Wonderful essay! It seems well-organized to me, and I don't have a lot to add, so I'll just comment on a few points that stood out for me.
1) Snape's patronus: maybe I'm a little dense, but I never stopped to consider before why his patronus was female, rather than, say, a stag to Lily's doe. So that point was very interesting to me.
2) The argument between Dumbledore and Snape, when Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him so that Draco's soul won't be ripped apart. You said, "he is asking for confirmation that Dumbledore loves and values *him* as much as Draco". I absolutely agree! I've always had the impression that Snape resents that Dumbledore always seems to place others' welfare above his, such as not expelling Sirius for the Shrieking Shack prank, and again taking Sirius's side at the end of Book 3. And of course he is resentful--and perhaps jealous--that Dumbledore allows Harry to constantly get away with breaking the rules.
3) The very disturbing implication that Snape (and I would argue, the Slytherins in general) has already been marked as "bad" from the time he is a child. I saw a similar theme in HBP, when we meet Tom Riddle at the orphanage, although Snape obviously isn't as far gone as Snape. But it's obvious that even at the age of eleven, Tom is already irredeemable.
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1) Snape's patronus: maybe I'm a little dense, but I never stopped to consider before why his patronus was female, rather than, say, a stag to Lily's doe. So that point was very interesting to me.
2) The argument between Dumbledore and Snape, when Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him so that Draco's soul won't be ripped apart. You said, "he is asking for confirmation that Dumbledore loves and values *him* as much as Draco". I absolutely agree! I've always had the impression that Snape resents that Dumbledore always seems to place others' welfare above his, such as not expelling Sirius for the Shrieking Shack prank, and again taking Sirius's side at the end of Book 3. And of course he is resentful--and perhaps jealous--that Dumbledore allows Harry to constantly get away with breaking the rules.
3) The very disturbing implication that Snape (and I would argue, the Slytherins in general) has already been marked as "bad" from the time he is a child. I saw a similar theme in HBP, when we meet Tom Riddle at the orphanage, although Snape obviously isn't as far gone as Snape. But it's obvious that even at the age of eleven, Tom is already irredeemable.