The Seasons of Severus
As we have read on into the HP series, there is one
character in particular that has seemed to me to be curiously evolving
differently than the others. Severus Snape has always been the mysteriously
evil teacher who is plotting to kill Harry Potter (at least from the
perspective of Harry, Ron, and Hermione). What intrigues me about Snape
principally is his ability to remain in such limbo within the minds of
Hermione, Ron, and Harry- but has managed to win the undoubted trust of The
Order and Dumbledore himself.
While
reading some of the blog posts on Snape I cannot help but disagree with their
depiction of one of the more dynamic characters in the series. “Severus seems
(especially in books 1-3) very flat and one-dimensional.” I would have to argue
quite the contrary to this statement. The first book established Severus Snape
as a person with a disturbing habit of running into Harry, and possibly even
being the one behind stealing the Sorcerer’s Stone. What also I fascinating in
retaliation is the same post we see the exposure of fascinating evidence that
his character is indeed very dynamic. “Dumbledore later tells Harry that
Severus Snape may hate him so much because James once saved his life, and so he
was indebted to him, and consequently he is now indebted to Harry.” Clearly
Snape has a relationship with Harry that goes beyond the bounds of teacher and
student.
Another
evolving characteristic in Snape is his ability to hide from his past. We do
find out simple things, like his obsession with the Dark Arts, and his past as
a Death Eater (two things that set off the alarm bells in my head). What is
particularly stunning, and something we spent some time on in class, was the
occlumency lesson in which Harry enters Snape’s memory in the Pensieve. We see
a Snape not only Harry sympathizes with, but someone we can sympathize with as
well. It causes such a stir in other characters in the series that the ripple
affects the perception of characters that aren’t even alive anymore.
The Half
Blood Prince will answer some questions about Snape that we have been
wondering, but it also raises so many more. Why does Dumbledore trust Snape so
much? I have always wondered it myself, but his allegiance has never been
questioned by the Head Master.
I agree with what your saying about Snape. Through out the series he is one of the characters that develops the most, it’s not really how he acts but his backstory. In the first book we find that he is always bumping into harry as if he is watching him, and we find at the end that he was trying to protect him. Rowling does a good job of keeping Snape mysterious. In the order of the Phoenix we find that snape was at school with Harry’s parents. I think we should consider this closer because it could have a greater impact than we think. We can see a little bit of this in the prisoner of azkhaban, because snape is persistently telling Dumbledore that Lupin may be helping Sirius into the school. It doesn’t mean much in the third book but once we find that Snape has bullied Sirius, lupin and Harry’s dad it would make sense that he would dislike Harry. I think this is because he sees a little of all of them in harry and wants to get back at James for that.
ReplyDeleteVery well said. Snape is one of my favorite characters because he is so mysterious. The point in which we are at right now (the end of book 6) has most of us hating Severus Snape. One probably thinks "oh, he killed Dumbledore. We can finally conclude that he has been evil all along." Now, I don't want to give any spoilers, but the character development of Severus Snape is only just getting started! At the end of the Half-blood Prince, when Harry is chasing after Snape and yelling at him to fight back, Harry is attacked from behind by another Death Eater. Snape yells at the Death Eater to stop by saying something along the lines of "he is the Dark Lord's!" I have suspicions that Snape is simply protecting Harry yet again in this instance. Also, if Snape was truly bad why didn't he immobilize Harry (who was without a wand at this point) and take him to Voldemort? It certainly would have been easy with no one around. Snape is possibly one of the most complex and deep characters in the series.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your take on Professor Snape. He is my personal favorite character in the Harry Potter series, and I agree with all of your arguments in your blog post. Snape definitely, “managed to win the undoubted trust of The Order and Dumbledore himself,” just like you said. We find out throughout the series that Snape has so much more depth than what was originally portrayed. I really liked that you discussed Snape’s ability to hide from his past. When we saw Snape’s memory in the pensieve, that was really the turning point for me as the reader/movie watcher, when I realized that Snape was a good guy.
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