Snape and the Mirror of Erised

Snape and the Mirror of Erised

There is plenty of fanart depicting Snape seeing Lily in the Mirror of Erised, but not many people know that there is actually a canon scene in which Snape does, in fact, see Lily in the Mirror of Erised. It happens during Harry's first Occlumency lesson.

A great black dragon was rearing in front of him...His father and mother were waving at him out of an enchanted mirror...Cedric Diggory was lying on the ground with blank eyes staring at him...

At this point, Harry and Snape both lose control over themselves because of the memories that are brought to the surface. Harry freaks out because he has just seen Cedric dead in the graveyard. Snape also freaks out, and we assume that this is in reaction to Harry freaking out. However, Snape is actually freaking out for a reason of his own.

His father and mother were waving at him out of an enchanted mirror . . .

Snape looked paler than usual, and angrier, though not nearly as angry as Harry was.

We assume that Snape is angry because Harry has just freaked out over seeing Cedric dead in the graveyard, but in fact, Snape is angry, not because Harry has just freaked out about seeing Cedric dead in the graveyard, but because he has just seen Lily and James waving at him cheerily out of the Mirror of Erised.

Harry stood up again, his heart thumping wildly as though he had really just seen Cedric dead in the graveyard. Snape looked paler than usual, and angrier, though not nearly as angry as Harry was.

The line, "Snape looked paler than usual, and angrier," comes right after "Harry stood up again, his heart thumping wildly as though he had really just seen Cedric dead in the graveyard." We can assume that Harry and Snape are sharing the same feelings at this point--perhaps Snape's heart is thumping wildly too, as if he has really just seen Lily and James together in the Mirror of Erised, waving cheerily at him. The Mirror of Erised is supposed to show "not your face but your heart's desire," that is, not reality but your heart's desire, but in this case, the Mirror of Erised is showing Snape reality--his face--rather than his heart's desire, as if in mockery of him. It is showing him exactly the opposite of his heart's desire. It shows him reality--Lily happy, together with James, which is, in fact, what Harry also represents for him. Poor Snape. Even the Mirror of Erised doesn't show him anything sweet.

This is one of the few times during Harry's Occlumency lessons that Snape actually loses control of himself. The only other time Snape gets angry with Harry is in the chapter "Seen and Unforeseen," in which the door to the Department of Mysteries finally opens for Harry, and he goes through it eagerly instead of trying to block it out, searching for the next door to go through. Every other time that Snape sees into Harry's personal memories, he is pretty cool about it--except this time. Why? Because he has just seen the root of his bitterness. And what does he shout at Harry afterwards?

"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 is probably talking about himself here. "Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves..." is a reference to how he hides his thoughts about Lily. "Wallow in sad memories . . ." -that is, his own sad memories of losing Lily to James. Since Snape is repressed, his feelings come out in all sorts of unnatural ways.

In this case, the Order of the Phoenix movie interpreted this scene wrong. The Order of the Phoenix movie has Snape making fun of Harry seeing his parents in the Mirror of Erised, whereas in the book, Snape's reaction to this particular memory is completely the opposite. Instead of making fun of it, or even being cool about it, as he usually is when seeing into Harry's memories, he is beside himself and shouting at Harry, and is, in fact, greatly affected by it, just as Harry has just been greatly affected by the memory of Cedric's death. In fact, Snape and Harry share a lot, and have a lot in common, if you look deeper. For example, Snape seems to be making fun of Harry's personal memories at first, but actually, it seems as if he realized his mistake in asking about Aunt Marge's dog during the first attempt at Occlumency, regrets it and changes the subject, and even gives Harry a rare compliment.

"Well, for a first attempt that was not as poor as it might have been," said Snape, raising his wand once more. "You managed to stop me eventually . . ."

He tries to smooth over the situation as well as he knows how to. Snape is actually more tactful during the Occlumency lessons than he appears at first sight. Harry, understandably, resents the intrusion into his privacy and already distrusts Snape and suspects him of all sorts of things, but Snape, after his first mistake, does not inquire about Harry's personal memories again. The only other time he inquires about a specific memory again is Harry's dream about Rookwood, which was important.

We who try to analyze Severus Snape are trying to read the mind of the greatest Occlumens in the Harry Potter books. Perhaps that is why we find it so enticing. Even after the revelations of "The Prince's Tale," there still remains plenty of mining that could be done, and plenty about him that is not stated explicitly in the canon. Snape himself makes this difficult, as he believes that people who "wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves" are fools, that those who cannot control their emotions are weak, and that these kinds of people will "find themselves easy prey for the Dark Lord," and whose minds the Dark Lord will penetrate with "absurd ease." Snape hides his feelings for Lily until the very end, at his death, but during the course of the book, there are moments when those feelings accidentally break through. I think that the purpose of this scene is not to give us some information about Harry--his feelings about Cedric's death--but to give us some information about Snape--his feelings about James and Lily.