Is Snape a "rules man"? (was: Snape and Raistlin Majere)

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 126481


> SSSusan:
> > but I see Snape as actually having a *very* high regard for 
rules, 
> > indeed.  
<snip>
 But in the Occlumency instance, I'd add that 
> *Harry Potter* broke the rules by snooping in the Pensieve, quite 
> possibly making it wholly justifiable (in Snape's own mind) to 
> discontinue the lessons.
> 
> Was it breaking a *rule* to tell that Lupin was a werewolf?  I'm 
not sure. 
<snip>

Hannah:  I always think of Snape as a rules man, yet when I come to 
write this post, I find it hard to justify exactly why I think 
that.  Snape certainly seems to be playing by some sort of rules, 
I'm just not sure whose.  Probably his own.  I would say he has a 
strong sense of honour and of justice; strong but twisted.  Snape is 
not fair in his treatment of Harry.  Yet he seems to fanatically 
believe in some form of justice.

Thus Snape wasn't breaking a rule when he revealed the truth about 
Lupin, at least, not one of his own rules.  He beleived that, thanks 
to the Prank, Lupin deserved some form of retribution.  And, 
following Lupin's omission to take his potion and night spent on the 
rampage, perhaps he also believed it was right to let the truth out, 
thus removing the dangerous Lupin.  

Snape's treatment of Gryffindors, in particular Harry and Neville, 
could also be justified *in his mind* by his belief in justice.  
Gryffindors tormented him at school, so it's his *right* (he 
believes) to get back at them by treating the Gryffindor students 
badly.  Warped, of course, but Snape is certainly that.  Likewise, 
he feels he can torment Harry because of what James did to him.  And 
maybe - my new favourite theory - the Longbottoms, as Aurors, did 
something to Snape that means he now victimises Neville in revenge.  
Maybe they killed one of his Death Eater friends.  Maybe they 
refused to believe he had switched sides.

Potions - something Snape has an exceptional talent for - seems to 
be all about following rules very exactly and precisely.  Snape also 
would appear to have a skill at logic, despite his irrational 
behaviour.  Snape strikes me as the sort of man who would apply 
logic so rigidly and absolutely that he actually ends up with 
completely wrong conclusions when he applies it to something as 
illogical as human nature and life in general.

I think those things point to him having a set of highly personal 
rules that he sticks to rigidly.  They may not be the same as 
everyone else's rules, to the point that he is happy to show a 
Slytherin disregard for the conventional rules that do not tie in 
with his own warped belief in justice and honour.

I don't know if that made sense, it's kind of hard to express.  Just 
my opinion anyway.  And I'm not saying that Snape believing his 
behaviour to be right actually makes it right, just that it could 
explain it in light of him still being a 'rules man.'

Hannah