Snape's Betrayal and the Themes of Book Seven (LONG)

[inkling108]

No: HPFGUIDX 132930

Adding my trickle to what is bound to be a mighty river of posts on 
Snape --

I see Snape's betrayal and murder of Dumbledore to be key to the 
unfolding of several crucial themes of Book Seven.

The first is Harry's development, his coming of age as a young man 
and as a leader.  A person in a position of leadership must be able 
to trust their own instincts and think for themselves, even in the 
face of opposition from their advisors.

For a long time now, Harry has had a strong intuition that Snape was 
untrustworthy, that he hadn't really gone to the good side.  
Dumbledore and Hermione, his two most reliable advisors up til now, 
kept telling him he was wrong. Dumbledore was essentially saying: 
trust Snape because I trust him, and Hermione was echoing the theme: 
if Dumbledore trusts him, he must be trustworthy.  Listening to 
them, Harry even overrode the testimony of his own experience -- 
that his mind felt more, not less, open after Snape's occlumency 
lessons.

Now Harry has learned the hard way that even the wisest can be 
wrong, that he must never ignore a strong intuition again, no matter 
what other people say, no matter how much he may love and respect 
those others.  This realization will be crucial for whatever it is 
he must do and face in Book Seven.  Trust your feelings, Luke.

The second theme is a spiritual one, and ties into JKR's oft quoted 
remark that if people knew she was a Christian, they could figure 
out what's coming in the series.

The core of the the Christian faith is that love is stronger than 
death, and stronger than hatred and betrayal.  If the final book is 
to demonstrate this faith, there must be a terrible death and an 
even more terrible betrayal front and center.  This is the fire 
through which Harry must pass to know the true nature of love.  To 
those who would argue that Snape didn't really betray Dumbledore, 
that some further plot twist will exonerate him in Book Seven, all I 
can say is this:  do you really think that JKR would put all of us, 
including herself (she had said that she was "seriously upset" at 
the end of this book, more so than with the death of Sirius) through 
this anguish as a game?  The betrayal was real, otherwise the 
triumph over it could have no meaning.

These are the two most important meanings for Harry, IMO.  But what 
does it mean for Snape?

He has now revealed his hand.  JKR set us up for the revelation of 
his true nature at the beginning of the book in Chapter 2; but I 
think the real clue was in Chapter 8, when Snape meets Harry at the 
gate and taunts him all the way to the Great Hall.  We later find 
out that all that while, Harry's face was covered in blood.  There 
are two ways to read Chapter 2; there is only one way to read that 
incident.  Snape is a true Death Eater, a sick and twisted soul who 
enjoys watching others suffer.  Sorry folks, I didn't want to 
believe it either, but there you have it.

Before he kills Dumbledore, he looks at him with "revulsion and 
hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face."  Remember what 
Bellatrix told Harry about Unforgivable curses?  "You have to mean 
them Potter!  You have to really want to cause pain -- to enjoy it --
"  And Snape does mean it, and the curse works instantly.  

Why did Dumbledore plead with Snape just before he died?   I don't 
think he was pleading for his own life.  I think he was pleading for 
Snap's life, his spiritual life, that is.  Please do not destroy 
your own sould like this.  Because, like Christ, Dumbledore loves 
and forgives to the end, no matter what.

JKR has spoken of redemption in connection with snape. We can only 
hope!  But to demonstrate the great power of redemption there must 
first be great sin.

Must close here -- got to get the kids to camp.  Thanks for bearing 
with me, those who got this far.

Inkling