Severus Snape: Character Analysis v.12

[wickedwickedboy]

Originally Posted by eliza101

I think too much credance can be given to TPT. It is one chapter out of seven books. Yes, it shows Snape's motivations, what it does not show is his regrets over all. When he is speaking to DD after Harry first gets to school, and DD reminds him he is seeing just what he wants to see. I think the author here is reminding the reader about this danger.

I agree. I felt that Snape included the memories where he spoke of Harry to make it clear that he continued to loathe him and why. In that way, he didn't have to further make any explanations about his interaction with Harry, but could simply supply further information so that Harry could trust he was working for Dumbledore and not Voldemort.

[Pearl_Took]

Originally Posted by eliza101

Well in many ways that is how I read it as well. What I am trying to say, (not very well), is that TPT is not the whole of Snape's story. Through seven books we have followed Harry and Snape and I do not think that TPT is Snape's entire story, condensed as it was.

I have to take it as his entire story ... because, being really blunt here, I don't really approve of the way JKR handles Snape. Let's put it this way, if that character had walked into my imagination, I'd have chosen a different way of writing him. It is personally disappointing to me that the author insists that Snape 'loathed Harry to the end' ... it seems to contradict what she was actually trying to do in the text, and I don't understand that at all.

What Snape did, did not do through the books counts. That means the scenes where he is frankly mean to Harry and other children, the emotions, anger and hurt showed are every bit as real for Harry and Company as Snape's anger and hurt in TPT.

And that is an issue that Rowling never addresses. Ever. IMO.

I think Snape was very brave at times, I think he was a nasty git at times.

I do agree with that. That's why he and Sirius are so interesting ... they both have a nasty side to them.

I have to confess I did not feel awash with sympathy for Snape when I read TPT. It was as you said a reveal, but I felt it was the reveal of a lot of things. Lily's story was there as well, DD played a big part and so did the Marauders. When I read it I thought, 'So that was his reaon. Hmph.' I felt that what we had just had revealed to us was the waste of a life. Especially the part about the closing of the door.

I felt a great deal of sympathy for him -- we saw how awful his childhood was, it explained a lot how a kid like him could end up with a dubious gang who would take him under their wing. I can feel a lot of sympathy for Severus without condoning the bad choices he made in his youth.

I also have sympathy for him because Rowling gives the poor guy such an remittingly bleak life. (The other character she does that to is, of course Sirius, whose life is tragically blighted and who, to my mind, meets with a quite extraordinary lack of sympathy from premier Order members like Molly.) At least Sirius had the consolation of knowing he meant something to Harry. Severus doesn't even have that, i.e. he doesn't have anyone in his life who means that much to him ... only his memories of Lily.

All I could think was that Snape's plan so very nearly failed. Harry could have died through it, would have died it it hadn't been for Ron.

Rowling, frankly, over-uses the 'deus ex machina' in DH ... although she is not the first fantasy author to have done so. It is remarkably convenient for Harry to be in the right place at the right time when Voldemort kills Severus. The strength and the drama of the storytelling carries it through, fortunately.

Originally Posted by wickedwickedboy

I agree. I felt that Snape included the memories where he spoke of Harry to make it clear that he continued to loathe him and why. In that way, he didn't have to further make any explanations about his interaction with Harry, but could simply supply further information so that Harry could trust he was working for Dumbledore and not Voldemort.

I totally disagree with this particular interpretation, which of course you are entitled to, since it's your own subjective interpretation.

My own subjective interpretation is that Snape could be saying to Harry, 'look, this is what I thought of you back in 1991 ... it's not necessarily what I think of you now.'

As I say ... if I'd been writing Snape, that would have been my intent.

[KittyTwo]

I always felt that Snape continued to loathe Harry right to the end. It was a measure of the man that he gave his life over to protecting a boy he hated because he was the son of the woman that he loved and had helped to destroy.

Harry filter or no, I think that Snape was a bully and abuser of authority. Harry was not the only child he made miserable for no reason. He was also capable of tremendous love and selfless courage. I thought that his childhood blighted and maimed Snape. He managed to connect once with someone, Lily. Once she was gone, his life would have been a waste but for the new meaning and mission that Dumbledore have to him, of protecting Lily’s son and avenging her death.

Snape is truly a tragic figure IMO, a complex mixture of mostly bad but several outstandingly good qualities. And he is funny. I have said before that I think that Snake and Dumbledore are JKR’s crowning literary achievements.

[boushh]

Originally Posted by eliza101

All I could think was that Snape's plan so very nearly failed. Harry could have died through it, would have died it it hadn't been for Ron.

So are we to believe that Snape just planted the sword and left without waiting to see if Harry actually obtained it? Snape would be more thorough than that, I think. Ron says that he thought he saw something move behind a couple of trees. When Harry goes there he says that there is a gap between the trees at eye level. There is no snow at the base of the tree so that he couldn't have seen footprints to be sure someone was there. In hindsight that says to me that Snape was there, but left once Ron arrived on the scene or once Ron saved Harry. And I'm of the opinion that Snape would have gotten Harry out if he saw that Harry was underwater too long.

And Snape's plan would have been fine if Harry wasn't wearing a horcrux around his neck. Ron after all was able to retrieve not only Harry, but the sword as well without getting himself killed.

[Moriath]

And we're done. New version.