VCCS Litonline Introduction to Literature English 112 (English Composition II)

He probably fits the definition of "hero" more closely than either Richard Nixon or John F. Kennedy, but remember, it is possible to be a hero without necessarily being a tragic hero.

Martin Luther King's life ended on a high note, not in a downfall. True, his leadership was being challenged by some, but he was still, at the time of his death, the preeminent civil rights leader in America. And his death was not the result of a long, painful decline (such as we see in Oedipus).

Another consideration about Martin Luther King, Jr. Is his status as hero in any way harmed by the recent revelations about his various sexual affairs? Does that intrusion into his private life make it more difficult to see him as "noble, a man of high character"? (Would Oedipus be diminished if we were told that he had been sleeping with several of the courtesans in the palace at Thebes?)