In the play Oedipus Rex, is Oedipus a blameless victim of his own ignorance?Or is he a victim of his own bad choices and pride? Explain.

Many students get off topic when they discuss Oedipus' fate using events that happen before the play begins.  This leads to simple determinism and fatalism, not to mention mere plot summary.

STICK TO EVENTS IN THE PLAY.  If you do, I think you will find that he has a choice.  The play can be read existentially this way, in that humans always have (or should be given choices) regarding fate.

Remember, Creon says, "who seeks shall find; who sits with folded hands or sleeps is blind."  Oedipus seeks and chooses to find the truth regarding his past.  He chooses to be angry at Creon, at Tiresias, and then at himself.  He chooses to be arrogant.  He chooses to act swiftly in his role as judge, jury, prosecutor, defendant.  He chooses not to be blind to his past.  He chooses to blind himself.  He chooses not to suicide, like Jocasta.

The fact that his present choice to not be blind to his past leads him to uncover a series of past blindness does not mean he is a victim of fate.  Good choices can uncover bad ones.  This is the dramatic arc of irony, tragedy, and absurdity.  It makes no sense, but Oedipus chooses to accept it anyway and lives with dignity nonetheless.

That Oedipus accepts his choices and not his fate is what makes him, according to Camus (the great absurdist philosopher and author), an absurd hero.  So says Camus:

Thus, Oedipus at the outset obeys fate without knowing it. But from the moment he knows, his tragedy begins. Yet at the same time, blind and desperate, he realizes that the only bond linking him to the world is the cool hand of a girl. Then a tremendous remark rings out: "Despite so many ordeals, my advanced age and the nobility of my soul make me conclude that all is well." Sophocles' Oedipus, like Dostoevsky's Kirilov, thus gives the recipe for the absurd victory. Ancient wisdom confirms modern heroism.

If you stick to the play (and not the events preceding), and focus on the moment Oedipus realizes that he has ironically obeyed fate through a series of bad choices, then you will realize that he has victory over his fate, the gods, determinism, and death.