Examples Of Power In Antigone

Power is the ability to control people in their actions. It gives you leverage over others. Power is like a drug, the more we have the more we want. Power makes people think their unstoppable. Our history proves how power corrupts people.

To have “power” means that one has authority, and having authority gives you the right to control or command, but for many, receiving a surplus of power and authority strips them of their morals and corrupts them. Sophocles uses Creon in Antigone as an example of the side effects of gaining power. Due to an abundance of power, Creon’s character goes through a metamorphosis in which he becomes a corrupted person. Creon becomes unrecognizable after becoming King and his character transitions to personify all the evil that comes along with gaining a large amount of power. Sophocles uses Creon’s character to convey that power causes one to believe that they are above everyone and everything else, including the laws of the gods, and leads them to

In the specific Haimon passage in Anne Carson’s translation of Antigone by Sophokles, many literary devices are used to portray Haimon’s disagreement with his father, Kreon. Kreon, uncle to Antigone, wishes to order Antigone to her death for disobeying his law prohibiting the burial of her brother, Polyneikes. Haimon fights his father not to kill Antigone, who also happens to be his fiance. Through the use of imagery, personification, and character, Haimon stands against his father, and pleads his case in support of Antigone.

Power is a negative concept that turns people against each other if power is used in a wrong way.

Imagine a dictator controlling a country making everyone fear him by using violence and by killing millions and no one can stop him. Which shows that when a leader gains too much power and misuses it, it will affect the citizens of that society. People with too much power has a negative effect on a society by making them fearful and using violence. People who has power will have a negative effect by creating fear in the society. When Creon threatens the sentry by saying he will torture and kill him if he doesn’t succeed in the task he was given in Antigone by Sophocles.

King Creon of Thebes in the play Antigone has inherited the throne after his nephew/brother-in-law Oedipus was killed and his two sons fought each other for the crown but killed each other in the end. Creon, when officially crowned, declared that Eteocles was a hero and deserved a proper soldiers burial, but Polyneices was a criminal and his body is to remain on the field he died in and no one was to bury him. Antigone, the main character of the story and Creon's niece, decided that the edict was against the God’s ways and to bury Polyneices herself. Creon slowly became unhinged after he found out someone

Fear. Oppression. Power. These are the things Bad Leaders use for control over their people. Negative power has an impact on others.

Thomas More refuses Henry’s command to take the oath because it violates his conscience. He defines his conscience and morality by two main duties, one to God and a lesser one to the law. By putting King Henry at the head of the church, the oath violates his duty to both. The Pope is the rightful head of the Church as the descendant of St. Peter, so the oath is “directly repugnant to the law of God and His Holy Church, the supreme government,” and More cannot take it (A Man for All Seasons). He also has a duty to his kingdom and the civil laws that govern it, which is secondary to his duty to God (he states that he is God’s servant before he is the King’s).

In the hands of the just, upright, and pure, power can be a great asset but in the wrong hands power can be a horrid disaster. Often power is thought of as good but sometimes like here in Antigone it is more of a hurtful thing that leads to pain and suffering. Therefore, power has a negative effect on the majority of people because death is often tied to power in someway due to a controlling leader.

The “do as I say,” mentality has never ended well. Power has a negative effect on others because the people become afraid and weak when they are controlled and dominated.

Greek dramas often contained a singular view on historical ideas or people. This is demonstrated in the two Greek tragedies, Antigone by Sophocles and the Bacchae by Euripides V. The tragedy Antigone, critiques a Kreon who rules with fear and pride and suffers a tremendous tragedy, while the Bacchae praises Pentheus for attempting to regain control over his chaotic city yet still suffer an undesirable fate. Both tragedies focus on different aspects of political power.

Sophocles’s Antigone depicts the clash of an unstoppable force and an unmovable object. The two main characters disagree rather vehemently over the issue of Polyneices burial, and neither is willing to compromise. Dean Kozol expanded on this in her lecture by saying, “Antigone’s power lies in her refusal to listen to anyone but her own conscience.” This is certainly true; not once does she waver or regret her decision. She practically disowns her sister for refusing to help her bury Polyneices, and holds her ground when Creon questions her actions. She takes her resolution to her grave, and that can definitely be considered a form of power.

Power, positivity, people, and perfection. Many plebeians around the world take on the role of being in power, from bosses to parents. Power is often seen as a negative thing, but many leaders around the terrene make power a positive thing. Positive people in power has a significance on others, because they make good decisions and establish trust. People with a position in power affect others in practical way by making good decisions.

Power is like a virus, once it gets to one’s head, they’re corrupt. In Sophocles’ Antigone, both of Antigone’s brothers killed each other at war for the throne of Thebes. Creon, the new king, only honors and buries one, Eteocles. Creon bans anyone from burying the other brother, Polyneices but Antigone decides that she will in order to honor her brother. Creon gives two speeches, one about how he’s going to rule and how he forbids anyone from burying Polyneices, and another about bribery and how money corrupts people. He says that money is the reason someone has betrayed him by burying Polyneices. In Antigone, Sophocles uses the characterization of Creon to reveal the negative effects in the development of power.

In Ancient Greece, as the government turns to democracy, an important political debate arises between two crucial topics, authority and family. If a leader, for example, creates a law to restrict his or her people, but a member of the leader’s family breaks the law, he or she must decide where loyalties lie. Sophocles enters this debate in his play Antigone when Antigone, Creon’s son’s fiancée, breaks a heavily enforced but possibly immoral law. Although Sophocles emphasizes the importance of authority, Antigone illustrates that family is held in higher regard, exhibited through Creon’s tragic downfall.