Being a Fair Leader.
To be a leader, to control and guide people in the right direction is what most of the people are aiming to do in life. Being the main person in the group certainly means that the individual has a lot of power over the public and is able to influence people as he wishes. It might seem that once the person achieves his goal of being above others and starts controlling other people, his duty becomes straightforward and undemanding. However, the role of a leader is very strenuous and challenging. The person who has authority has to balance his personal desires with the needs of people for whom he is in charge. Even though he is enforcing the law does not mean that he can manipulate it as he wants. Moreover the leader should obey the law, which was established by him more than any one else, otherwise people would not consider it as a strict principle. The play "Antigone" which was written by Sophocles and later adopted by Anouilh shows the lives of people who were affected by each other's decisions, behaviors and feelings. I would like to concentrate on the lifestyle and actions of the person who had the most authority in that play, straightforwardly the "king" of the dramatic piece. Those two plays were written at different periods of time and the message which the authors were trying to pass to the readers differs. After reading those two plays I realized that the behavior and the attitude of the king towards the other characters of the story was changed by Anouilh in order to show the true model of a ruler where as Sophocles tried to show him as a cruel, heartless emperor. The personality and the behavior of the king in Sophocles' play is unsentimental and stubborn which shows the king's "appearance" but in ...
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...e to help Antigone. This play shows how passionately Creon tried to help Antigone overcome her problems. His wise self-controlling behavior lets him deal with this matter reasonably avoiding death and executions. Anouilh's version shows compassionate king who "loved other things in life more than power" (pg. 712) but considered it cowardness to deny the throne. Those qualities make Creon a positive character of the play and Anouilh succeeds in presenting a model king not changing the historical events of the myth.
In conclusion, I think those two plays show two different personalities of the king while not altering the real facts. The Sophocles version painted Creon in dark colors so he would seem cruel and inhuman king while Anouilh version changed his personality and added some positive values making him a real model of a king and positive character of the play.
Since the play’s inception, there has always existed a contention concerning the true hero of Sophocles’ Antigone. It is a widely held belief that Antigone must be the main character simply because she and the drama share name. This is, of course, a very logical assumption. Certainly Sophocles must have at least meant her to be viewed as the protagonist, else he would not have given her the play’s title. Analytically speaking, however, Creon does seem to more categorically fit the appellation of “Tragic Hero.” There is no doubt as to the nature of the work, that being tragedy. Along with this genre comes certain established prerequisites, and Creon is the only character that satisfactorily fits them all.
Though the audience notices how villainous Creon is, they still express sympathy towards him. They realize that he has brought all of his problems on himself and should have been more open-minded, but think no one should have to go through what he has. They understand how the warrior king Creon felt when he notices his son is love struck. The audience also expresses pity towards him because Antigone is a murderer and understands why he is upset.
...se Creon was not yet the king of Thebes during the period of Oedipus’s ruling, and Antigone who was not yet a renowned figure acting independently in her own will without any dilemmas. It is until the story of Antigone when Antoine’s rights are desecrated by the might of Creon’s rule and that it led Antigone to bail and revolt against it. This is the dynamic that Sophocles sees in Antigone within the society of Thebes, and through the perception of Antigone’s heroic deeds, equal to that against the behavior of Creon, Sophocles exemplify to the audience the unbalance nature in society.
" This indicates Creon’s decision to punish Antigone was not taken kindly by the gods, but his ego wouldn't allow him to solve that as shown by Haemon, which, again, contribute to his nemesis. This proves by how Creon’s stubbornness isn't liked by the gods establishing him as a tragic
In the awe-inspiring play of Antigone, Sophocles introduces two remarkable characters, Antigone and Creon. A conflict between these two obstinate characters leads to fatal consequences for themselves and their kindred. The firm stances of Creon and Antigone stem from two great imperatives: his loyalty to the state and her dedication to her family, her religion but most of all her conscience. The identity of the tragic hero of this play is still heavily debated. This tragedy could have been prevented if it had not been for Creon's pitiful mistakes.
In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon is portrayed as a character with excessive pride. From the beginning, Creon demonstrates his authority and continues to make use of it throughout the play. At the end of Antigone, it may seem that Creon changed after realizing the consequences of his actions. However, his dialogue indicates that he still possesses a sense of pride. Creon remains a static character through the play. Creon’s arrogance is displayed in his language and behavior; interaction with others; and his reactions to his environment.
In the Antigone, unlike the Oedipus Tyrannus, paradoxically, the hero who is left in agony at the end of the play is not the title role. Instead King Creon, the newly appointed and tyrannical ruler, is left all alone in his empty palace with his wife's corpse in his hands, having just seen the suicide of his son. However, despite this pitiable fate for the character, his actions and behavior earlier in the play leave the final scene evoking more satisfaction than pity at his torment. The way the martyr Antigone went against the King and the city of Thebes was not entirely honorable or without ulterior motives of fulfilling pious concerns but it is difficult to lose sight of the fact that this passionate and pious young woman was condemned to living imprisonment.
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.
Creon does not learn a lesson from Oedipus' accusatory behavior. Instead he adapts this bad personality trait. Throughout Antigone, he accuses everyone who tries to give him advice of betraying him. Whereas, in Oedipus, he is falsely accused by Oedipus of trying to take over the throne. This paper will compare and contrast his behavior and evaluate if he learned anything from one play to the next.
Sophocles never explicitly explains whose views on leadership are the best although he uses the outcomes of the characters as a way to express how he views leadership. This being said, many of his ideas are transferred into other characters’ opinions which means Sophocles’ ideal leader is a mixture of many characters’ opinions. As Oedipus cannot see his hamartia and is blind from his mistake, it is clear that Sophocles thinks that a successful leader needs to note his own faults. Additionally, as Tiresias makes a point in Antigone that a kind needs to also find a solution to his faults it is clear that Sophocles is expanding on his point by saying that the fault needs to be recognized as well as solved to rule properly. However, through Oedipus, Sophocles shows his opinion towards openness. Sophocles clearly believes that information should be made public and that a rulers heart should be open and empathetic to their people. As Oedipus is loved in the opening of his play it is clear his actions prior to his mistakes are seen as something to mimic. Although, as the play unfolds his character becomes plagued by his hamartia and Sophocles uses this to show what a leader should not do. Since his character becomes increasingly blind to his hamartia so is his blindness towards how to lead; Oedipus’ egotistical approach that emerges shows how Sophocles believes a ruler
Antigone utilizes her moral foundations, her religious roots, and the events of her past to form a sophisticated argument. Despite being unable to convince Creon to reverse her punishment, Antigone is able to convince the people of Thebes that she was right in her actions. After Antigone’s death, and the deaths of several others, Creon reflects on this monologue and realizes the honest truth behind Antigone’s actions and words.
In the following paper, I plan to discuss the source of conflict between the title characters of Antigone and Creon in Sophocles’ “Antigone”. I also plan to discuss how each character justifies his or her actions and what arguments they give for their justifications. I will also write about the strengths and weaknesses of these arguments. The final points I try to make are about who Sophocles thinks is right and who I think is right.
There are many similarities and differences between Antigone by Sophocles and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The adults in both of the books have the difficult job of controlling the actions of the younger characters. Their decisions have a crucial effect on the outcome of the books, for the younger characters that they guide are the main figures in their stories. Antigone’s King Creon and Romeo and Juliet’s Prince Escalus and Lord Capulet share but also have unique strengths, weaknesses, leadership qualities, and crisis-managing techniques.
... as a framework to convey his points. Furthermore, Anouilh changes an extremely well known play. When this happens, humanity tends to see only the differences between the works. And the differences (such as the changes in Antigone?s and Creon?s characters, the gray area between right and wrong, and politics and duty as motivating forces) convey his real political message: criticism of the Vichy regime.
..., this sense of arrogance angers Creon to a point beyond belief. Antigone’s refusal to cooperate causes Creon to go mad with irritation and frustration. Wanting to show his sense of power, he refuses to back down in fear of losing his position. His stubbornness grows stronger as Antigone continues to disobey his commands. Antigone’s strong and steady foundation helps her show defiance. She is able to overcome the opinions of the people and commit to helping her brother regardless of the after effects. She ignores what everyone says and does only as she wants. She is powerful, both physically and mentally, and is successful in her tasks. Antigone matures into a commendable and respectable character in which she depicts her rebelliousness and bravery, pride and tolerance, and sense of moral righteousness to demonstrate fundamental character development in the play.