Snape's Cruelty Has Purpose (Was Re: lily/snape)/Why I Hate Snape

[Deb]

No: HPFGUIDX 150605

 
> Magpie:
> I have to admit I never understand this reasoning--which sometimes 
> goes along with the idea that he's faking his favor of Slytherins 
as 
> well, all to preserve his cover.  First, there's just no reason he 
> needs to do any of these things.  If he's supposed to be a double 
> agent for Dumbledore being nice to Harry--and certainly being nice 
> to random students like Hermione and Neville--would be fine.  Look 
> at Moody!  He was exactly what Snape is supposed to be and he was 
> friendly to both Harry and Neville and publically humiliated Draco 
> Malfoy.  Obviously one can do all those things and still be a very 
> loyal DE.  The one time we even hear a DE give someone advice on 
how 
> to behave towards Harry it's Lucius saying it's "unwise" to appear 
> less than fond of Harry Potter or whatever he says.  Did Snape not 
> get the memo?  At the very least Snape could be neutral.  I don't 
> think he needs years of memories of calling Neville Longbottom a 
> dunderhead to convince LV that he's loyal.

Deb here: Fake!Moody had to be nice to Harry and other students in 
order to carry out his assignment for LV. It would have been OOC for 
Real!Moody to be vicious to Harry, Ron or any other DDM!character! 
The real Moody is/was an Auror fighting against LV and very much 
DDM. If Fake!Moody (the only Moody we really see in GOF) had favored 
Slytherins or any other person who had leanings toward the dark side 
DD would have known much sooner that Moody was a Fake. Barty Crouch 
Jr was a good actor. 
 Snape on the other hand can't be nice to Harry et al for much the 
same reasons IMO - in order to fulfill his mission for DD and spy on 
LV he has to continue to convince LV that he is on the LV+DE side. 
And to do that he has to allow LV to use his Legilmency skills to 
probe his memories (how long do you think anyone of LV's minions 
would last if they refused the Dark Lord or tried to evade his 
probing - my hunch would be that LV spent a lot of time once he 
returned to corporeal form interrogating all of the DEs-LV is after 
all very paranoid and suspects everyone). Snape is apparently the 
only person who has ever successfully lied to LV. And again IMO the 
only way to accomplish that is to keep from making too many memories 
that he would be worried about LV seeing... And as anyone knows the 
best way to tell a successful lie is to stick as close to the truth 
as possible.     

>(Magpie) Second, if Snape is a good actor, I haven't seen it yet.  
I've seen 
> scenes where he's covering stuff up--and that alone suggests he's 
> not that great of an actor if I can see it.  Sometimes he's even 
> shown trying to cover up some negative thing towards Harry or some 
> positive thing towards, say, Draco, so to suggest he's acting adds 
> another layer (Snape is only pretending to cover up a smile, for 
> instance).  I haven't seen anything that suggests that basically 
his 
> entire personality in canon is an act and so we haven't even met 
the 
> man yet, really.  More importantly, that would be quite a let down 
> and a cheat if, alone of all the characters, Snape is the one 
person 
> who in the last book just gets his slate wiped clean because any 
> sign of emotion he showed in the past could have been just an act. 
I 
> think Snape's rotten behavior towards Harry, Ron, Neville and 
> Hermione in particular is covered by the scenes he finds himself 
in--
> you don't even have to look to Voldemort most of the time.  In 
fact, 
> it's probably more interesting if you don't.  

Deb here:
 The whole chapter called Spinner's End in HBP demonstrates to me 
Snape's skills as a Spin Doctor par excellence. He sticks close to 
the truth when answering Bella's accusations ... he just shades the 
reason's for his actions... Bella is apparently no slouch at 
Legilemency herself (Snape guesses she's teaching this to Draco) and 
he has her convinced by the end that he is LVM all the way. And has 
Narcissa convinced that he will thwart LV's plans for Draco (and 
doesn't that actually show he isn't LVM - if he were wouldn't he 
tell her that The Dark Lord must be obeyed and that she needs 
to "suck it up" and let Draco get on with it...??)  and makes a UV 
to do so! With Bella as their binder. Now that is acting IMO.  
 
 
> Magpie:
> As Sherry pointed out, the Sorting Hat does not want to put Harry 
in 
> Slytherin, it merely reacts to his own demand to be put anywhere 
> else but by saying he would do well there.  It certainly could 
have 
> been considering Slytherin, but I don't see that that would make 
> much difference to Snape. 

Deb here: 
  Yes true but the SH also says when questioning HP's desire to not 
go into Slytherin "You could be great, you know, it's all here in 
your head, and Slytherin *will* (empasis mine) help you on the way 
to greatness, no doubt about that --". And SH also tells Harry in 
DD's office that it stands by what it said.. Harry would have done 
well in Slytherin.  I wonder if that one word *will* is a 
foreshadow, hint, clue that a Slytherin (or Slytherin the House in 
general) will be instrumental in bringing Harry to his peak of 
power.   
 
> Magpie:
> If LV would understand a House Master has to be nice to his 
students 
> he'd understand a Potions Master should be at best neutral to his 
> students.  Who says a House Master would have to be nice anyway? 
> Harry being in Slytherin wouldn't make him any less the one with 
the 
> power to vanquish the Dark Lord or any less someone who'd fight 
with 
> others over the blood supremacy issue.  He'd have to "act" even 
more 
> in that scenario since he'd be dealing more with Harry, be the one 
> to punish him even more often.  He might even wind up having to 
> mediate between Harry and other Slytherins.  Isn't it much better 
> for him that he has to deal with Harry less? 

Deb here:
  No I think the difference is in the roles ... House Master is 
responcible for much more than lessons - a HM also is looking after 
students physical and emotional well being (I worked as a Resident 
Director of a college dorm for two years and think the position of 
Head of House at Hogwarts would be quite similar though *sigh* I 
didn't get to do magic). The interaction with students is quite 
different. If McGonagall were not Harry's HM but only his professor 
I doubt that she would have visited him in the infirmary, or gone to 
his dorm room to check on him. LV would know that -if Harry had gone 
into Slytherin House - Snape's role with him would be quite 
different. And in order for Snape to stay "in character" (ie keep 
convincing DD that he is DDM while convincing LV he is LVM) in that 
situation he would have had to be much more involved in Harry's out 
of class life. Plus he could still be nasty to Griffindor's if that 
is what he was like before Harry arrived... and could be 
encouraging, or less critical of Harry because after all he would 
favor his own House would he not?       
 
(Snip - sorry, Magpie I'm yawning so hard I can't read to respond to 
the rest of your thoughtful posting... I'll try to come back to it 
later)

 Deb (aka djklaugh)