Snape a hero?

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No, I don't think so, he doesn't qualify.

If someone acts as a double agent for 16 years,
reporting from the heart of the enemy camp, living
a double life, keeping up a front in his public life,
finally dying at the hands of the enemy just before
victory is achieved, but none-the-less surviving
long enough to pass important information to the
leader of the struggle, he'd normally be hailed as
a hero with no hesitation.

If, that is, he did it from a sense of moral or ethical 
conviction.

That's not ole Snapey.
There was no such conviction. It was a sort of half-
cocked combination of revenge for the death of the
girl who threw him over plus emotional blackmail
from one of the most practiced fixers in the business. 

Shame, really. I had hoped that Jo would have come up
with a more gutsy motivation for him. 16 years mooning
over some dead slapper? Nope, that's not how I've been
reading Sevvy. A definitive un-romantic IMO.

Yes, he was probably being brave, but I doubt that ever
crossed his mind. But pride rules. Once he'd given his
word he'd do his damndest to play his part to the hilt
in an attempt to stab in the back those whose actions
had reduced him to such a pitiful pass, if only to show
that he was cleverer than they.

And he pretty well succeeded.
But he was still a miserable old git - and probably proud
of that too.

Kneasy