Your Choice

I think the most powerful position I can take in establishing an incredibly sympathetic position for Snape lies in the intricate tie between Snape's upbringing, life and subsequent conduct. As my opponent mentions, Snape lived a neglected childhood. Whoever is responsible for this neglect is of another question and holds no relevance in sympathy. The possibilities of his mother being the more guilty candidate doesn't remove that fact that Severus Snape had an unhappy childhood. Furthermore, by taking my opponent's statement about tangoing, there is no indicative proving either parent above mutual responsibility. This is mostly subjective and depends on the partiality of the judge. In my perspective, the more violent aggressor, the father, is clearly more responsible due to the aggressive nature of his argument-initiating position. That Eileen chose not to attack her aggressor shows her strong will toward peace. Taken another way, Eileen could have been the aggressively abusive mother, but the simple fact is that she was not. This is, however beside the point as it is, as I've stated before, unrelated to the child's actual state of neglect. It is an undeniable fact that Snape's childhood was sad, largely loveless, and grim. Unlike Harry Potter, Severus Snape's life did not take a happy turn upon entering Hogwarts. As perceived in the pensieve, Snape was the target of unrelenting bullying. The summative statements that can be made about his years in Hogwarts is that Snape, in light of his abusive upbringing, has forgiveable faults that were, in essence, largely harmless. He is what those around him have made him. Being surrounded in the semi-nazi nature of the Slytherin house, Snape really cannot be blamed for the development of any ideological or categorical faults and biases. The fact that Snape ends up without love, without friends, without any real connections other than the unhappy ones developed in his moral ambiguity (i. e. his decision to become a death eater) cannot be ignored. Let us move into Harry's years in Hogwarts. Until the Deathly Hallows, both Harry and the reader are given reason to assume Snape a debateably evil character whose snide goadings and provocations give Harry justifiable incentives to harbor a deep hatred against him. The thing that really brought me to put Snape in the light of sympathy is when all the details of his life are finally revealed. Under this, Snape's actions potentially takes on a completely different shade of meaning. When Snapes was teaching Harry occlumency, he said: "I told you to empty yourself of emotion! . .. Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter! " This statement potentially reveals an incredibly important fact in Snape's character analysis. Snape, a master of occlumency, has abandoned all facets of his emotions. After leading a horrible childhood & adolescent in which his emotions only served to deepen his already sad state of being, Snape yields his emotions to a mechanical life. This fact changes everything. Having abandoned his emotions, Snape cannot hate Harry. For what reason, then, does Snape bully him? Having taken Snape's emotional apathy into account, I've come to the conclusion that everything Snape does after Lily's death ultimately serves a good, practical purpose. For example, by sustaining Harry's deep hatred of himself, Snape gives Harry a driving incentive to do what is necessary toward the purpose of defeating Voldemort (includes training to become a powerful wizard). He also protects his double agent status. His position as a double-double agent is secure if no one sympathized with him or knew of his real mission (aside from Dumbledore). Remember, some wizards, especially Voldemort, can break into people's minds. If Voldemort were to read Harry's mind previous to the reversal in the Deathly Hallows, the result would, in fact, have been beneficial since Harry deeply suspected and hated Snape. This latter purpose seems much more likely and can be applied to all students in Hogwarts. This is further complimented by the fact that all of Snape's emotional expositions during his professional years in Hogwarts occur with an audience. This indicates that any and all emotion Snape seem to show are really nothing more than shows to maintain his image not only to Harry, but to all the students (including Malfoy) of a probable loyalty to Voldemort. All this can be drawn from this one fact: Snape has no emotions. Snape has no life. This alone, that Snape never had and never will taste the joys of fellowship or of life, puts him in an incredibly conspicuous light of sympathy. The revelations about Snape's life in the Deathly Hallows were incredibly powerful. If anything hit me in this book, it was the fact that Snape was, without a doubt, a great force of good. It was sad to me that Snape has nothing. I don't even know what drives Snape to do what he does. He's like a robot with no futuristic hopes or dreams and a destitute past. Even after Dumbledore's death, Snape continues to work for the greater good. He was headmaster. He had everything material and yet he was still willing to risk his life and all he had gained from Voldemort to protect the students and help Harry defeat Voldemort, the source of his 'success'. To say that his position does not merit sympathy is to be utterly wrong. Snape does everything, loses everything and has, emotionally, nothing; a life devoid of happiness. Snape lived only to be 38. A sad man of great discipline (apparent in his occlumens mastery alone), Snape is, in my opinion, the best character in the entire Harry Potter series and one of the greatest characters in literature.