Snape less comic?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 150356

Nora:
> 
> But there is an objective way in which Snape has been shown as less 
> comic through the series: the depth of his involvement with the DEs.  
> Think about how differently PoA and GoF read when you know the 
> revelation at the end of GoF (or even some of the earlier books); 
> we've known it for so long that his past affiliations have become 
> almost passe. 

Pippin:
Er, they didn't read differently for me, because ever since PoA 
told us that Dumbledore had had a number of useful spies, I had
been expecting to find out that Snape was one of them. And of
course I'm not the only one who sniffed out a redemptive story
line.

I agree that Snape's venture into DEhood and his return are not the
stuff of comedy, but the point for me is that he did return. 

 Dumbledore's eyes do twinkle as Snape stalks 
off in a huff at the end of PoA. I don't think that Dumbledore was
laughing at Snape's rage, but I think he did find it amusing
that Snape's over-the-top accusations of Harry were doing more
to make Harry (and Hermione and Dumbledore) look innocent than anything
Snape could have said in their favor.

Pippin:
> > DDM!Snape is not a child or a criminal. He has the right to decide
> > for himself whether he wants to change or not.

Nora: 
> And then society and every individual person has the right to decide, 
> if he has decided not to change, whether he is going to be an 
> accepted member, someone who you would want to associate with, or 
> shunned as someone unwilling to work within the social contract.
> 
> It cuts both ways.

Pippin:
There we differ.  Let him have due process and be sent to Azkaban
if he has broken wizarding law. But if he cannot proved guilty, no
individual has the right to place him outside the social contract. 
No one has to like him, but they can't treat him as a pariah either.

Pippin