Can Severus Snape Be Redeemed by His Love For Lily Potter?
Severus Snape is a dynamic character, there is no denying this. As a result, there are people who argue throughout the books about his character. Fans in this community argue about whether his love for Lily Potter is strong enough to redeem him. They argue whether it was an obsessive love that went so far as to be called creepy and deranged or that his love for Lily Potter was romantic and captivating. The topic of Lily Potter’s redeeming love is important to talk about now because of the controversy that surrounds it. People in the community argue whether Severus Snape is excused from the bad things he has done because he loved Lily or not. Today I will be showing you different articles that argue the fact of Lily Potter’s redeeming love.
Snape and Lily’s relationship has been called both creepy and beautiful, or amazing and many other things, both good and bad. This article starts off right at the beginning, claiming that Snape was “not brave and was immature, vindictive, delusional, and misogynistic” (Romaniello). In Romaniello’s point of view in his article, Severus Snape Was Not A Hero, he says that Snape’s messed up childhood made it so that he would become obsessed with anyone who was nice to him. When Lily showed him kindness when they were children he decided to dedicate his entire life to her. He demonstrates at the very beginning that he really doesn’t care about anybody Lily cares about when he drops a tree branch on Petunia, Lily’s sister, head. He is only obsessed about Lily. Eventually, after Lily defend him in front of James and Sirius from the bullying, he got mad and called her a “mudblood”, a cruel and foul name. As the story goes on, Snape eventually develops a patronus that is the same as Lily’s, a doe. Romaniello compares this to some guy who was obsessed with her in high school and eventually getting the same tattoo as her because he loves her so much (Romaniello). This is an obsessive action in itself. There is another issue: Snape just never got over Lily. Romaniello’s theory of Snape’s love being obsessive and disturbing is right because he sheds light on to this point of view from the story, that argues against Snape’s love to Lily. He was obsessive to the point it was creepy and disturbing. Snape’s obsessive love for Lily does not excuse him from all the bad deeds that he committed to throughout the series.
The next article called Severus Snape Does Not Deserve Your Pity by Emily Asher- Perrin, adds on to the previous perspective. This new perspective sees Snape as a martyr whose love for Lily is still wrong. The author argues that she deserves to be with James Potter. Asher-Perrin acknowledges he made a mistake in calling Lily a mudblood but, Lily still deserves to be with James and not with Snape. The author claims that James Potter ruined “Snape’s chances at happiness” (Asher-Perrin). This author acknowledges the fact that his patronus was a doe and that it mirrors Lily’s. This action borders on creepy and stalking. She claims that the love Snape offered was “unrequited love” (Asher-Perrin). Even though she states all of these things, the author does not condone his obsession with Lily. She says that is not real love, “caring for someone without considering their happiness is the exact opposite of love, in point of fact. It makes them an object of your affection rather than a subject” (Asher- Perrin). Snape was considered a martyr because he was never given the love he thinks he should have received from Lily.
There is another perspective by Pottermore called The Chapter That Made Us Fall In Love With Severus Snape, that claims that Snape was just misguided. According to the author, Lily and Snape grew up and bonded together, with their ability to use magic making their bond even stronger. And eventually when they were sorted into different houses, Snape just fell into the wrong crowd (Pottermore). According to the author, Snape shows remarkable bravery. The author says that during Snape’s final moments he is looking into
the eyes of the boy who looks the spitting image of his father; the man who bullied him, then married the love of his life. Imagine having to look into those eyes in that moment; the eyes that both pained you intensely and yet made you feel love more than anything in the world. Snape’s final moments are perhaps the bravest we have seen of any character. (Pottermore)
In the end while he is dying, he is talking to Harry and mentions how Harry looks exactly like his father expect for his eyes, which are Lily’s eyes. The fact that Snape mentions this has been interpreted to mean that Snape loved Lily. Everyone else in the books, that told Harry he has his mother’s eyes, loved Lily as well. So, because Snape said this, it must mean Snape loved her as well. The author claims that he did it all for Lily just to make things right at the very end.
It is my opinion that Severus Snape cannot be redeemed by his obsessive love for Lily Potter. They started out as friends in the small city where they grew up. They bonded over their ability to do magic. Simply because Lily was kind to him, he became obsessive and delusional. He believed that Lily Potter wanted more from him and in their relationship. When Lily tried to stand up to James Potter while he was bullying Snape, Snape lost his temper and called Lily a mudblood. When Lily died, he wept and cried over her dead body while Harry was still in the cradle. The action of Voldemort killing Lily changed Severus Snape’s life because now he has vowed to protect Harry to redeem himself. He never actually cared about Harry though. The only person he obsessed over was Lily. Snape is not the right person for her. His love for Lily does not redeem him from all the bad things he has done in his life.
Works Cited Page
“The Chapter That Made Us Fall in Love with… Severus Snape.” Pottermore, www.pottermore.com/features/chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-severus-snape.
Romaniello, John. “Severus Snape Was Not a Hero.” Roman Fitness Systems, 10 Aug. 2016, romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/snape-hero/.
Asher-Perrin, Emily. “Severus Snape Does Not Deserve Your Pity.” Tor.com, 14 May 2015, www.tor.com/2013/04/23/severus-snape-does-not-deserve-your-pity/.
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