In the play “Antigone” by Sophocles, one learns that the leader King Creon is consumed in his pride and realizes his mistakes far too late. Creon puts his country before anyone else which ended up in his own defeat as a leader because his pride has blinded him and does not allow him to see that his actions are adding up to be a big disaster. In the passage “ A Raisin In The Sun” by Hansberry, Mama Lena (the leader) differs from Creon because she leads her people in a different way. She decides to put them before anything else and pushes them to do better, to keep their pride at the right level. Similarly Creon and Mamá Lena both reveal that being a leader is not easy and that few leaders will know how to tell right from wrong. As Creon speaks …show more content…
Mamá Lena understands that in some situations one must accept their mistake and fix it. Unlike Creon who is stubborn and prideful. He will not accept the wrong he has done and that he needs to fix the mistakes. As Walter dwells on his sorrow, Mamá recognizes his aggressive behavior towards Ruth and angrily guides Walter, “Boy don’t you make that mistake of driving that girl away from you” (72). Mamá Lena has always taught her children to be proud of themselves, so they don’t recognize what they are doing wrong as they speak to one another. Their mentality is set on always being right, but Walter crossed the line. Mamá insists that Walter lowers his pride as a man and accepts that the way he treats his wife is a huge mistake. In the same exact situation, Creon does the opposite with his son Haemon. Haemon's lover, Antigone challenged Creon's power as she decided to bury her brother properly. When Antigone is locked away to pay her consequences, Haemon tries to convince his father to let her go but Creon tells Him “ She is poison. Spit her out” (396). Creon wants to influence his son to be prideful, but Haemon sees the world a different way than his father does. Creon wishes to make Antigone pay because she disrespected his law, yet Haemon understood she did no wrong in wanting to respect her brother's
Many great rulers have been tempted by the authority of absolute power. In Antigone, by Sophocles, Creon, the Theban king, will do anything in order to earn this absolute power. Creon’s prideful attitude, disregard of the authority of the gods, and failure to listen cause him to fail as a statesman, demonstrating the nature of kingship in Sophocles’s Antigone.
Haemon’s words, actions, and ideas contrast with Creon’s character of differing greatly and leading him to the death of his son at fault. “They say all women here, she least deserves the worst deaths for her most glorious act. When in the slaughter her own brother died, she did not just leave him there unburied, to be ripped apart by carrion dogs or birds.”(Lines 788-791) Haemon starts to reveal that he believes that Antigone, his fiance, deserves to not be killed over an act that she has not committed whether or not Creon think is was right. However, Antigone was following the law of the Gods, while Creon was abiding by the law of man. “A man who thinks that only he is wise, that he can speak and think like no one else, when such men are exposed, then we can all see their emptiness inside.”(Lines 803-806) However, when Haemon started to attempt to inform his father, Creon, whose refusal was so high to even consider not killing Antigone that he was only thinking of himself and that one death would lead to another. “Then she’ll die and in her death kill someone else.”(Lines 859) Creon then, only thought of his son as a woman slave. “You woman’s slave, don’t try and win over me.”(Lines 845-855) At first, Haemon looked up to his father, but now after his unsuitable behavior he has chosen not to follow his stubborn
After being locked up in a dark, damp cave, Antigone was fed up with wallowing in her own pity, and takes her own life by “hang[ing] by the neck in a fine linen noose, strangled in her veils,” (1347–1348). Seeing the graceful young woman embraced in the arms of his own son, Creon immediately swells with anger towards un-masculine Haemon because of his display of love, and the significance of Antigone’s death goes straight over his head. Her strong sense of self – knowing who she is, what she values, and what makes her happy – enables her to make regretless decisions that alter her time to come. One of those decisions instigated Haemon’s fate to be sealed as well, prompting Eurydice, mother of the prince, to join her son in the underworld. Not long after becoming aware of her child’s downfall, Eurydice sacrifices her life at the heart of the palace, and “raised a cry for the noble fate of Megareus, the hero killed in the first assault, then for Haemon, then with her dying breath she called down torments on [Creon’s] head–[Creon] killed her sons,” (1429–1432). Creon’s heart fills with grief, for the fault of these three deaths lies with him, and pathetic self-pities are the only thoughts running through his mind. Despite the three-deceased’s blood lying
Steffi Graf stated, “You can have a certain arrogance, and I think that's fine, but what you should never lose is the respect for the others.” This quote helps me prove that there's no point in someone having a high status, if they don’t treat their people right. They just get disrespected in return and become a low status in their people’s hearts. In Sophocles tragic play Antigone, King Creon’s self importance and high level of arrogance caused many consequences in the drama such as death itself and miscalculations of choice making. The King of Thebes thinks of himself better than everyone because of his power of the throne.
Creon is enraged to discover his decree has been disobeyed. When he learns it is Antigone, his niece, he asks her if she has heard the decree. She says yes, that the decree was declared publicly and openly -- she answers that she understands the consequences. Creon further asks Antigone if she is blatantly defying him. She replies that she is answering and obeying a higher law. Creon condemns her, and in doing so violates the unspoken law of loyalty to the family. Creon's will be done!
Would you rather not have conflicts in your life? Antigone is a play, based upon conflicts between the characters. Antigone is the sister of Polynices, who is dead. Polynices is considered a traitor to Creon and he doesn’t bury those who are against him. As conflicts occur, Antigone, Creon, and the Chorus argue on whether to have Polynices buried or not. Conflicts are a necessary part of life because of the changes that we run in to. It is appropriate to rebel and create conflict when we believe in doing the right thing to do, but someone is taking the necessary tool away from us so we can’t accomplish those goals. Also, it is appropriate to conform when violence gets out of hand. The changes that happen make us, the readers better individuals and once we have the conflicts solved, we won’t repeat the same mistakes and then conformity is possible.
Within these lines, Antigone reveals that she holds herself sanctimonious over her king by admitting his punishment is “nothing” compared to the “agony” she will face if she leaves her brother unburied. She also conveys a nonchalant attitude towards the repercussions of her action when she mocks Creon accusing him of being a “fool.” Although Antigone is aware that others such as her sister, Ismene and her fiancée, Haemon—the son of Creon, may suffer because of her act of civil disobedience, she is unwilling to abandon her protest to negotiate in a peaceful manner. This conduct implies that she does not completely comprehend the seriousness of her action or understand the weight of her crime rendering her approach inconsistent with King’s theory.
In the story “Antigone”, Sophocles shows that Creon’s attitude is very angry, making everyone sees him as a tyrant more than as a king. His regard for the laws of the town causes him to abandon most viewpoints, like the laws of the gods, or the rights of the people. He believes that his subjects should obey the laws he has set in place, even if moral or religious beliefs contradict his laws and beliefs. Creon’s idea of a good leader is one who maintains order through violence and fear. More over his arrogant, power-seeking personality prevented him from seeking out advice or listening to his own people.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way,and shows the way.”-John c. Maxwell. If it wasn't for leaders we would be nowhere in life. Someone has to take the reins and lead. I have always been amazed watching leaders help people down in the dark to rise and become a better individual. There has been a vast amount of leaders that have inspired me with everyday life to at school helping me with assignments. Innumerable of these inspirations have been as low as family members to great stars across the world. One day I will rise and become a leader for the great country of mine. After reading the play Antigone by Sophocles, I feel that me and the character Creon compare with Surroundings, Discipline, and Family.
A leader is someone who leads or commands a group, organization, or country, in Antigone Creon is a good leader. Creon leads the city of Thebes as a ruler, he is very powerful as a leader and takes his job seriously, while some of the decisions he made were not the best he was a good leader because of his qualities. Creon had punishments for the laws that were broken and Creon didn't want the laws that he made broken. Creon also understands that to be a good leader he had to prove himeself and there will always be setbacks in leadership that cause you too need a backbone. You can’t just walk into a country as a leader and tell everyone what to do and they would trust you. Finally Creon had a lot of pride and while this pride is for himself it also helps the county and
In the beginning lines of Sophocles’s Antigone, Antigone pulls her sister outside the gates “where no one else can hear” when she declares that she will defy Kreon’s orders to not bury Polyneikes (l. 25). She illustrates an innate knowledge of the power that her words carry and the danger that is inherent in the possibility of her bold statements being overheard or repeated. Similarly, in Shakespeare’s King Lear, Cordelia expresses a similar knowledge when her father, King Lear, asks her to profess her love and she refuses because she loves him “according to [her] bond, no more nor less” (1.1.102). Cordelia responds to Lear with silence because she understands that the spoken word carries power, which can significantly influence the
Creon's noble quality is his caring for Antigone and Ismene when their father was persecuted. Creon is a very authoritative person and demands control of others. When talking to the Chorus, Creon does not ask them to agree with the decree but demands that they follow it. Creon expects loyalty from others. It is apparent that Creon is very dominating and wants to be in control. "The man the city sets up in authority must be obeyed in small things and in just but also in their opposites"(717-719). Through this quote the reader realizes that Creon wants obedience in everything he decides even if he is at fault. "There is nothing worse than disobedience to authority" (723-724). Further supporting Creon's belief that everyone shall remain faithful to him even if he rules unfairly. This is proved true when Creon says, "Should the city tell me how I am to rule them?" (790).
Creon's character possesses an infinite number of glitches in his personality, but his excessive pride was the root of his problems. His pride leads him to make accusations, before he considers the wise advice of others. Creon's pride also fills him not just as a king superior to the Gods, but also a man superior to women. The issue of Antigone being condemned to die becomes more than just a person who disobeys Creon; instead, the punishment is given even more eagerly, because it is a woman who disobeys a man. Creon's intelligent son warns Creon the people of Thebes sympathize with Antigone, but Creon accuses Haemon of being a "woman's slave" (line 756). Even though he is suppose to be loyal to the state and her citizens, he defensively questions if "the town [is] to tell [him] how [he] ought to rule?"(Line 734)The Theban king is too prideful to obey even the wisest of prophets, blind Teresias, insisting that "the whole crew of seers are money-mad" (line 1055). Creon finally puts his pride aside and listens to the Chorus' wise advice. It is difficult even then, and he obeys only because he fears the punishment that he might receive. "To yield [for Creon] is terrible" (line 1095) meaning to swallow his pride and admit that he is wrong is a very difficult thing for him to do. When Creon loses his wife and son, Creon's pride disappears, and he admits that he made a terrible mistake by not listening to anyone's advice.
In this play Sophocles , argues how the same members of the family are the most powerful tragic, for example, Haemon argues with Creon about the latter’s decision to punish Antigone .Haemon is torn between too powerful allegiances of his father and of his love Antigone. He help protect Antigone by speaking to his father on her behalf, by saying, “They say no woman has ever, so unreasonably, Died so shameful a death for a generous act, She covered her brother’s body. Is this indecent, She kept him from dogs and vultures. Is this a crime, Death, She should have all the honor that we can give her!”(Sophocles, 2028). Haemon argue how noble and good Antigone actions were and why she shouldn’t be punished for doing something the gods clearly stated that they should have done. Haemon understand that
You shall leave him without burial...” (222). Opposing the king, she neglects the decree and is now to die at the orders of the law for being disobedient; yet Antigone proudly states her crime. There is no sign of remorse shown by Creon as he states: “No; though she were my sister’s child or closer in blood than all that my hearth god acknowledges as mine, neither she nor her sister should escape the utmost sentence-death” (530-33). Bobrick, explains that Creon values the love for his land more than he values family and this becomes a struggle for Antigone as it becomes a fight between obeying the laws of man and the laws of the god’s. The second struggle Antigone faces comes when she realizes she is alone. Antigone confides in her sister Ismene with her plans to disobey Creon; but Ismene, a clear example of how a lady was obliged to be in this time, urges Antigone not to commit the act. Antigone rejects her advice and declares that Ismene is an enemy to her now (41): “If you talk like this I will loathe you, and you will be adjudged an enemy…” (109-10). Antigone must fight on her own. Thirdly, per Bobrick, Antigone