Hero? The American Heritage Dictionary

¶ … Hero?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a hero as "a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life, and a person noted for special achievement in a particular field." However upon reading our assigned readings for this class, it seems to me that being able to courageously and effectively overcome adversity without sacrificing your morality or values is what truly makes someone a hero. After all, it is not adversity itself that makes a person strong, but the way that they react to it.

The part of the dictionary definition that says "one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life" shows that heroes are not only willing to fight for what they believe in, but are also willing to die for it. Most people have always been captivated by the strength of those willing to give up their own lives for a cause they strongly believe in, because most people would be willing to make that sacrifice themselves. Therefore they admire people who have the courage to do something they could never do, and consider them to be a hero.

People also like their heroes to have some flaws because that makes them human and relatable. Otherwise they just seem like cartoon characters. In Oedipus Rex, the audience knows more than Oedipus early in the play and may feel a sense of revulsion and pity apart from anything the characters feel at the sight of him with Jocasta. Oedipus's eventually anguished recognition of his own involvement in his destruction produces great pain that the audience has anticipated all along, but is entirely shocking to the protagonist.

Oedipus' search for the murderers, and his search for the cause of the city's plague, constitutes the play's action, while at the same time, confirming his status as a tragic hero. The positive value that most people place on a character's ability to face their demons is traditionally what defines a "hero." What defines a "tragic hero" is when facing those demons is too much for the protagonist to handle, which is the case in this play. But this lack of unwavering strength and courage is what makes the character of Oedipus seem human, and therefore relatable to the audience. If his reaction to the truth had shown nothing but strength, he would seem more like a cardboard cut-out than a human being.

A hero is more noble and more human when he must overcome his flaws and life's adversities. This may be why literary heroes have appealed to readers across many different cultures and over many different eras in history; because they represent the deepest and most respected ideals of human behavior, without extending too far beyond the constraints of believability. The journeys taken by the heroes essentially become our own journeys, while the challenges and adversities they face and overcome inspire confidence that we may be capable of such noble achievements ourselves.