape has never gotten the DADA
> position? We read repeatedly that Snape wants the position,
> and Dumbledore trusts Snape, so why does Dumbledore not
> give Snape the one teaching position that Snape really wants?
> 
> Jenny
> ps: If this has been answered some where in the books, please
> forgive me and tell me where, because for the life of me I don't
> remember it.

Eloise:

Not in the books, but in the interview that JKR gave with Stephen Fry 
at the Albert Hall:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/2003/0603-
AlbertHall-FryRowling.htm

...................................................................
JL: Prof Snape has always wanted to be the defence against the dark 
arts
teacher. In book 5 he still doesn't get the job Why does Professor
Dumbledore not allow him to be the defence against the dark arts 
teacher?

SF: There

JKR: <sighs> That is an excellent question and the reason is that, I 
have to
be careful what I say here, the reason is that to answer it fully 
would give
and awful lot away about the remaining two books but when Professor
Dumbledore took Professor Snape on to the staff and Professor Snape 
said I'd
like to teach defence against the darks arts please and Professor 
Dumbledore
felt that that might bring out the worst in Professor Snape

<laughs> Somewhat

JKR: So he said I think we'll let you teach potions and see how you 
get
along there

.....................................................................

What this tells us is that those of us who had always believed that 
Snape wanting the DADA job was just a student rumour were wrong. He 
can't even have been bluffing about it with Umbridge; he *wanted* the 
job.

It is interesting, though, that he does seem to be such an 
accomplished potions maker, with what, given the evidence of his 
opening speech in PS/SS seems to be a passion for the discipline. 
Lupin testifies to his skill in making the tricky Wolfsbane potion 
and he is defensive of his position to Lockhart. Is this a case of 
over-compensation, making the best of the circumstances? Or is he 
just (naturally or through diligence) talented in more than one field?

What is more intriguing from the plot development perspective is just 
how this is important to the next two books. Just what is it that 
could be given away by JKR answering this question fully? what *is* 
the worst that would be brought out in him? Why the laugh at that 
point, the "somewhat"? It reads to me like the consequences would be 
pretty dire and I have a strong feeling that Dumbledore knows 
something about it that he's not told Snape and which consequently 
JKR can't tell us.

And just why is Snape so keen to have the DADA position anyway? Is it 
because he enjoys it? Because he feels it's his strongest suit? 
Because he's truly a convert back to the cause and wants to equip his 
students in the fight against evil?

It seems a little strange to me. I have always believed that Snape is 
at heart a Dark Magician, at least temperamentally. I have no doubt 
of his loyalty to Dumbledore, but I don't think he enjoys the 
position he finds himself in. Inside I think he's still the boy who 
came to school knowing all those curses. Being nice just isn't his 
thing and I'm sure that cursing comes more naturally to him than 
counter-cursing.

Now that isn't to suggest that he doesn't have a good knowledge of 
DADA. If you mix in the company which Sanpe used to keep, being able 
to defend yourself is surely as important as being able to *use* Dark 
Magic. It's just that it seems to me an odd thing for him to want to 
teach. The students equate an interest in the Dark Arts with an 
interest in DADA (that's the basis of the first thing we're told 
about his wanting the job, that he knew an awful lot about the Dark 
Arts, not that he knew a lot about defence); although the two do 
naturally go together, the desire to practise the Dark Arts is not 
the same as the desire to teach others to defend themselves against 
them.

I find myself going back to an interview with Alan Rickman around the 
release of the first film. At the time I wondered whether this was 
his interpretation, or whether it was from what JKR had told him. Now 
I think it must have been the latter.

...................................................................
"A: Well he's Professor of Potions and the current head of Slytherin 
House at Hogwarts - the school of wizardry that Harry attends, but he 
harbours a secret ambition to be a Professor of the Dark Arts. He 
isn't that taken with Harry though, probably because he finds him a 
little too popular for a first year pupil I suppose. I think at heart 
Snape is basically quite an insecure person, he's always longing to 
be something else that people will really respect like a black 
magician not just a school master. That's why he envies the more 
popular and successful boys like Harry."

( http://www.unreel.co.uk/features/featurealanrickman.cfm )
...................................................................

Of course, as others have noted, it's also curious that he was able 
to *ask* for DADA and be offered Potions. Were there two vacancies? 
Was there a reshuffle of teachers? Although given the time of the 
appointment, I suppose it's not unlikely that a couple of teachers 
had met their ends at the hands of the DEs. Perhaps they were among 
the dead members of the original OoP shown to Harry in OoP ch. 9?

~Eloise