Snape can't be Evil

[Dennis Grant]

No: HPFGUIDX 134282

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Sherry Gomes" <sherriola at e...>
wrote:

>> He didn't HAVE to do that. He could have simply pretended
>> that he didn't understand Harry, and allowed the Death
>> Eaters to get the prophecy without interference. 

> That one's easy for me anyway.  If he hadn't done what he did, then 
> if Harry survived the events at the ministry, Snape's cover would
> have been blown

I think the answer is even easier.

At the time, Snape was working for the Good side, and so did the Good
thing.

I don't see Snape as an archtypical character - indeed, there are very
few archtypes in all of HP. Snape is human. he grows and changes as he
reacts to events around him, and his behaviour on the top of the tower
is the final sum of all the directions in which he has been pushed and
pulled throughout the story.

I see Snape as caught in the middle of forces trying to push and pull
him onto one side or the other, and his own resolve changes in
response. He is profoundly conflicted... and seems resistant to really
committing himself. A foot in both worlds gives him more options.

But on the top of the tower, Snape finally chooses, and I think in
book 7, he's going to reap the whirlwind for his choice.

DG