Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter himself) has decided Snape will turn to be the tragic hero.
"One of my theories is stolen from someone else. He thought Snape is going to turn out to be the tragic hero, and I thought that was a really good idea. I think J.K. Rowling would have possibly gone down that route -- but possibly he is pure evil, and we'll all just find out." (Ciaran, MuggleNet. 17 Jul, 2007.
http://www.mugglenet.com.)
One can only hope the actor doesn't begin using words like hubris and hamartia.
In fact...
No, no. Snape is not Oedipus, Macbeth, Hamlet, or Othello. Though Alan Rickman should play all of those people sometime in his life... except Othello.
