Exploring the depths of Professor Severus Snape!
I am a great bit of a fan of Harry Potter you see? Most of my blog posts would some way refer to different characters in Harry Potter series. These days, well, it has become a bit an obsession to me. This month, a day didn’t pass without reading or watching Harry Potter. Through this extensive obsession, I have found out some very new things you might be interested in. I love all the characters in Harry Potter, most importantly Severus Snape. That character is just unsettling and I can’t seem to not think about it. More than any other character in the series I have turned my focus entirely into this particular one, when I was re-reading the series. I found out how a tad-bit of perspective change can bring new meaning to things. I loved it this time, more than ever.
So, my article will be wholly based on Snape’s point of view.
Without further Ado Let’s Jump Right into the Post!
A character which took the breath out of me, the death of which left me crying for days. Even now, I think about him, all I could do is cry. There is no energy left in me to clean those tears and turn the page. Nevertheless, he died a hero and he lives in the memory of everyone as a hero, contrary to everybody’s initial beliefs.
Let’s start from the beginning.
The Philosopher’s stone.
The staff of Hogwarts were seated on the high table with loads of delicious food placed in front of them. As mouth-watering as it was, they couldn’t start the meal without Headmaster finishing his speech. Students were eagerly waiting to grab a spoon of that mouth watering pumpkin pie or chicken and ham intricately floating in the mid-air. The sorting ceremony is over, everyone is happy except for one. Severus Snape. This man with jet black hair falling on his ears from either sides sat their quietly eyeing Mr, Potter. If you take a close look, it seems bit scary eh? But who is this man? Why is he so unhappy? Well, one reason, he didn’t get the post he wanted. Despite his repeated trails for the Defence Against Dark Arts job, he successfully failed to get it.
Was it the only reason he was sad and utterly gloomy about? There is something in his eyes, the pain and suffocation which is ebbing up but some how it couldn’t figure out a way to come streaming back out. Right now, it had been 11 years and Dark Lord didn’t attempt to summon his loyal servants (Death Eaters). The atmosphere seemed quiet cheerful, the wave of happiness is spreading faster than a plague. Amidst all this excitement, only two of them knew – could predict what was to come. They knew that they had not much time until the Lord Voldemort shows up. Severus Snape being a Death Eater must have caught the wind that Lord Voldemort is in the trials of coming back.
Snape knew what was to be done to the boy who lived. He must die… The invisible promise he made to himself that he wouldn’t let Lily Evan, his only true love’s death go in vain by not protecting her child Harry Potter. He feels eternally guilty for the most foolish deed he had committed nearly a decade ago. He punishes himself everyday for that very sin he had committed. How can he ever forgive himself? The remorse and guilt are common for any human being, but holding it in for 10 very long years is very uncommon.
Snape was bought up in a very disturbed family. He was not loved by his parents or any others. He was considered a freak, though he has done anything more than doing a little magic which is not known to the muggle world. May be if he was born in a normal Wizarding family, people would have understood him. Troubled childhood can leave very dark marks on a person’s soul. The problem with them is the marks or stains they grow with the person and after certain age they can never be erased what so ever we do. That pain can only be understood by a person who faced the same. Snape was disturbed and tortured by his own parents and bullied by everyone.
He never really had any friends. He had little to no social life at all. He was vulnerable. When a person feels vulnerable they seek comfort in somethings which might not be of normal accord, like Snape took comfort in excelling in Dark Arts. He felt proving that he can do something others can’t, might help him replace that inferiority complex he has with something beautiful and lively. But it never did really help him get past the problems and very rude memories he had from his childhood. The only thing which kept him alive for all those years was Lily Evans and now she is gone.
How can he ever feel normal? Some say, bullying and tortured childhood will not produce a dark wizard unless and until one wishes to be a dark wizard. That is true, Snape might be selfish, arrogant, suffering from an invisible curio curse, but I will tell you this, there is nothing wrong with him and he is the most intelligent character I have seen in the entire series. It is he who saves everyone at the end of the day. He saved Harry’s life, more than a dozen times and who risks their life every single day to protect someone who he hates clearly? No one! It is extremely depressing, since there is no other way. He has to do it anyway.
The anger and frustration bottled up till today, are itching to come out in full force. He knows he can’t hold it in. God knows how many nervous break downs he had in his office chambers far away in the dungeons of Hogwarts, where no one can listen to his painful sob. One thing Snape hates to show is his weaknesses. He hides them very well. Snape is no different from Harry or Dumbledore. It is the way we see things. The entire series was written in Harry’s Perspective.
Well, we didn’t know what Snape risked until the very end. He was a great wizard. May be we all just missed so many of such side stories which J K Rowling didn’t give us.
Is there any living family to Snape? Does he care about them? Does he really trust in Voldemort? Was he just acting like he trusted Dumbledore and he never really wanted be a double agent? May be he stayed in Hogwarts only because he gave his word to Dumbledore. Even then Snape stood by his word and respected it. He was a death eater he could have taken off just like that and no one could question him, except his crooked conscience which had already suffered a death-blow when he witnessed Lily die.
Did he really do all this just to stay clear of his conscience?
Either way he is great man. A man on whom you can count upon when you are in grave danger. I agree he is not that reflective when it comes to his emotions, but that is the only way he knows to survive.
Severus Snape didn’t fight in the front lines of the Hogwarts Battle but he was busy letting himself die in the hands of Voldemort. How could he fight when he is merely holding on to the delicate strings of his life. He promised Malfoy’s mom that he would protect Malfoy and made an unbreakable Vow.
If he told the real reason why the Elder Wand was not bending to the Lord Voldemort’s will, Snape would still be alive and Malfoy would be dead.
He kept his promise and let himself die instead of an innocent boy. Don’t you think he is selfless?
In the middle of saving everyone he lost his life. He never failed any of his promises. He fulfilled them all and at the end to a man like that death was the only souvenir left. Death has a very funny meaning in Wizarding world I presume. Atleast, after he left his physical body let him find what he always wanted to find – peace. Hell yeah! he is going to meet the love of his life after 16 years.
Secretly, in the hope of meeting Lily he must have let Lord Voldemort murder him.
At the end everyone is right in their own way. They have their reasons to be who they are. There is no good or evil. Life is not so binary like yes or no. There is a lot in between those choices. We humans are the most complicated beings. We make mistakes, everyone does. Some will luckily get you where you wanted and some will leave with utter despair and inexplicable pain. Either ways, how cleverly you make your choices there is no 100% gurantee that is the right one. In fact there is no such thing as right. What is right according to you may be wrong according to somebody else. That is what had happened in the tale of The Boy Who Lived – Harry Potter. Harry, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Sirius, James and Lily Potter, all of them had comitted some mistakes they all regret and they never can change what they chose to do. It is nobody’s falut that Voldemort is the way he is and Lily Potter was the one to die that unfortunate day in Godric’s Hallow.
A family was murdered but the wizarding world escaped the wrath of Lord Voldemort for nearly two decades. Imagine how many lives did Lily and Jamed Potter saved night!
Love Severus Snape
Forever
Sritha Bandla