Well, as you know I'm a natural Snape-hater myself, but I do think it's important to look at the things we see him doing in canon, rather than what we're told about, and also not to leap to conclusions about his motivation. But I personally think there's enough canonically there for me to be sure in my own head that canon!Snape is a geniunely nasty bit of work, even though he's a nasty bit of work with considerable redeeming features such as skill, courage, the ability to discover he'd gone down a wrong path and do a great deal to put matters right afterwards etc. And from what I can gather he probably was much in the right about The Incident In the Shrieking Shack, though understandable as his resentment of Sirius is, he is effectively trying to kill a surrendered prisoner who's offered to go quietly in Prisoner of Azkaban, so while his resentment is understandable I do have questions about his actions and about his rationality.
So he's an interesting, very much shades of grey character. Where I come down to on the geniunely nasty side is his treatment of Neville (and, to a lesser extent, Hermione - but she's better able to look after herself and has a decent support network). For Neville actually to have Snape as his Boggart (rather the flip side of Maud having Snape as her Patronus, come to think of it)Snape must have impacted onto his consciousness to make his life a living hell. And he knows he's doing it, too. And he also (unlike Harry and co) knows exactly why Neville is peculiarly vulnerable. So I can't stand the idea of an adult in a responsible position deliberately bullying a vulnerable child, effectively as a safety valve for his own frustrations and resentments. But I'm quite open to reading something which presents an alternative view entertainingly, and to suspend disbelief for the duration of the story, if it's well done.
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Date: 2003-03-23 05:21 am (UTC)So he's an interesting, very much shades of grey character. Where I come down to on the geniunely nasty side is his treatment of Neville (and, to a lesser extent, Hermione - but she's better able to look after herself and has a decent support network). For Neville actually to have Snape as his Boggart (rather the flip side of Maud having Snape as her Patronus, come to think of it)Snape must have impacted onto his consciousness to make his life a living hell. And he knows he's doing it, too. And he also (unlike Harry and co) knows exactly why Neville is peculiarly vulnerable. So I can't stand the idea of an adult in a responsible position deliberately bullying a vulnerable child, effectively as a safety valve for his own frustrations and resentments. But I'm quite open to reading something which presents an alternative view entertainingly, and to suspend disbelief for the duration of the story, if it's well done.