Creon Ambition

In the play Antigone by Sophocles Creon is the king of Thebes. In this piece Creon becomes overwhelmed with the power given to him as king. The result is Creon turning into a corrupt king. He orders laws that must be followed with consequences of death. He uses the body of his nephew, Polyneices, as a way of frightening the people into submission. And finally Creon walls up his niece, Antigone, to die because she disobeyed him. Such actions can not be justified and ultimately makes Creon a bad ruler.

Creon is a strong headed guy who will not listen to anybody but himself because he’s the king. When he speaks to everyone he always ends up insulting them and saying stuff that he ends up regretting like; “They did not want to obey me! And, I know this very well, whoever did this, did it because he was paid money by these malcontents.” Creon thinks that everyone has to listen to him that he’s the best Creon is very arrogant he is full of himself he thinks that no one is more powerful than him. Another quote is “Me nothing, with that i have everything.” He is the kind he controls everything but not anyone. Creon thinks everyone is like a slave to them because he’s the king his “power” goes to his head and he won’t listen to anyone.Creon is full of power in his head he is selfish and stubborn. He doesn’t deserve to be a king. Creon is prideful, he won’t let anyone speak up to him or tell him what to do. He also says “Am i to rule this land at someone else’s whim or myself?”

Creon is a man who has just become the king of Thebes and has a flaw of having too much pride. He can’t control the power of being over other people and he lets the power go to his head. “ I now possess the throne and all its powers. No, he must be left unburied, his corpse carrion for the birds and dogs

John Lennon said, “Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.” Hubris, or excessive pride, was one of the biggest themes in Ancient Greek culture. It has what killed heroes, and destroyed villains in mythology and even real life. In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, I share the battle that Creon has regarding a conflict of personal character, which leads to the deaths of others caused by his tremendously large ego.

In the play Antigone, Creon starts off as the loyal king of Thebes. He is loyal to the gods and loyal to the welfare of Thebes. However, over the course of the play, Creon degenerates into a tyrant. His degeneration is showing his character development. Creon’s pride about the human law also develops throughout the play, creating conflict with the divine law. When Antigone rebels against his law, he becomes stubborn, and makes myopic decisions and grows into his hamartia. Besides his hamartia, Creon’s position as the king makes him a power hungry man. His power madness degenerates him into becoming a ruthless and vindictive man, even to his family. However, over the course of the play, Creon begins to see that because of the laws of men, he was being blinded of what’s

Creon is an antagonist of the play because he refuses to allow Antigone to bury her brother Polyneices, . The antagonist often shares some of the most notable traits as the protagonist, although for different reasons. Creon doesn’t listen to anyone. He is stubborn and his pride is so great, he can’t bring himself to acknowledge that he could ever be wrong. Creon knows that the only reasonable way to promote peace in Thebes is to be strict in his punishment of those who attacked Thebes. This includes Polyneices, since he was the one who led the attack against Thebes. The range of motives he can understand is limited, including “lust for power and greed for money”(Winnington 4). He believes he is on the only possible path and his goal is noble. He is the hero of his own story and wants something that he has thought about, considered and has decided to go after. Creon rejects the rules laid down

Creon came into power when Oedipus was exiled and died. Throughout the play, Antigone, Creon exemplifies many characteristics. Some are selfishness, stubbornness, and pride. He is selfish because he does only want he wants to do and listens to no one else. He shows his stubbornness when he is unwilling to let Antigone live even

Creon starts off in the play as the king of Thebes, which I found ironic because in Oedipus King he pretty much said he would never want to be king because there is too much

After appeasing the Chorus and the audience, Creon justifies his right to rule the state, legitimizing this takeover of power. He states that he “now possess(es) the throne and all its powers, as I [he] is closet kin to the dead.” Creon reiterates that his takeover was not due to individual reasons or his greed, but because of his divine rights. By putting his transferal of power due to the gods, the Chorus will be less likely to question his right to rule Thebes. Creon, as the new ruler from the gods, showcases his ability to rule by stating his principles as “a man in command of an entire city.” His political ideals largely consist of placing loyalty to polis over philos and structuring it before the justification of handing out such a proclamation seems to iterate that his proclamation was not due to his love of kin (philos) but due to his strict political approach and loyalty towards the city state (polis). Creon, as a prudent, astute politician, assigns such a structure to his speech and links the different contexts with discourse markers because in doing so, he first gains the trust and confidence of the Elders, a central party of Thebes, then justifies his power and his ability and finally provides an explanation of his proclamation regarding the diverse treatment provided to the

Creon’s was used to being the hero of Thebes after repairing the damage Oedipus’ horrifying end had caused, now he was faced with an uncomfortable choice. Being the new reigning monarch of Thebes, his morals were centered around keeping himself monarch. As a result, Creon’s selfishness tipped his internal scales3 of what was just and what was not. His pride was so great that he not only refused to bury the revolutionary, Polyneices, but declared, “he’ll have no burial mound, no

Throughout the play, Creon shows many examples of how he is imperfect. One example would be how he believes that the state is primary to his family and relationships, “If this is your pleasure, Creon, treating our city’s enemy and our friend this way … the power is yours, I suppose, to enforce it with the laws, both for the dead and all of us, the living,” this quotation said by the leader of the chorus describes how the elder people of Thebes respect their family more than the state, but they held back on their opinions, knowing of what Creon, the leader, wanted to hear (235-240). Another example of how Creon shows the audience of how he is imperfect is when, Creon meets with Haemon. Creon argues with Haemon about how people should act towards the country which they reside in, “But whoever steps out of line, violates the laws or presumes to hand out orders to his superiors, he’ll win no praise from me. But that man the city places in authority, his orders must be obeyed, large and small, right and wrong,” Creon believes since he has the highest throne in his country, that he should be obeyed whether the circumstance (745-751). Lastly, Creon demonstrates to the audience that he is imperfect by wanting to protect his country too much. This is visible when Creon sentences Antigone to a slow death, because of burying her brother, who was outcasted as a traitor. Creon put the state over his family which will lead to the complete

Creon is first portrayed as a leader with rational laws and consequences for breaking them. But by the end of the play, Creon is a completely different character; he has let his excessive pride and hubris take over him. He doesn’t realize his change in character until it is brought to him through the prophecy of Teiresias, when it is already too late. Creon can be identified as a tragic hero because he shows great signs of stubbornness and pride. Considering he is the King of Thebes, he follows his rules and laws without listening to his citizen’s concerns, nor does he care about the gods wishes. His role as a hubris influences many of his choices, he believes in only his own thoughts and wishes. Creon abuses his power just because he can, without thinking of the consequences.

Due to his unwavering pride and refusal to see through the eyes of others, Creon falls from his position of immense power and wealth which in the end doesn’t matter because all his loved ones and family are now dead.

Before advancing to the throne, Oedipus had unknowingly killed Laius, his father and the king of Thebes. Shortly after killing the king, he married the dead king’s wife, his mother. He had committed incest by marrying and having children with his own mother. As a result he became father of Polyneices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. Oedipus stabs his eyes out and his sons, Polyneices and Eteocles killed themselves in combat, over the power of the throne. Creon was in the process of reconstructing Thebes from the ruins that his own family created. He also had to make a name for himself, after all the chaos the past rulers had made. If Creon did not set an example for civilians they would simply rebel. Creon was to stand firm by his word because no one is above the law, no matter who committed the act. In other words Creon was not a villain; he was the antagonist of Antigone. Imagine how biased Creon would appear to the Theban population if he did not pursue the punishment that he himself had instituted. In agreement to his law, Creon’s intentions were just. There’s no doubt about it, Creon’s law was harsh but when truly analyzing the situation, Polyneices was a traitor because he allied with other cities and attacked his homeland. Creon’s strong and steadfast attitudes were to support Thebes. But unfortunately, he was a little too late to understand that his fierce dedication to his decree was an error on his part.

To him, the state is everything and the people’s respect for its authority is in fact its power. With the frame of mind, Creon governs Thebes with an iron fist, and like many other rulers of the past, obsessively controls everything that happens within his territory.