"Spinner's End," a canon-based interpretation (Wa: Snape did kill DD with AK!!

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 138740

Eggplant wrote:
> I haven't demeaned anybody, but I do say that the idea Snape made an
> Unbreakable Vow because a pretty woman batted her eyelashes at him,
or on a whim, or he didn't know what he was vowing to do, or that he
just didn't think it through, is, well
.. silly. There is just no
other word for it. <snip>

Carol responds:
"Silly" is your own opinion, which you are of course entitled to, but
it does not in any way disprove the theories you have listed because
it is not the sort of opinion that can be supported by canon. It's
more on the order of "licorice is delicious"--an opinion I happen to
hold but which others heatedly dispute. Repeating "It's delicious"
proves nothing to those who insist on disliking it even after actually
tasting it. Nor does labeling an interpretation "silly" persuade those
who believe otherwise based on their own reading of HBP.

What we're trying to do is to get you to counter our theories about
Snape with canon evidence rather than with labels. Does that make
sense? Does it seem, I hope, like a reasonable request? If so, then
let's look carefully at "Spinner's End" to see what the
interpretations you have dismissed as "silly" are based on.

To begin with, do you agree, based on what we know of him from all six
books, that Snape is capable of deception? If yes, then isn't it
possible that a number of his statements in "Spinner's End" are either
false or not wholly true? If so, then the whole story that Snape tells
Bellatrix may be a skilfully woven fabric of truths, half-truths, and
lies. It is probably best not to take anything Snape says here at face
value, especially given his implication in OoP that a really skilled
Occlumens can deceive even Voldemort. (See CMC's post 138632.)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/138632

We need not, for example, take at face value Snape's statement that he
didn't realize that Voldemort was inside Quirrell's head. What
Bellatrix and the reader are told here is the story that Snape told
Voldemort earlier, convincing enough that Snape remains alive, but we,
having read SS/PS for ourselves, are not compelled to believe it or
any of his other assertions without examining them closely. 

Given that deception is a necessary skill for a double agent and that
Snape is an accomplished actor (as even Harry admits), he may be
bluffing when he says that he knows what the Dark Lord wants Draco to
do. *If* that's the case, and *if* he hasn't found out what the task
is by using Legilimency on Narcissa (whose fears are for what LV will
do to Draco rather than for what LV wants Draco to do), then Snape
agrees to the Unbreakable Vow knowing only that the task is difficult
and dangerous and that LV has promised to kill him if he fails. IOW,
he has blindly stepped into a trap, a most un-Snapeish thing to do
which again requires careful analysis if we wish to find a plausible
explanation. Let's look at the canon, which most assuredly does not
show Snape eagerly seizing the opportunity to kill Dumbledore or die
in the attempt.

What Narcissa asks Snape to do before she proposes the vow is to "look
after him [Draco] and see he comes to no harm." Snape responds
cautiously, "I can try." Narcissa then kisses his hand and flatters
his ego: "If you are there to protect him--" and then, whether she
previously planned it or is inspired by his apparent compassion and a
second glass of wine, she asks him if he'll take the Unbreakable Vow.
His blank expression indicates that he's hiding his feelings through
Occlumency. Clearly he wasn't anticipating this turn of events.
Bellatrix cackles triumphantly, making it clear that she expects "the
usual empty words, the usual slithering out of action." Snape has
evidently gotten away with not doing the dirty work and she expects
him to "slither out" again (HPB Am. ed. 35).

Why doesn't he? We don't know. A lot of us have speculated as to why
the highly intelligent, logical Snape (a point I believe you concede)
would agree to an Unbreakable Vow, knowing that the penalty for
breaking it is death. If the first rule of being a Slytherin is
self-preservation, why would he do something so stupid, so dangerous,
even if he knows what the task is? And there's no evidence in the
chapter other than his own words, which may be a bluff, that he does.
(Certainly he doesn't know about the Vanishing Cabinet part or he
wouldn't have tried to do Legilimency on Draco trying to find out what
he's up to.)

For whatever reason--and many of our posts are attempts to answer that
question--Snape grants Narcissa's request, at the same time erasing
Bellatrix's doubts by asking her to be the "bonder." Then, in words
that *do* sound like a terrible parody of the wedding vows, with Snape
and Narcissa on their knees and holding hands, again to empasize the
"bond" between this man and this woman, Narcissa asks him to "watch
over my son, Draco, as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes."

No problem there. This is what he has already promised to do. Of
course he says, "I will," and Bellatrix, ironically positioned in the
role of priest or minister, binds their hands with snakes of fire.

"And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?"
Again, this is exactly what Snape has already promised to do, what he
would have done in any case as the Head of Slytherin House watching
out for his own students. And this part he fulfills when he saves
Draco from the Sectumsempra curse and again from the Death Eaters.
Again, of course, he says "I will," followed by a second bond of fire.

But, as has been repeatedly pointed out, he does not anticipate the
third provision, and his hand twitches as he hears, "And should it
prove necessary, if it seems Draco will fail. . . ." (36). Clearly
Snape senses danger at this point as he has not sensed it before. It's
no longer the game he's used to playing, walking a tightrope of
deception, depending on his wits and his skill at Occlumency to keep
his cover with one or both sides, as he does throughout the first half
of the chapter. He is no longer in control. Everything depends on
Narcissa's words, which perhaps he expects will reveal Draco's task.

Instead, Narcissa says, "Will you carry out the deed that the Dark
Lord has ordered Draco to perform?" (36)

Snape hesitates. "There was a moment's silence." (36) There is no
evidence other than his own words, which may or may not be true, that
he knows the exact nature of the unnamed but clearly difficult and
dangerous "deed." He knows no more than he did before, and he is
presumably thinking things through, weighing his options. What will
happen if he pulls out now, with the fanatical Bellatrix, whom he has
just convinced of his loyalty, standing over him with her wand, and
the desperate Narcissa, whom he has promised to help, kneeling beside
him, her hand still in his? What will happen if he takes the vow,
blindly agreeing to his own death if he fails to "carry out" the
unnamed "deed"? Neither option is good, but which is worse?

And then, for whatever reason, he makes what *we* know to be the wrong
choice. He says, "I will," and a third tongue of flame shoots from
Bellatrix's wand, "[binding] itself thickly around their clasped
hands, like a rope, like a fiery snake." (37) The words are ominous,
but surely it is Snape, not Dumbledore, whose doom they signal.

This is a canon-based interpretation of the chapter based on careful
multiple readings. I don't pretend that it's accurate in all respects,
or that it answers every question, but it is not "silly." I would be
glad to see your own canon-based refutation based on an equally
careful examination of the evidence.

Carol