Without a doubt, Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series is one of the most talked about literary characters of our generation. From the time Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released to the time Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows finally arrived (which was approximately a two year span), debates about Snape’s morality abounded: Was he a true hero or a nasty murderous villain?
Warning: If you have not read the Harry Potter series in its entirety, particularly Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE! Go read the books instead!
From the time we are introduced to Professor Severus Snape, the Hogwarts Potions Master (and later Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher), in chapter seven of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, we are led to not trust him. By the following chapter, we are made to loathe him entirely. Snape is a rather scary looking, hook-nosed man with greasy black hair that looks as if it could do with a good shampooing. He is often described as bat-like in appearance and in movement. These things alone would make you reluctant to trust him, but it is his attitude toward students, and Harry in particular, that make you hate him.
In Sorcerer’s Stone, we are led to believe that Snape is trying to kill Harry; this turns out to be a false assumption on Harry’s part. Snape was really trying to save him. This seems inexplicable, given the way Snape makes it perfectly clear that he loathes Harry. However, Dumbledore clears things up (sort of) when he tells Harry that Snape and James Potter (Harry’s father) were at school together and detested each other. However, James did save Snape’s life once, and Dumbledore assumes this is the reason Snape fought to keep Harry alive; to repay the debt he had to Harry’s father.
No, of course not. Over the course of three more books, we are shown again and again what a terrible, hateful, spiteful person Snape is. We even find out the he was once a Death Eater; that is to say, he was a follower of Voldemort. Then, at the end of Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore sends Snape back to the Dark Lord as a double agent. Again and again Dumbledore assures Harry that he trusts Severus Snape completely, although he never does reveal why. And again and again, Harry blames Snape for everything and suspects that his true loyaly lies not with the Order of the Phoenix, but with Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
Things between Snape and Harry come to a head in Order of the Phoenix when Harry, plagued by visions of the Dark Lord, is instructed to take Occlumency lessons…from Snape. During one such lesson, Snape leaves in a hurry, but Harry stays behind. He sees Snape’s Pensieve, and is naturally curious. It is at this point that we get a glimpse of why Snape hates Harry so much: James Potter practically tortured Snape while they are at school together. Even Harry is aghast at this behavior. Snape, of course, discovers Harry watching this memory and furiously cancels the Occlumency lessons. He is so enraged that Harry is a little afraid. And we also find out that Snape is the one who inadvertently signed Harry’s parents’ death warrant, by telling Voldemort of the prophecy that he overheard.
The Half-Blood Prince is where things start to get a bit muddled. Snape is obviously still playing both sides, and it’s still unclear to the reader where his loyalties lie. By the end of the book, it seems the answer should be obvious. Snape murdered Dumbledore, so obviously he is evil.
Ah, but here is where it get interesting. Even the murder was somewhat ambiguous. Right before he was killed, Dumbledore seemed to be pleading with Snape…but why? The obvious conclusion is that he was pleading with Snape to save him, but what if he was pleading with Snape to kill him, so that Draco Malfoy (who had been charged with the task) would not be punished?
The great Snape debate raged on, and many people were just as eager to know what side Snape was really on as they were to know what would happen to Harry. We have our answer in Deathly Hallows: Snape was on the side of good. But does that make Snape a hero?
We know that Snape is not a pureblood wizard, but a half-blood: his mother married a muggle. We know briefly from Order of the Phoenix that his father was not a nice man, and we can suppose that Snape was likely abused or witnessed abuse as a child. In Deathly Hallows we find out that he knew Lily Evans Potter (Harry’s mother) before they started school and that they were even friends. This is an interesting bit of information, but what’s more interesting, Snape was in love with Lily. When he found out that Voldemort planned to murder her, he switched sides, although it was too late to save Lily.
Additionally, we know that Snape did not really murder Dumbledore, but that it was a prearranged act of mercy.
Many people think that because Snape was on our side and because he was capable of love, he was a good guy. But there are things that dispel that notion. For instance, Snape’s hatred of Harry. He did not hate Harry for being famous, or for thwarting the Dark Lord. He hated Harry because Harry represented James, the man who he thinks stole Lily away from him. Then there is his love for Lily.
I do not dispute that Snape loved Lily with all his heart. I believe that he did, inasmuch as he was capable of doing. However, his treatment of her at school as they got older tells us that while he may have loved her deeply, it was not enough to make him change his bigoted ways. Then there is this glaring fact: he had no problem with Voldemort murdering her husband or her son, so long as he spared Lily. If he truly loved Lily, he would never even consider allowing her heart to be broken like that. He was selfish in his love for her, which isn’t really love at all.
Yes, Severus Snape was a hero. Even Harry accepts that. But you do not have to be a good person to be a hero. Snape was a terrible, horrible, spiteful man. His bravery and sacrifice do not change those facts. But they sure do give the rest of us something to talk about!
