Creon's Power In Antigone

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“Tell me briefly—not in some lengthy speech— were you aware there was a proclamation forbidding what you did?” (503-505). The actions, context of Antigone’s words, and also the ideas she proposed, very indepthly contrasted with Creon’s character. Thus resulting in there being a verbal confrontation between the two characters. The conflict between the two caused conflicting motivations such as stubbornness, disrespect, and anger to be projected with Creon’s character. Ultimately, these conflicting motivations develop Creon as a tragic hero by portraying that he knew, the decisions he made were of error, and the character interactions advance the plot by causing conflict throughout the play. Creon had also begun to change throughout the play,

Lily Bryden Kessler English II 14 May 2024 Pride in “Antigone” In the play Antigone, pride is a major theme throughout the play, being the reason that Polyneices isn’t buried, and the reason the conflict begins. One of the major characters in the play, the King Creon, is an example of this extreme pride. Creon’s pride is his downfall, causing all of the misery in the play to come to him so suddenly. For example, in the 3rd scene of the play, Haemon, Creon’s son, tries to convince him to rethink his decision on imprisoning Antigone.

In the Greek tragedy Antigone, Sophocles writes that Creon has risen to power after the fall of Oedipus and has initiated new laws. When he is first introduced, Creon is represented as a strong leader who will not accept defiance, saying “...now I hold sole power and the throne…” (173-174). Sophocles wrote him at this part of the play as being an extreme leader through his actions, saying “...in this city he [Polyneices] shall be neither buried nor mourned…” (207-280) and declaring the necessity of who should do what. Additionally, Creon uses many statements regarding obedience

What would it be like to live in a city where rebellion was always looming on the horizon and all who opposed the king were silenced? The central topic of “Antigone” is the constant battle between rules and laws of the world and the opposing power of both gods and men. “Antigone” captured how the balance of power in Thebes was constantly shifting and how easily a small decision could alter the harmony between people in the entire city. Creon’s decisions showed how power and determination do not always equate to intelligence or competence.

People that are seduced by hate and darkness, that have power, use their power in dark, negative, vindictive ways. Power can have a negative effect on others when people use it in a controlling or dictating way. Power can influence people in a negative way. When people are influenced by this negativity it turns them into dictators. These dictators use their power to force people, under their rule, to do their bidding.

The brothers were in battle because Eteocles was kicked out of his kingdom and he wanted to take back what was gonna be his, so he took some men and brought them to his old kingdom to fight his brother to the death. They ended up killing each other in battle which lead their uncle Creon to become king and Antigone wanted to bury her brother but since he was considered a traitor the king forbid it from happening. She still got to put dirt over his body and the sentry saw and told Creon about it and he was furious so they took the dirt off of the body.

First off, Ismene, Antigone’s sister, actually was the one that incited Antigone's actions that led to everything else that happened in the story. Without Ismene, there would not be a plot. In lines 52-59, Ismene said to Antigone “What? You'd bury him— when a law forbids the city?” Antigone replied “Yes! He is my brother and—deny it as you will—your brother too. No one will ever convict me for a traitor.” Ismene said “So desperate, and Creon has expressly—” and Antigone interrupted with “He has no right to keep me from my own.” Here Ismene is telling Antigone that her actions are not something that are legal and that comply with Creon’s laws. Antigone, being hard-headed, decides that she is not going to let a law determine what she does for

Legitimate power might lead to people having to do tough decisions in order to maintain and do the responsibilities that come with the power of being king. Creon is willing to kill his niece in order to maintain the roles that come with king. One of them is to keep and maintaining order. In order to this it is necessary to practice the law and show the public that no one is above it, not even the daughter of the former king. The reward of doing this is having subordinate citizens.

In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, there is a major kind of conflicts between Creon and Antigone. The major decision whether to bury Antigone’s brother, Polynecies, had set a major conflict with Creon and whoever had interacted with him. Creon is a perfect definition of a tragic hero, he goes from someone who had a high status and title to someone who lost everything. The process of Creon being a tragic hero didn’t happen naturally though, many events had taken place to which Creon’s mood and actions had started to change. In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, Creon had said, “Old man, you’re all like archers shooting at me — For you all I’ve now become your target — even prophets had been aiming at me.

A tragic hero, a literary character who makes judgement error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. That definition perfectly describes Creon in the story of Antigone. Creon, the king of Thebes, didn’t obtain the power of king first. He obtained the throne because his two nephews, sons of Oedipus, died in a battle against each other. Being the next person in line to be a king,Creon took it.

Creon says, “what sayest thou? What living man hath dared this deed?”(Sophocles) Once again, Creon expects the culprit to be a man. By giving Polyneices a burial, Antigone challenges Creon in several ways. First, Antigone disobeyed Creon’s order undermined his power as the King of Thebes.

There have been many tragic stories throughout history and all of them had showed us tragic heroes. One of the famous tragedies is Antigone, a story about a girl who tried to bury her so-called traitorous brother Polyneices. To me the tragic hero in this story is infact the king of Thebes, Creon. In the story there is evidence how Creon is the tragic hero, because he has a supreme amount of pride, a strong sense of commitment, and transfiguration throughout this story.

The hubris resonating throughout the play, ‘Antigone’ is seen in the characters of Creon and Antigone. Their pride causes them to act impulsively, resulting in their individual downfalls. In his opening speech, Creon makes his motives clear, that “no man who is his country’s enemy shall call himself my friend.” This part of his declaration was kept to the letter, as he refused burial for his nephew, Polynices. However, when the situation arises where it is crucial that Creon takes advice, he neglects the part of the speech where he says “a king... unwilling to seek advice is damned.” This results in Creon’s tragic undoing.

Instead of considering the people's interests, he seeks vengeance towards those who have wounded his pride. In fact, he accuses Teiresias, the most insightful messenger in Sophocles' plays, of yielding to greed for material wealth when Teiresias warns Creon of the consequences of his actions. Creon's decision "to use any legal means...both about the dead and [living]" (168) demonstrates how his appetite for revenge ultimately transforms any of his noble intents to protect Thebes into a mere conflict for power, particularly worsened by Antigone's rebellious actions; instead of trusting the gods to punish Polyneices, he uses his authority to indulge in his vengeance.