Victim or Hero? And by what means?

 Victim or Hero? And by what means?

    Is Oedipus a victim? Well, thats the question posed to the class before our big debate on Wednesday. Though that's the main question, there are several smaller questions within it; if not a victim, what is Oedipus, a hero? What makes Oedipus a victim? What makes Oedipus a hero? The answer to all these questions lies within one simple, yet incredibly cliche question: is it fate or free will? If Oedipus is a victim, then he would be considered a victim to his fate, as he was destined by the oracle to marry his mother after slaying his father. On the other hand, if he is dubbed a hero, it would be due to the actions he made with his free will.

    Now, lets imagine, you wake up, only to see that you had clicked snooze one too many times, and you were running late. In a rush, you get toothpaste on your new outfit. As you rush into your car, you try to take a shortcut to make it on time, but at every traffic light you're met with a dreaded red. You walk into class, already late, and trip on a desk embarrassing yourself. To add insult to injury, you are met with a pop quiz, which you end up failing. When reflecting on this awful start to the day, naturally we would say we were bound to have a bad day. If the day was flipped however, and you arrived on time, clean new outfit, and ace the pop quiz, we would say it was all our own doing. 

    It's human nature to take the easy way out when things are hard, and take all the praises when things go our way. IF we apply this to Oedipus we can ask, is he really a hero made by his own free will, or is he a victim of his own fate? The boring answer to this cliche question would be both.