One’s character and the events that occur leads to one’s destiny. A character is an identity hidden behind a mask. It may be a hero. It may be a villain. Destiny is a lost young cub slowly crawling down a dark and mysterious path. Destiny is an unknown journey. Nothing is expected. Both character and destiny are well described in Sophocles’s play, Oedipus Rex. Oedipus’s character, thoughts and actions combined with random events determined his fate.
Oedipus fits Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero as a good man because as king, Oedipus had to find the murderer of Laius. Otherwise, more civilians in the community would continue to die from the plague. During the scene when Creon explained to Oedipus that the killer of Laius must be revealed in order to stop the plague, Oedipus showed his concern for the people. Oedipus agreed to the people that he will
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Their plight concerns me now, more than my life.
Creon: This, then, is the answer, and this the plain command of Phoebus our lord. There is an unclean thing, born and nursed on our soil, polluting our soil, which must be driven away, not kept to destroy us. (Sophocles, 28).
Even though Oedipus discovered the truth and saved the entire community from dying because of the plague, he suffered the consequences for killing Laius. Oedipus is not secretive person. He is a good king because he cared for the life and death of his people, but it is his character flaw that turned everything around. Also, during the scene when Oedipus spoke to the Chorus about the punishment the killer would receive if the killer confessed as the murderer of Laius, there were many long silences.
Oedipus: That killed Laius, the son of Labdacus, let him declare it fully, now, to me. He pauses: there is silence. Or if any man’s conscience is guilty, let him give himself up. He will suffer the less. His fate will be nothing worse than banishment. No other harm will touch him. The hearers are still silent. (Sophocles,