Personality: Having lived a childhood of abuse and neglect, the foundations and understandings of trust and love normally fostered in children from their parents was absent in Severus Snape. Severus learnt from a young age, due to his father's anger and abusive nature, to keep very tight control of his emotions. Bullying at school further caused him to retreat emotionally. Only under strong emotional duress or provocation does his temper and true emotional state show itself.
His adult complexes of being unpleasant are also culturally imbued in him from having grown up in a very rough neighbourhood, where morale was low and crime was high. Surliness, rudeness (preferably called "being blunt") and antisocial attitudes are the norm for those who grew up in the hardened areas of Manchester, Birmingham and England's north, where his hometown of Cokeworth is situated; such attitudes are even respected and encouraged, as they're culturally regarded as virtues of 'honesty' and 'genuineness'.
Severus views the world very negatively. His tumultuous childhood and adolescence taught Severus that the world is unsafe, cannot be trusted and that there is little positive outcome in life. He is not without being a bully himself, either - he subscribes to strict, authoritarian values, often without mercy, and sees nothing wrong in disciplining others in ways that others would consider draconian.
He has a dry sense of humour that is very rarely demonstrated with mirth. He is witty but cynically so, and has no issue with making cutting and snide, if not sometimes downright cruel, remarks. He firmly believes that it is not up to him to pander to the feelings and emotions of others; rather, it's up to others to grow a "thick skin" and to accept the fact that life isn't fair.
Owing to his avoidant and introverted personality, he finds escapism in books and his own private studies. He is a strictly private man who does not divulge any details of himself to others if he can help it. He is very widely read as a result of his relationship with books - including Muggle literature, quite of number of which he (begrudgingly) found thoroughly enjoyable.
The only person whom Severus trusts, outside of Dumbledore, is himself. He had to learn from a young age to become self-reliant and to pride himself on his intellect and magical skill, which is the only area where any self-esteem has ever lay. As a teenager and a young man, he had little to no self-esteem in his physique or appearance; however, as he grew older, he came to care less and less about those particular facets of himself in favour of priding himself on his intellect, perspicacity and magical acumen.
He is obsessively self-disciplined, a trait he's learned not just from his abusive childhood but also, especially, from working as a double-agent for the Order. He only ever takes very calculated, very planned risks; he does not act on impulse, but rather on carefully regulated instinct and almost always with an agenda. He is cold, dismissive, easily irritated by people who attempt to interfere with his business and by people who display ignorance or recklessness. When he commits to something, he applies himself with unwavering focus. That said, he does not do favours for people willingly. He only acts with benevolence when he deems it absolutely necessary; he otherwise has no issue with flatly refusing to help someone if he feels they don't deserve it, or if he simply doesn't like them.
He struggles immensely (but very privately) with issues of guilt and grief; grief over Lily's death, which he to this day has never gotten over, and guilt for his unintentionally direct role in causing Voldemort to go after the Potters. He also battles with guilt concerning the bad and misguided choices he made as a youth to become involved with Death Eaters and with the Dark Lord's campaign. And while he fully understands that killing Dumbledore was a mercy killing, for both Dumbledore and for Draco, he lives with the guilt of having killed Dumbledore, the only person who ever completely and unconditionally accepted him even despite his failures, shortcomings and horrendous mistakes. He viewed Dumbledore as not just a mentor but a father figure and he struggles to this day without Dumbledore's guidance.
However, due to his maladaptive ability to cope emotionally, he takes his mental anguishes out on others in the form of brusque and cold dismissiveness, and derives a twisted sense of pleasure out of hurting or scrutinising others whom he deems useless or unworthy of his tolerance. He operates very much on an "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" approach to human interaction and relationships, except in (usually rare) cases where he esteems a person with high respect; or in cases where he knows that conducting himself with impassive respect will work much more in his favour.
Despite all of this, however, he is not without the ability to love. Severus is an immensely passionate man; he is passionate about his Craft, about intellect, philosophy, literature, principality, self-control, and he holds an undying, unconditional love for Lily Evans, the only woman (and person, for that matter) that he has ever truly loved. He is, deep down, deeply romantic, however has never (and likely will never) allow that side of himself to surface in the face of others.
Severus is not a bad person, but he has made some very bad choices in his life. Had he had a childhood that fostered a great deal more love and care in him, he likely would have become a very decent man. That's not to say that he would have been a nice man, even with love and care fostered in him, as Severus simply has a cold personality by nature, inherited from his father. But perhaps he would have made choices that were nowhere near as misguided by a desperation for acceptance and approval had he been loved and nurtured from childhood. Severus is the classic example of a very troubled youth who fell into the wrong crowds for the wrong reasons because he simply believed he didn't deserve any better, and he paid dearly for the price. He's still paying the price.
Ultimately, there is a distinct difference between being a good person and a nice person; Severus is, by and large, a good person, but he is not nice.
2/...?
Having lived a childhood of abuse and neglect, the foundations and understandings of trust and love normally fostered in children from their parents was absent in Severus Snape. Severus learnt from a young age, due to his father's anger and abusive nature, to keep very tight control of his emotions. Bullying at school further caused him to retreat emotionally. Only under strong emotional duress or provocation does his temper and true emotional state show itself.
His adult complexes of being unpleasant are also culturally imbued in him from having grown up in a very rough neighbourhood, where morale was low and crime was high. Surliness, rudeness (preferably called "being blunt") and antisocial attitudes are the norm for those who grew up in the hardened areas of Manchester, Birmingham and England's north, where his hometown of Cokeworth is situated; such attitudes are even respected and encouraged, as they're culturally regarded as virtues of 'honesty' and 'genuineness'.
Severus views the world very negatively. His tumultuous childhood and adolescence taught Severus that the world is unsafe, cannot be trusted and that there is little positive outcome in life. He is not without being a bully himself, either - he subscribes to strict, authoritarian values, often without mercy, and sees nothing wrong in disciplining others in ways that others would consider draconian.
He has a dry sense of humour that is very rarely demonstrated with mirth. He is witty but cynically so, and has no issue with making cutting and snide, if not sometimes downright cruel, remarks. He firmly believes that it is not up to him to pander to the feelings and emotions of others; rather, it's up to others to grow a "thick skin" and to accept the fact that life isn't fair.
Owing to his avoidant and introverted personality, he finds escapism in books and his own private studies. He is a strictly private man who does not divulge any details of himself to others if he can help it. He is very widely read as a result of his relationship with books - including Muggle literature, quite of number of which he (begrudgingly) found thoroughly enjoyable.
The only person whom Severus trusts, outside of Dumbledore, is himself. He had to learn from a young age to become self-reliant and to pride himself on his intellect and magical skill, which is the only area where any self-esteem has ever lay. As a teenager and a young man, he had little to no self-esteem in his physique or appearance; however, as he grew older, he came to care less and less about those particular facets of himself in favour of priding himself on his intellect, perspicacity and magical acumen.
He is obsessively self-disciplined, a trait he's learned not just from his abusive childhood but also, especially, from working as a double-agent for the Order. He only ever takes very calculated, very planned risks; he does not act on impulse, but rather on carefully regulated instinct and almost always with an agenda. He is cold, dismissive, easily irritated by people who attempt to interfere with his business and by people who display ignorance or recklessness. When he commits to something, he applies himself with unwavering focus. That said, he does not do favours for people willingly. He only acts with benevolence when he deems it absolutely necessary; he otherwise has no issue with flatly refusing to help someone if he feels they don't deserve it, or if he simply doesn't like them.
He struggles immensely (but very privately) with issues of guilt and grief; grief over Lily's death, which he to this day has never gotten over, and guilt for his unintentionally direct role in causing Voldemort to go after the Potters. He also battles with guilt concerning the bad and misguided choices he made as a youth to become involved with Death Eaters and with the Dark Lord's campaign. And while he fully understands that killing Dumbledore was a mercy killing, for both Dumbledore and for Draco, he lives with the guilt of having killed Dumbledore, the only person who ever completely and unconditionally accepted him even despite his failures, shortcomings and horrendous mistakes. He viewed Dumbledore as not just a mentor but a father figure and he struggles to this day without Dumbledore's guidance.
However, due to his maladaptive ability to cope emotionally, he takes his mental anguishes out on others in the form of brusque and cold dismissiveness, and derives a twisted sense of pleasure out of hurting or scrutinising others whom he deems useless or unworthy of his tolerance. He operates very much on an "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" approach to human interaction and relationships, except in (usually rare) cases where he esteems a person with high respect; or in cases where he knows that conducting himself with impassive respect will work much more in his favour.
Despite all of this, however, he is not without the ability to love. Severus is an immensely passionate man; he is passionate about his Craft, about intellect, philosophy, literature, principality, self-control, and he holds an undying, unconditional love for Lily Evans, the only woman (and person, for that matter) that he has ever truly loved. He is, deep down, deeply romantic, however has never (and likely will never) allow that side of himself to surface in the face of others.
Severus is not a bad person, but he has made some very bad choices in his life. Had he had a childhood that fostered a great deal more love and care in him, he likely would have become a very decent man. That's not to say that he would have been a nice man, even with love and care fostered in him, as Severus simply has a cold personality by nature, inherited from his father. But perhaps he would have made choices that were nowhere near as misguided by a desperation for acceptance and approval had he been loved and nurtured from childhood. Severus is the classic example of a very troubled youth who fell into the wrong crowds for the wrong reasons because he simply believed he didn't deserve any better, and he paid dearly for the price. He's still paying the price.
Ultimately, there is a distinct difference between being a good person and a nice person; Severus is, by and large, a good person, but he is not nice.