I have been thinking today about Dumbledore's and Snape's roles in the story and why I personally, find one more compelling then the other.
(I think the reason why I've been thinking about that is because I follow a lot of great Snape blogs whose favourite is obviously Severus. And the thing is, I get why! I love his character too! But Albus just tickles my brain a bit more ...)
Anyway, in my opinion, the four main characters through which morality is explored in the books are Harry, Voldemort, Snape and Dumbledore. Voldemort and Harry make up one axis of morality. Their stories mirror each other in many ways, while their reactions to what happens to them stands in direct opposition to each other. One could go into detail here, but since this post is not supposed to be about them, I'll simply argue that this axis explores the concepts of deliverance through selfless love and sacrifice vs. damnation through selfish and self-centred hubris (oh the protestantism of it all...).
And then there's the axis that is Snape and Dumbledore. Again, two characters with remarkably similar backgrounds. (Broken families, intelligence, isolation and othering throughout their lives...) And, contrary to Voldemort and Harry, these two even make very similar choices that lead them into very similar catastrophes. (They react to their respective situation by radicalisation into very dangerous and violent ideologies, leading to a loved one's death.)
A part of their reactions to these are also similar. Both pledge themselves to some sort of penance, both are deeply changed and scarred. Both isolate themselves even more from the people around them.
BUT there is a difference and it's not a moral one. It's how they present themselves. It's how they appear to the rest of the world and thus how we first get to know them.
Severus is not a pleasant man. We can argue about just how much damage he did to his students and if he's actually as bad a teacher as he appears to be through Harry's eyes. But there is no doubt that he is just ... not nice. And not kind either. He's spiteful, often snide, makes openly hurtful comments and holds a grudge like nobody's business. And all of these things are VERY obvious.
Albus (barring some glaring exceptions that most people never see and we only get to witness very late in the game) is none of these things. He's gentle, quirky, humorous and sort of just distantly kind to his students. Everyone we meet that we are supposed to trust places him on a pedestal as a beacon of both morality and intellect, while at the same time, painting him as a bit of an eccentric. All of these things isolate him as effectively from other's as Severus unpleasantness. They serve essentially the same purpose, yet leave very different impressions on both a young Harry, and the reader.
In other words, both of these characters have built reputations around themselves that serves to distance themselves from others. They don them as masks because they do not want what's underneath — their humanity, their vulnerability, their love and pain — to be known.
Yet what's underneath is remarkably similar. The difference is that one mask is (to maybe stretch that metaphor a bit too thin) significantly more pleasant, more comforting than the other. So for one (Snape) what's underneath is beautiful by comparison. For the other (Dumbledore) it can only be hideous if what one is used to and expecting is the ideal of goodness itself. Dumbledore, who was previously a godlike figure, was torn down by his humanity. Snape, by contrast, was lifted up by his.
Aside 1: I think this is one of the reasons why so many fans hate Dumbledore to an almost comical extend. They haven't forgiven him for not having lived up to the ideal he projected of himself, the ideal of pure goodness that only ever was a facade to begin with. So when he makes a mistake (for example, when he hurts Harry through neglect bc he fears what will happen when he gets too close), it must be malicious instead of simply the human failure of a traumatised man.
Aside 2: I think Dumbledore recognises this too (that he was torn down by his humanity, where Severus was lifted up). The phrase "my word, Severus, that i shall never reveal the best of you" (quoted from memory) has always struck me that way. Albus views his own capacity to love as his downfall. In Severus, he sees it as his salvation. I wonder if there was ever resentment there...
Anyway, this is, imo what the moral axis of Snape and Dumbledore explores: The inevitability of one's humanity and goodness, not as an absolute transcendant ideal, but a conscious struggle within a complicated world.
I, personally, find the tearing down of Dumbledore as a god figure more emotionally and philosophically intriguing than the lifting up of Snape. Maybe because to believe in the lie of the benevolent god is so much more convenient and comfortable than to believe in the lie of the nasty and unpleasant children's book villain.
The latter one demands forgiveness for the mask (and many can't forgive that either) but the former, demands forgiveness and sympathy for what's underneath. And that is, I think, significantly harder.
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