Throughout the story of Antigone, written by Sophocles, the minor characters play different significant roles during the play. They are able to influence many of the major characters by their different actions. Without the use of minor characters, many of the important decisions made by major characters would not have been made during the play. There are many characters who were able to influence the king, Creon. Specifically, the minor character, Leader, plays a major role in the character development of Creon, from the beginning to the end of the play. Leader uses his actions, and unique word choices to influence the decisions that Creon will make throughout the play.
During the beginning of the book, leader’s effect on the king, Creon,
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Through only one sentence, Leader is able to change his entire view on a topic. On page 30 of Antigone, Leader asks one question, which in turn has the effect of enraging Creon. He inquired, “I have been wondering, King: can it be that the gods have done this?” From this statement, Creon can not bear to even think of this thought, becoming a completely different person, “Stop! Must you doddering wrecks Go out of your heads entirely? “The gods!” Intolerable! The gods favor this corpse? Why?...Is it your senile opinion that the gods love to honor bad men? A pious thought! ––” This presents the fact that as the story is continuing, Creon is becoming progressively susceptible to Leader’s thoughts and actions, whether or not they are positive or negative. On page 33, Leader is able to subtly influence Creon, by creating a unique word structure. He asks Creon, “ Do you really intend to steal this girl from your son?” Creon responds, “ No; Death will do that for me. / Leader: Then she must die?” By addressing Creon in the form of a question, Leader is able to reassure Creon that she must die. This impacts Creon because if he had any doubts, Leader’s question confirmed that he was correct in his decision in the first place, which is exactly what Leader had intended to do when asking if she must die; eliminate Creon’s doubts about killing …show more content…
At this point, Creon completely relies on the counsel and actions of Leader, and he no longer tries to come to conclusions of his own, rather Leader advises him of what he should do, and Creon complies with every word, with no doubts in his mind. On page 48, Leader asked, “These girls? You have sentenced them both? / Creon: No, you are right, I will not kill the one whose hands are clean.” Creon admits that Leader was the one who was right, and does as he says. He does not question Leader’s opinion, instead blatantly says that he is right, and moves on from the topic at hand. Following this, on page 54, Creon inquires of Leader, “What should I do?”, Leader responds, “Go quickly: free Antigone from her vault, And build a tomb for the body of Polyneices.” Not only does Creon do exactly what Leader says, but he was the one to initiate the conversation. Creon came to Leader to ask him for his guidance, rather than leader being the first to go to the king and offer his advice. Near the end of the book, on page 73, Leader has all but taken over the kingdom. He is the only one who offers insight to Creon, and the only one who Creon will listen to. He told Creon, “ You must go yourself, you cannot leave it to others.
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
Creon is a man of principles, who is devoted to the state as well as upholding the law in a dominant and control freak type of manner. Creon uses his first speech as a way to explain his ideas, expectations of the people, and his first law regarding the body of Polynices. Knowing the people of Thebes will disregard his word, he explains to the populace that, “Whoever places a friend above the good of his own country, he is nothing”(67). He brings up the threat of death due to the uncertainty of future rebellion and clearly states, “Our country is our safety”(68). This type of indoctrination starts from the head and trickles its way down to the people regardless of whether they want it or not. Bribery is another one of his major concerns. Knowing that corruption leads to dysfunction, rebellion, and torment, Creon poetically makes another law regarding, “Money! Nothing worse in our lives, so current, rampant, so corrupting… No limit, you make them adept at every kind of outrage, every godless crime-money!...
Creon orders the guards to take Antigone away not caring for his son's feelings, since she is his fiancée. Creon feels the law should stand despite the fact that Antigone was his niece or how moral her act was. "Bring her [Antigone] out! Let her die before his eyes..." (Scene 3, 130). This quotes shows that Creon took his position as king seriously to the point where in he was willing to sacrifice the feelings of his own son. He was willing to be the cause of son's destruction just to prove that he is the king and always right. "I will go... I buried her, I will set her free" (scene 5, 102,104). Not only does this quote show leadership but also stubbornness he was risking his relationship with his son to prove that he was the leader of Thebes. Creon says another quote which shows his loyalty to his kingdom, "I call to God to witness that if I saw my country headed for ruin, I should not be afraid to speak out plainly," (Sophocles, scene 1,24-26). It shows his strong sense of leadership which catches up with him in the end causing destruction.
Creon has to live with the consequences of his actions. His bad characteristics overcame the good but lost in the end. He
perspectives. Creon 's pride causes him to be afraid to admit that he has made a
Creon states “am I to rule this land for others, or myself”? (Sophocles, 441 BC, line 823). This statement shows how Creon has little consideration for others around him. He does not care that
Throughout the whole play, Creon has not kept himself from showing his unruly attitude towards all the characters about his decisions for the people. There were many occasions in
Creon asks, “Am I to rule this land at someone else’s whim or by myself?” (Line 838-839) The interaction with Haemon demonstrates how hot-tempered Creon is, especially when he feels that his authority is in question. When Haemon says, “That’s true if you’re the woman, than I am concerned for you.” (Line 848) Haemon is also saying this after being insulted and is still calm and it is showing that Creon gets angry easily. Creon gets mad, even when he is having a normal conversation with
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 becomes so prideful to the point where he will not listen to anyone, and will not acknowledge he is wrong. During a conversation with Haemon, Creon tells him, “No. I am king, and only
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.
Creon is saying that he is the one in power, the one making a difference and is not up for the idea’s of the other civilians. With him saying that his voice is the only one that matters it showed much of a dictator he was to the
The play Antigone by Sophocles is a play like no other. There are three major themes or ideas which have a very important role in the play. The first major theme is fate, on how the play comes about and the turn of events that come about throughout it. Another main theme or idea is the pride the characters have and their unwillingness they have to change their minds once they are set on something. The last major theme is loyalty and the practical problem of conduct involving which is a higher law between the divine laws and those of the humans. It is an issue of which law is the "right" law, and if Creon and Antigone's acts are justifiable or not. The issues that Antigone and Creon have between them
A good leader will need that charistic in order to become successful. In his speech he tells everyone his goals, telling them what he wants done. Using indirect characterization, a reader can easily conclude that King Creon is a good leader and will bring prosperity in the future and that he is very proud of his stance of his class. Sadly, his pride is one of his downfalls, dragging him down.
Creon’s leadership style “involves centralized decision making, with the leader making decisions and using power to command and control others” (Kelly, 8). This is also known as an autocratic leadership style. Autocratic leaders such as Creon, doubt their subordinate’s ability, and closely oversee and dictate people beneath them. They are dead set on their followers’ simple obeying their commands and are less troubled with outside opinions. Creon clearly illustrates this behavior in the conversation with his son, Haemon (lines 630-760).