Secrets (Long) OLD POST REPOST

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186470

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:
>
> > > Montavilla47:
> > > Well, there was a death involved with Snape, too--at least
> > > until Snape understood that Sirius hadn't betrayed Lily.  
> > 
> > Zara:

> > > PoA (speaker is Snape):
> > > "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black -- now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"
> >
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Yes, lovely quote, isn't it? But how about Snape saying - you would have died as your father because I told Voldemort about prophecy? I mean, I know that plot cannot be revealed yet, but he is talking about consequence, not the reason here.
> 
> Thus I do not believe that this could be considered as a serious reason, but a very hypocritical one IMO. James refused an offer which was made in the first place because Snape placed them in danger in the first place.
> 
> Schoolboy rivalry to me sounds more plausible IMO.
>
Carol responds:
"You'd have died like your father before you too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black" clearly indicates that Snape is referring to Black as the Secret Keeper who (he thinks) betrayed the Potters, not to any schoolboy rivalry or even what he regards, rightly or wrongly, as Black's attempt to murder him in the so-called Prank.

However, I agree with you that there's an element of hypocrisy here, or perhaps scapegoating is a better word. Just as Harry prefers to blame Snape for Black's death rather than admitting his own share of the blame, Snape is conveniently forgetting that his revealing the Prophecy to Voldemort sent Voldemort after the Potters in the first place. It's too painful to remember that the Potters might still be alive if he hadn't eavesdropped and revealed what he heard. It's easier to think that he went to Dumbledore to try to protect Lily ("her--them") once he found out who was being targeted and that his efforts and Dumbledore's were defeated because the Potters' trusted friend betrayed them.

IMO, and I'm quite aware that I'm only speculating, blaming Black for the Potters' deaths enabled him to live with himself all those years--as, of course, did his promise to protect Lily so that her death wouldn't be in vain. Otherwise, his remorse would have been unbearable.

That's why, in my opinion only, it's so difficult for Snape to believe anything that he hears in the Shrieking Shack. Only the shock of seeing the black dog transform into Sirius Black causes him to realize, at last, that he's been wrong all those years. At that point, or soon after when he encounters Pettigrew alive and with Voldemort, he has to rethink his views. Pettigrew, as we see from "Spinner's End," merits only his contempt. And Black reverts to a schoolboy rival who still calls him "Snivellus" and tried to "murder" him when they were both sixteen.

So, yes, there's a degree of hypocrisy here, but there's also the need for a scapegoat to enable him to live with himself. Lupin does much the same thing in blaming Snape for "outing" him, as if that revelation weren't inevitable, along with the loss of his post, because of his own irresponsible actions.

Scapegoating is an all too common and all too human response to sins and errors whose burden is too great to bear, and we see it even in Harry.

Carol, who still thinks that the schoolboy rivalry in the Shrieking Shack scene is misdirection and by no means accounts for the intensity of Snape's fury