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 …show more content…
teaches him a lesson. I feel throughout the story Creon was a good leader even with the bad decisions he made his overall leadership abilities and qualities weigh more than the bad decisions. When Creon makes a law for the state of Thebes he makes it because he wants what is best for the state, as Creon says “I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, too follow the course that he knows is best for the state” (1074).
Also when the laws he makes are broken or bent he punishes the criminal for their acts. Most people in Thebes understand this like Antigone “I have no strength to break laws that were made for the public good” (1071). One punishment Creon gave was that Polyneices was to have “no burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him; he shall lie on this plain, unburied” (1074). This meant Polyneices would have no afterlife, but when you think about it, he did try to take over the country “Polyneices, who broke his exile to come back with fire and sword against his native city and shrines of his naïve gods” (1074). This is like if a terrorist tried to take over the United States you wouldn’t give that person a proper and expensive burial for praise. Also, when Antigone broke the law by covering up Polyneices she was pushed to death, while that seems extreme in this time period the death punishment was used
widely. Creon realized that walking into a leadership position he had to earn people's trust, “no leader can expect complete loyalty from his subjects till he has been tested in office” (1074). Until you earn people's trust they may not follow him or follow his laws and ideas completely since he has not proven what he wants is best for the country and people. Creon also understands that money is an issue in the world of politics in our time, as well as Antigone’s time, Creon says “yet money counts and he who is the wisest has been known to count a few coins too many” (1076). Another simple quality Creon has is he knows his job is to protect the state and not to make friends “for the men who sets private friendship above the public welfare; I have no use for him” (1074) Creon was a leader who was there to do who his job and punish the people who deserved to be punished. Creon is a very prideful man and wants people to follow him, however pride for him also means pride for the state. Creon thinks that if he is in charge of the state people should listen to him. This means when they obey Creon, they are also helping make the state run smoothly. Creon says “whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed and must be obeyed in all things great and small” (1088). When they obey Creon, they are obeying the state “the king is the state” (1091). Sometimes Creon's pride does get in the way and obeying Creon may hurt the state but Creon eventually learns everyone with pride falls (“It is hard to give in! But it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride” (1101). Creon will use this so he can be a better leader and use his pride in a better way. When being a leader you can’t be perfect, and Creon wasn’t perfect. You can be a great leader with amazing leadership abilities but make bad decisions. Creon did have many great leadership skills and sometimes he used them for the good of the state and sometimes he was a good leader for unnecessary things. Some of the world’s greatest leaders used their power for bad thing. Other leaders use theirs power for amazing things, Creon was in the middle he did some good things and some useless for things but in the end his leadership skills made him a good leader.
The main conflict in the story Antigone is between the king of Thebes, also the antagonist, Creon and Antigone the Protagonist. When Antigone's brother dies in war Creon does not want to bury him, But Antigone feels its her brothers rights bestowed on him buy the gods to be able to be buried and that it would be disrespectful not to. For example in scene one page two Creon says "He’ll be left unburied, his body there for birds and dogs to eat, a clear reminder of his shameful fate.That’s my decision." As you can see here Creon thinks he has the authority and makes the laws about what is going to happen but really that is divine authority. Another example is in scene two page three when Creon is interrogating Antigone, Antigone says "Yes. Zeus did not announce those laws to me. And Justice living with the gods below sent no
Creon believes that his laws are absolute and must be followed above all else, even Divine Law. Therefore when Antigone, in accordance with divine law, goes against Creons edict by burying her brother she is forcefully imprisoned and sentenced to death by Creon. In Creons opening speech he says, “Of course you cannot know a man completely, his character, his principles, sense of judgment … Experience, there’s the test” (Sophocles, p. 67). How Creon handles Antigones unlawful actions serves as his first test as the new king of Thebes and ends up showing the Thebans a glimpse of his true nature, that of a tyrannical ruler. This can be seen again when Haemon comes to Creon with the hope of dissuading him from his current course of action. He does this by trying to make Creon understand that the citizens of Thebes don’t agree with his use of power and planned execution of Antigone. Again Creons authoritarian nature comes to light in his response to Haemon, “And is Thebes about to tell me how to rule… Am I to rule this land for others – or myself?” (Sophocles, p. 97). To which Haemon counters by saying that “its no city at all, owned by one man alone” (Sophocles, p. 97). Creon, being the tyrant he is, fails to heed the wisdom of his sons’ words, which ultimately leads to his downfall. Creon, like Machiavelli, believed that it was
Leadership can be defined in a myriad of ways; but for the purpose of the question, it is but not limited to the affect someone who takes charge of a group of people with authority or rank; to be an influence to those who look to the leader. In the epic poem, “Beowulf”, there are two different views on leadership based on their leaders {i.e. King Hrothgar and Beowulf). With King Hrothgar, he accepted the help of Beowulf to fight in order to defend the people of the Herodot, “Beowulf my friend/fight for us” (457-458). Due to the understanding of his age, King Hrothgar shows humility and admirable stance, adapts to someone who admires him, allowing Beowulf to fight for the people of Herodot. Beowulf on the other hand, shows his leadership by taking the initiative and offering his aid to King Hrothgar’s people, to fight the demon Grendel, who is terrorizing the people. This leader...
The chaos and the destruction of social hierarchy would ruin all of Thebes, a much larger scale than the questionable fate of one criminal person. Equally important, Antigone needs to suffer consequences for her unwavering will, as she still has no qualms and does not consider the reasoning of the State. Antigone speaks, “You will remember what things I suffer, at what men’s hands, because I would not transgress the laws of heaven” (Sophocles 228). Even if she is considering morality on the overbearing religious scale of the gods, it does not excuse her thought process or sheer, impenetrable indignance. If she is freed from Creon’s ruling that she is to be placed in a vault, no one is to say that she will not bring her own will to challenger Creon again, threatening the hierarchy. Through Antigone may be morally driven on this specific issue, her insolence has to be attended to for the sake of the future of Thebes. Furthermore, Creon’s ruling is completely well-placed, as he is letting the gods have the final decision in the matter. By allowing the gods to choose, he respects that they have the more powerful and all encompassing say in the matter, and it shows that he is
Creon also defied the laws of the gods. This is what is expressed in the line, "No wisdom but submission to the gods." In Antigone, the edicts and decisions that Creon made demonstrated that his law was more important than the gods laws. His defiance of the laws eventually made him believe, by talking to Teirisias, that something bad would happen to him, so he gave in to his decision. When he gave into the gods, he gained wisdom and learned that his actions would be punished.
Thinking that the king rules alone and if one ever disobeys the King, they are to bear consequences. The King of Thebes, arrogance leads to tragic endings for his loved ones such as his wife and son. Creon believed that since he was the king, he had the right to make decisions without bothering to discuss it with others, and that he could rule alone, because he was greater than everyone else. King Creon had made a law to not bury Polyneices, if anyone were to break the law the consequence would be death, and yet somebody disobeyed the law leaving Creon furious, stating, “Money!
Creon does not want to be a bad king, using his power for evil things, but instead, he wants to be seen as strong and great king, but his temper and arrogance stops him from becoming a good king, and he stays more like a tyrant, the people only keeping their mouths shut because they are afraid to speak. For example, in lines (8-64) he gives a speech to the people of the town. He states that “As for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare, I have no use of him either”(lines 23-24).He is being cruel, so the people of Thebes do not take him for an easy king but rather fear him if they do not obey his laws. This puts them in a tough situation, whether they should listen to their friends and the gods, or to Creon’s tyrical rule. Creon states, “As I see it, whoever assumes the task, the awesome task of setting the city’s course, and refuses to adopt the soundest policies but fearing someone, keeps his lips locked tight, and he’s utterly worthless” (lines 198-202). This shows Creon thinks that a good leader should be powerful and set firm, strict laws in order to be respected. He believes that if someone di...
In the play Antigone, Creon, king of Thebes faces a harsh conflict with himself, involving the values of family and religion verse the civic responsibility he must maintain for the city of Thebes that comes with being the new king. In theory no decision Creon makes is going to be the rite one. Although both Antigone and Creon have justified reasons for believing in there own laws only one can be upheld by the play and how Sophocles interoperates the play himself. Creon must decide whether to punish Antigone, a princess, daughter of king Oedipus, or fail at enforcing his own law and look weak in front of the citizens of Thebes as their new leader. The law stated that anybody who touched the corpse of Polyneices, a prince, and son of Oedipus would be stoned in the town square.
This is the Crux of the theme, the conflict between the law of King Creon, and the law of the gods. In fact, according to Greek belief, Creon would have been ordained by the gods to be king, and thus, should not his law be their law as well? This is the hurdle that Antigone has to face; should she abide by the law of Creon and leave her brother to rot, under penalty of death? Or should she disregard Creon's edict, follow the law of the gods and bury her brother? Creon is a brother to Jocasta, and thus next in line to become king after Etocles is killed in battle. The king is believed to be the chosen of the gods and to rule in their stead. Why then would the king attempt to punish Polyneices after death and so blatantly violate the rules of the gods? However, Creon is the king, and the penalty for disobeying this law of his is very real and very brutal, death.
After burying her brother, Antigone is caught, and is seems that the state is more powerful than the gods for a time. “And yet you dared defy the law.” (208) Creon thinks that his law is all-powerful and ...
Creon, in his paranoia was plagued with the feeling of incompetence and need to establish dominance. His decree that no one would bury Polyneices only provoked the people of Thebes into thinking of him as insensitive to their culture. When his ruling was disobeyed, only led him to him to believe that conspiracy was about and that no matter, family or not, he would punish Antigone, causing a chain reaction of events causing the loss of his entire family, except Ismene. Leaving the audience experiencing pity and fear for both characters.
What is a leader? A leader is someone who takes command and leads an organization or group to success. Anyone can be a leader but in order to become a great leader you have to have to possess certain characteristics. I will be using Odysseus from the Odyssey isas an example of a leader who has suitable characteristics. You also have to know what harmful characteristics a leader may possess to determine if they are good leaders or not.
Leadership is something that has been around since civilization. You would think that an idea so old would be straight forward but, we can see completely different ideas of what a leader, good or bad, should look like. While some of these stories may be fictional, they line up with a historical timeline of expectations. We can also see how the role of a king and how their duties have evolved in real life. The Epic of Gilgamesh shows us how to control your power. In 1 & 2 Samuel, we see what makes a ruler great and obstacles they have to over come. When we read The Theban Plays we saw how smart a ruler had to be to please his people. While all of these leaders may seem great there are plenty of reason that makes them not great. They
One major theme in Antigone is the abuse of power. Creon and Antigone cause doom to their lives as they display resistance to power. The two characters attempt to override divine law with the law of the states, which leads to ruin. Creon, displaying a resistance to moral law, denies Antigone the opportunity and rightfulness to bury her brother, Polynices. This is due to Polynices’ rebellion against Creon, the King of Thebes. Antigone serves as a threat to the status quo. She gives up her life out of her commitment to principles above human law—moral law. Creon believes that the laws created by the King must be obeyed no matter how big or small they are. Creon argues that the law created by the King is the platform for justice. On the other hand, Antigone feels that there are unjust laws, despite who made them. She believes she has a moral obligation t...
A leader is defined as a person who holds command over a group of people. A great leader is someone who commands over his people with grace, authority, and adaptability. Alexander the Great came to power following the murder of his father in 336 BCE. At the young age of twenty years old, Alexander was thrusted into power, now in control of Macedon. Until his own death, Alexander would engage in battles, negotiations and takeovers that would ultimately define him as a ruler and a man. Throughout his life, Alexander paid extra attention to his relationship with the gods, and how this would define him in adulthood and his death. Alexander the Great achieved as well as lived up to his title due to his pure ruthlessness, loyalty, and malleability