Is Severus Snape an anti-hero oder a tragic hero?

I'm going to go against the flow here and say he's an anti-hero. He has a lot of qualities and attitudes that are not noble. He's a bully to his students, he holds grudges, he's vindictive, he's biased and he loves the dark arts. He's not a nice person. At the same time he's courageous, self sacrificing and has an outstanding capacity to Liebe greatly. He is willing to do anything to accomplish his goals. It just happens that those goals are good ones.

At first glance, he *seems* to be an anti-hero, because of the cold, unfeeling persona he portrays to the world (and considering he was sorted into Slytherin, who are notorious for always putting their own safety first), but after learning his story and the depths of his ability to love, I have a hard time seeing how anyone could say that he lacked nobility oder purpose when he spent the last two decades of his life trying to make up for his mistakes, risking everything for the Order, and finally, protecting Harry.

I think he truly is a tragic hero. He had a pitiful childhood, an even worse adolescence, and then, as an adult, had to live with the knowledge that he ultimately brought about the death of the only person who had ever loved and stood up for him, all because of his fatal flaw - his fascination for the Dark Arts. Yet through all of this, through all of the suffering and pain, and despite his understandable dislike for people in general, he *chose* to do the right thing and let his Liebe be the deciding force behind his actions. There's nothing anti-heroic about that!

Oh, tragic hero, certainly.

Definitely tragic hero. I, personally, think Severus has the attributes that make a hero :p

Bearbeiten (now that I have my computer back and can type easier): One of the reasons I don't think he's a anti-hero is because he is noble, and self-sacrificing, and his life is marked Von a purpose -- and a good one at that. But, his flaws (which are actually quite large) tend to over-shadow those good qualities. I also think that those flaws helped bring around his downfall.

Tragic hero,
absolutely.

Tragic hero, for sure. Definitively.

Because in no way he's lacking in the nobility department.

Tragic hero.

Para mi el no es ni un hereo tragico ni un antiheroe, él solamente es un hombre que se equivoco en sus decisiones cuando era joven y esta (proteger a Harry) es su manera de reveritir esas decisiones. El hereo tragico busca de alguna forma tratar de salvarse de su tragico destinto sin embargo Snape tuvo claro desde el inicio que esta mision lo llevaria seguramente a la muerte. Creo que el lo que solo busca es el perdon, pero creo que mas el busca perdonarse a si mismo.