Antigone Creon A Good Leader

In the story, Antigone, Creon plays as the leader of Thebes which was handed to him in the first of the trilogy Oedipus the King. Creon has many great ideas, that may seem work, but one can see his failure as a leader. One can see that Creon is a bad leader because of his lawmaking, him playing as a villain, and also his disobedience to the gods. Creon is a self-centered king, he wants only what he wants, and does not care for what the people have to say. Creon having so much pride begins to fall as the pride grows more and more, as the story continues He is supposed to be someone who everyone can look up to, but he is really the villain of this story. The one thing affecting his full potential of good leadership; was the fact that his hubris

stood in the way.
Creon’s lawmaking and his unwillingness to bend his laws, is one of the reasons for his failure as a leader.

Creon goes out and states, “My voice is the one voice giving orders to this city. The state is the king!” (1091). This is saying that Creon is a tyrant because he is saying that whatever the people does not go, he is the main one who makes the decisions. He is so full of himself that he believes that he is the only one that should be obeyed, and that his people should follow him blindly. According to Creon he states, “Whoever is chosen to rule to govern should be obeyed – must be obeyed, in all things great and small” (1088). He believes that whatever someone says should not go. This shows that he is unwilling enough to not change whatever his law might be. He states to Teiresias, “Whatever you say will not change my will” (1100). It shows his stubbornness, and if there was a law change it would not

happen.
Instead of a leader who leads with compassion, he is the type of kings who leads with an iron fist.

Creon states to Sentry, “I swear to God and by the throne of God the man who has done this thing shall pay for it! Find that man; bring him here to me, or your death will be the least of your problems” (1078). This shows that Creon will stop at nothing unless he finds who did the crime. A good leader needs to lead by example and not threaten his people to do these deeds for him. After Teiresias states that he should’ve buried her brother, Creon fires back, “It is a sorry thing when a wise man sells his wisdom, let’s out his words for higher!” (1100). He automatically thinks he has been bribed to say this against the king. Creon thinks that his ideas should not be opposed; he is the one that is always right. He has no problem ruling over his family when Creon states, “There are other places for him (Haemon) to push his plow. I want no wicked woman for my son’s!” (1086). This says that he will do whatever he can, to get his son not to marry the

“criminal”.
Creon’s pride is ultimately what causes him to become a bad leader. One can see the sequence as his downfall happens. After he is told that he has been judged wrong by the Sentry, Creon states, “Your figures of speech may entertain you now: but unless you bring me the man, you will get little profit in the end” (1078). Creon is so wrapped up in being right, and never being questioned that when he is given advice he turns against it. He takes pride in what he has decreed, and that he should not be questioned. Pride even clouds his judgement when dealing with women; he believes that they are below him, as he states, “If we must lose, let’s lose to a man, at least! Is a woman stronger than we?” (1090). When Antigone bravely admits that she is the one who buried Polyneices, and does not back down from Creon, this is a slap in his face because not only has someone defied his law but the person who did it was a woman. This makes him furious, and he cannot back down from this challenge of his authority and he has to sentence Antigone to death. Creon is so blind throughout this story, and is given good advice by Antigone, Choragus, Sentry, Haemon, Chorus, and Teiresias. He finally admits his pride was over the top by stating, “Oh it is hard to give in! But it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride” (1101). Creon’s pride and stubbornness blind him through the whole story, but when he finally realizes he was wrong it is too late.