Examples Of Creon In Antigone

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 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 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

Teiresias: “You’ve thrown down to those below someone from up above- in your arrogance you’ve moved a living soul into a grave, leaving here a body owned by god's below- unburied, dispossessed, unsanctified.” (Lines 1196-1200). Teiresias has given Creon insight on how he drove his fate to its edge. In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon is portrayed as a tragic figure who functions as a tool for suffering because he had brought a series of unfortunate events to those who were close to him by not allowing his emotions to surpass his overwhelming power and taking drastic actions towards Antigone and Haemon leading to unwanted deaths.

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.

Even if he believes he is right and his son should obey him, he doesn’t show an ounce of sympathy for Haemon, who loves Antigone. Creon details his thoughts on the importance of the rule of law over other loyalties, and his belief that to allow any anarchy or, seemingly, freedom would threaten the state. Creon’s method of executing Antigone is interesting. By entombing a living person, Antigone, and denying burial to a dead person, Polynices, Creon’s laws seem to go against common sense, tradition, and nature itself. Creon does not keep a cool head, as a wise leader should, or look for a way to compromise. He is as stubborn as Antigone, as if this were a street fight, he feels he could never back down.

Through his actions Creon causes himself from being in complete control to losing everything, in Antigone, by Sophocles. Creon’s flaw of being arrogant causes him to lose everyone he loves because he chose not to listen to the advice of other people, causing him to lose complete control. Creon believes that since he is in charge he does not have to listen to other people and he is always right, his arrogance overtook him.

“ The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.” This is a quote from Sir Winston. The Greek Drama Antigone is about a girl who lost her parents and most recently her twin brothers. Creon the King of Thebes, and also her uncle, is new in possessing the throne and he established a law in which a burial for Polynices, Antigone’s brother, was forbidden. In the play, Sophocles’ purpose for writing about leadership was to convey that as a valuable leader they must know what their true values are, as well as, when to prioritize them, because they need to do what they think is best for the city, they need to listen to the opinion of others, and should still remain powerful.

The qualifications of a tragic hero vary between Aristotle and Shakespeare. Aristotle thinks of a tragic hero as someone who is a noble character by choice and makes his/her own destiny, while Shakespeare sees a tragic hero as someone who is born of nobility and born to be important. Although both tragic hero's end in a tragic death that effects many people, not all tragic hero's fit perfectly into both categories. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon is considered a tragic hero. Creon follows Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero by being a noble character by choice, having important potential, and falls due to "miscalculations" with circumstances that are beyond control.

Pride acts as another major theme; it is what got Creon in this situation in the first place. Creon has too much pride to admit to anyone that maybe he was wrong. Even when he has Antigone he has too much pride to let her go. Creon's own son questions him and he replies, "Am I to stand here and be lectured to by a kid? A man of my experience"(1063)!Creon shows that here he is too proud to change his decision for his own son even if he made the wrong choice. The king's friend the Leader tries to convince Creon to change his mind by telling him "My king, ever since he began I've been debuting in my mind, could this possibly be the work of the gods"(1050). The Leader was trying to tell

On page 774, he says, “The state is king!” which just shows his own pride has made him see that he is only right. Even though several people try to tell Creon that his pride will cause him to lose everything he does not listen. It is only when it is too late does Creon recognize his faults. If he had listened to his son Haimon, he would have understood what he said, “Not here, no; she will not die here, King. And you will never see my face again.” (page 775) If he had listened to his son and not focused only on himself, he would have realized what he was trying to convey. If he had understood what his son said he could have stopped Antigone from committing suicide. If she had not hanged herself, Haimon would not have killed himself and if he had not Eurydice wouldn't have either. It was a vicious cycle which could have been stopped if Creon had only listened to

A tragedy, as defined by Ms. Tozar, is “the story of a falling from a high place to a lower place by a character.” In other words, a tragedy is a story of an individual who starts in a high position and descends throughout the story to end in a position that is lower than original position. The individual who makes the descent is known as the tragic hero. The tragic hero, as defined by Ms. Tozar, is “the character who falls from grace as a result of fate and/or a weakness. In the drama, Antigone by Sophocles, one could argue that there are many tragic heroes. However, the one who stands above them all is that of the character of Creon. Creon is understood by most as the tragic hero in Antigone as evident in his

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).

All in all, Creon started out as a stereotypical, mean and power hungry ruler. Pitching two brothers against each other so he could have the throne, then making an unpopular and unnecessary law, he was not liked by the people. Breaking his sons heart by sentencing his fiance to death, and in turn breaking his wife's heart, he ended up alone. For the first time we see him lost. This makes him a better leader as he is now able to empathize with his people. His vulnerability helps him stay in his spot of