Severus Snape: Character of a Slytherin

"There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at this moment, he was smiling in a way that told Harry he and Ron were in very deep trouble." Chamber of Secrets

 

From the very first moments of our journey to Hogwarts we are met with a very clear impression: Slytherin House is for the bad guys. And in the view of an eleven year old boy who has spent most of his life being bullied, that's all that matters. Now we find our hero face to face with the head of that House and what do we learn?  Severus Snape has an uncommon hatred for Harry but that makes sense right?  Well in the mind of an eleven year old boy it does. Slytherin House is evil. Snape must be too. And it never occurs to any of us at the time - eleven years old or eleventy one - to question it.

 "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." -Ron Weasley

 

 What we as readers tend to forget is that these characters are not infallible. And much like Muggle children they tend to see things in black and white. There are quite a few examples of wizards gone bad that were not Slytherins. Quirrell was a Ravenclaw and very much under his own power when he succumbed to the Dark Lord. As was Peter Pettigrew - a Gryffindor.

It is said that Voldemort prized pure blood. Perhaps the reason Slytherin House turned out more Dark wizards was because Slytherins had more pure bloods. It stands to reason that when facing Lord Voldemort your blood status increased your options. Servitude or death. I imagine to mudbloods and halfbloods the options were a fair bit more limited.  Something else that only came to light in later years is the number of Slytherins who in turn used their cunning to their own purposes and turned against the Dark Lord. Regulus Black, who stole the locket Horcrux and died for his betrayal. Narcissa Malfoy who saw the quickest way to save her son and in turn lied to Voldemort, potentially saving Harrys life. How many other lives did she save in that 'noble' act? And was it nobility or simply self-serving resourcefulness? There are still other Slytherins who never gained their due. Andromeda Tonks. Horace Slughorn. Phineas Nigellus. All noble in their own right. And all played a role in thwarting the Dark Lord.

The most famous of all Slytherins, and perhaps a fair bit misunderstood, is Severus Snape. And really, to an eleven year old boy whats not to like about an oily haired, black robed man who resides in a dungeon and talks about poisoning people while rather pointedly staring at you the whole time? And did we mention his name is Snape? Yeah, Snape. Lets blame everything bad that happens on this guy. He can be our 'snapegoat'. (And yes, I just made that up.) And oh yeah, just to liven things up a bit, did we mention he's a Slytherin?

"You know, sometimes I think we sort too soon." Albus Dumbledore to Severus Snape

 


Do we?  Im not entirely sure this is an appropriate assessment for our usually very astute Professor Dumbledore to make. It very clearly shows Dumbledore's own prejudices against Slytherin House. Are they really so bad?  They certainly did not have a good reputation, which could be attributed to the wizarding wars of the past three decades. But does that discount the other 970 years of noble history surrounding the illustrious house of Salazar Slytherin?  And that being said, is it even a fair assessment to say that Snape would have sorted differently as an adult?  The very things that Slytherin House prizes - cunning, resourcefulness, ambition, a "certain disregard for the rules" - are the very traits that Snape utilizes to play his double game. It is the traits of the Slytherin that keep Harry and a fair amount of the wizarding world alive.

Slytherins are not held to a high standard by the main characters of the series due to childhood prejudices which develop into adult prejudices based on the politics of the day. Harry didn't like Malfoy. So the reader didn't like Malfoy. Harry thought Slytherins were evil so the reader thought likewise. But the amazing thing that Rowling does is redemption. Severus Snape, and even Draco Malfoy to an extent, find redemption. Did Snape love Harry? Of course not. Harry was a living reminder of the choices Snape had made. But even when Dumbledore had died, and there was no one left to sort the truth from the lies, Snape played his part to keep Harry alive. Noble and brave you say? Yes. He was. As was Luna Lovegood. As was Regulus Black. But in the end it was his Slytherin traits that saved the day. And for that end, I salute the House of Salazar Slytherin. May we all rise to such heights.
 
 

That's for you MidnightAsh :)