View in Ukrainian
The Potions teacher at Hogwarts and Head of Slytherin House. Snape detests Harry, believing that Harry is very arrogant (an attitude that is only reinforced by Harry and Ron’s arrival via flying car). This dislike carries over to the rest of the Gryffindors, while he favors the Slytherin students like Draco Malfoy. He also takes an instant dislike to Gilderoy Lockhart, whom he believes to be a pompous fraud, and takes great relish in disarming Lockhart during their demonstrations at the dueling club.
Professor Snape Character Timeline in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The timeline below shows where the character Professor Snape appears in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Chapter 5: The Whomping Willow
Harry wonders where Professor Snape is, noticing that he is not at the feast. Harry and Ron speculate hopefully that he has left, or that he has been fired because everyone hates him, until they realize Snape is standing right behind them. Snape takes Ron and Harry to his office, and reprimands them because they were seen flying by seven Muggles. Harry realizes how much trouble Mr. Weasley could be in, because he was the one who enchanted the car.
Harry and Ron have their own prejudice against Professor Snape, but it differs from the prejudice of the Malfoys in key ways: while the Malfoys make harmful generalizations about Muggles and Muggle-borns, Harry and Ron don’t respect Snape because he treated them and other students very unkindly in their first year.
Snape then retrieves Professor McGonagall, who asks them to explain what happened. After hearing Ron’s story, she asks why they didn’t send an owl. Harry realizes how stupidly they acted. Then Dumbledore arrives, and Harry can hear the disappointment in his voice as he asks Harry to explain what happened. After hearing the story, Dumbledore concludes that he will not expel them, but he says that their offense is a serious one and he will be writing to both of their families. He then leaves Professor McGonagall to dole out their punishment.
While Harry and Ron perhaps did not have to break the rules in this circumstance, Dumbledore understands that they didn’t do any true harm and also believed that they were doing the right thing. Additionally, Harry’s immense loyalty to Dumbledore and his view of Dumbledore as a mentor is shown here in the fact that he does not want to disappoint Dumbledore.
Chapter 7: Mudbloods and Murmurs
After a few minutes on the field, the Slytherin team walks up. Wood yells at the Slytherin captain, Flint, saying that Gryffindor booked the field. Flint pulls out a note from Professor Snape, giving them permission to practice on the field to train their new Seeker: Draco Malfoy. The team also has a brand new set of brooms, courtesy of Lucius Malfoy.
The benefits that the Slytherin team experiences thanks to Draco’s wealth demonstrate how prejudice becomes easily accepted by those whom it benefits. It is easy for someone like Draco, who has wealth, to criticize someone without wealth and get no resistance from the other members of his team, because his wealth benefits them too.
Chapter 9: The Writing on the Wall
Filch, who has been sobbing, again accuses Harry, saying that Harry knows that he is a Squib. Harry argues that he didn’t touch Mrs. Norris and doesn’t even know what a Squib is. Snape then steps forward and asks why he, Ron, and Hermione weren’t at the feast and why they went up to that corridor. They explain that they went to Nick’s deathday party, but when Harry begins to explain why he went up to the corridor, he worries that explaining the bodiless voice no one else can hear will sound far-fetched. He says that they were too tired to go the feast, but Snape doesn’t believe him.
Filch also turns on Harry because he assumes that Harry has the prejudice Filch has experienced from many others because he is a Squib (a person of wizarding parentage but who does not have magical powers). But Harry does not dislike Filch because of his lack of magical powers, but rather because he treats the students terribly.
Chapter 10: The Rogue Bludger
Hermione brings the note to the library and takes out Moste Potente Potions. Then Hermione, Harry, and Ron return to Myrtle’s bathroom, which no one ever uses, so they can look up the ingredients for Polyjuice Potion. Hermione realizes that they’re going to have to break into Snape’s store of ingredients to get some of the items. The boys worry about getting into more trouble after Dumbledore’s threat to expel them, but Hermione is adamant that they try and figure out who is threatening Muggle-borns. If they can get all the ingredients, she says, it should take about a month to brew.
This is a big change for Hermione. Just like in the first book, she is usually very against breaking the rules. But she knows that preventing the attacks on Muggle-borns is important, particularly because she has a vested interest in the matter as a Muggle-born herself. She knows that there are prejudices against her and that she could be in danger, and thus Harry and Ron know that it’s important to support her and brew the potion even when it might get them into a lot of trouble.
Chapter 11: The Dueling Club
In December, Harry, Ron, and Hermione still need a few ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion. Hermione suggests that she do the actual stealing from Snape’s store so that the boys won’t get into any more trouble. During Potions, Harry creates a diversion in class while Hermione successfully slips in and out of Snape’s office unnoticed and steals the ingredients.
Hermione again recognizes the value of breaking the rules, particularly as it appears that the teachers aren’t able to stop the monster or even figure out what it might be. Together, Harry, Hermione and Ron bravely take it upon themselves to try and find out information about the Chamber and what is going on.
A week later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that the school is starting a Dueling Club. At the Club’s first meeting, Lockhart (poorly) demonstrates with Snape the best way to disarm an opponent. Snape then partners Draco and Harry to duel. Draco hits Harry with a spell that makes him feel like he’s been hit with a saucepan. Harry returns a spell that hits Draco in the stomach. They continue trading spells until Snape stops them. The other students’ duels have resulted in similar chaos.
Harry’s inherent rivalry with Draco is understandable, considering that they have nearly opposite ways of treating people. Harry is inherently kind and respectful, while Draco is a bully who denigrates others he feels to be inferior to himself. This scene also reinforces how false Lockhart’s identity is; he’s famous for winning battles, but he shows here that he can’t even do basic spells.
Lockhart and Snape then try and demonstrate how to block spells, pulling Harry and Draco up in front of everyone. When the duel begins, Draco casts a spell that sends a snake flying from his wand. The snake starts to slither towards Justin Finch-Fletchley, but then Harry shouts “Leave him alone!” Miraculously, the snake slumps to the floor. Harry looks back at Justin, who is angry and terrified. Snape makes the snake vanish, and also looks at Harry oddly. Murmurs sweep through the hall.
It is revealed very shortly that when Harry speaks to the snake, he is speaking in snake language, which the others aren’t able to understand. Their inability to know what Harry is saying—their lack of knowledge about what is happening—inspires their fear and confusion, because it is unclear whether Harry was trying to help or hurt Justin.
Severus Snape in the Film “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”
The film recreates key scenes featuring Snape that are described in the book, but not all of them, even the most interesting and significant ones, made it to the screen.
For example, the scene where Snape catches Harry and Ron after their arrival in the flying car and takes them to his office for punishment (in the book). While this scene is vividly described in the book (as mentioned above), in the film, Harry and Ron simply encounter Filch holding Mrs. Norris, and he is the one who brings them to Snape. Snape, in turn, seeks the maximum punishment for the rule-breakers, explicitly stating that he would gladly expel them from school if he had the authority to do so.
In the scene where Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the corridor and find the petrified Mrs. Norris, Snape is once again relentless. Although the trio tries to defend themselves, Snape does not believe them. In the film, this scene is cut short, whereas in the book, Snape attempts to have Harry removed from the Quidditch team—something he does not pursue in the film. McGonagall responds that there is no reason to suspend Harry from the game, as the cat was not hit on the head with a broomstick.
Additionally, in the corridor scene described in the book, Lockhart boasts that he would gladly brew a potion to reverse the spell, to which Snape coldly replies that he is the one who brews potions at this school. In the film, there is no mention of potions or who will be brewing them. Dumbledore simply reassures Filch, stating that the Mandrakes are growing and that the cat will be cured. Snape, on the other hand, is dismissed with the phrase, “Innocent until proven guilty.”
Although the trio tries to avoid crossing paths with Snape to prevent him from accusing them of something they didn’t do, they boldly create chaos in class to allow Hermione to sneak into Snape’s storeroom for ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion. However, this event is not shown in the film at all.
The film also omits scenes where Snape escorts students between classrooms while monitoring them during the attacks.
The Dueling Club scene, where Snape demonstrates his skills and disarms Lockhart, differs between the book and the film. In the movie, Snape remains calm, stepping onto the dueling platform while Lockhart jokingly calls him his assistant. In the book, however, Snape is visibly irritated, sneering at Lockhart and giving him a curt nod instead of a bow.
When Harry and Draco are called to duel, the book describes Snape whispering something into Malfoy’s ear, after which Malfoy casts the Serpensortia spell. This moment is absent in the film. Instead, Snape simply does not react and appears pleased with his student’s actions. According to the book, we might suspect that Snape already had some suspicions about Harry’s ability to hear voices others couldn’t, which is why he prompted Malfoy to conjure a snake. Alternatively, it could have been a coincidence, as both in the book and the film, Snape appears genuinely surprised by Harry’s reaction to the snake.
The film also omits a small Valentine’s Day scene where Lockhart announces that cupids will be flying around the school delivering valentines. He then jokingly suggests that students should ask Snape for a love potion recipe. In response, Snape “looked as though he would force-feed poison to anyone who dared to ask him for one.”
Another missing scene is from Potions class, which takes place after Hermione is attacked and Dumbledore is temporarily removed as headmaster. In the book, Snape walks around the classroom, ignoring Hermione’s empty seat, while Malfoy suggests that he should apply for the position of headmaster. Snape replies that Dumbledore will be back soon, but he still appreciates the compliment—as Rowling notes, he “couldn’t quite hide a faint smile.”
Although Alan Rickman portrayed Snape with remarkable depth and skill in the scenes he was given, many missing moments would have helped further develop his character for the overall progression of the story.
Знайшли помилку? Виділіть текст на натисніть комбінацію Ctrl+Enter.
