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Antigone and creon as a tragic hero
Creon realizing his wrongs in Antigone
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Recommended: Antigone and creon as a tragic hero
Katherine Gallant
Mrs. Principe
ENG2DP-01
October 2017
TITLE????????!!!!!!
Obedience to civil law is necessary to uphold order and peace. In the play, Antigone, by Jean Anouilh, Creon, the king of Thebes, states that anarchy is the greatest of evils and that good lives are made through discipline and lawfulness (Anouilh 42-47). Creon’s judgment and emphatic support of civil law makes him an inadequate leader because his actions in various situations lead to the untruthful messages to his people and the loss of his family members. First off, Creon’s belief in civil law caused him to do a grave action which in time lead to his downfall, he lied to the city of Thebes. Creon was never meant to be the king of Thebes, until the deaths of both princes, Polynices and Eteocles, he had no choice but to step up to the throne. He was unprepared and unqualified, he had to tell the city of Thebes the story of how both man died. So, Creon lied about what happened between the two brothers, making one the hero and one the villain; “Well, what else could I have done? People had taken sides in the civil war. Both sides couldn’t be wrong; that would be too much. I couldn’t have made them swallow the truth.” (Anouilh
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He is shown as a dishonest, hubris, and ignorant leader denying Polynices’ burial and condemning Antigone to death. His tenets in the value of lawfulness and discipline created tragic flaw in his character, similar to Oedipus making them both ineffective leaders spiraling to their eventual downfall. People have to understand when the law isn’t absolute, human error does exist and situations can arise where the result can go against people’s rights and beliefs, but the leader should be able to decide to create the best result for the
The plot revolves around a story of Antigone’s struggle to give Polynices, her brother, his final rights by giving him a proper burial, despite the fact that Creon has forbid for anyone to do so as Polynices was a traitor to Thebes and its people. One major struggle throughout the play is the apparent conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon and Antigone have temperaments that clash with each other. Antigone values passion while Creon values the state. Although they have very different values, Antigone and Creon have very similar personalities. They are both stubborn, independent people who are so similar that they can never see eye to eye on issues. Both Antigone and Creon are filled with pride and passion in their beliefs. These traits can be considered both very advantageous and moral as well as being a negative trait that represents the stubbornness in human beings. Antigone and Creon are incredibly proud, making it impossible for either one to concede defeat once they have taken a stand for what they believe in. As stated by Tiresias “stubbornness brand...
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 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
Civil disobedience is the purposeful violation of a law to show that it is unconstitutional or morally defective. In the plays, Antigone and Trifles, the female main characters commit an act of civil disobedience. The plays are respectively written by Sophocles and Susan Glaspell. Antigone, the main character of Antigone, protects her dead brother's honor as she disobeys the laws of King Creon. Mrs. Hale, the main character of Trifles prevents a neighbor from being charged with homicide as she breaks the law in front of two lawmen-The Sheriff and the County Attorney. Both characters' crimes are similar; however, their differences lie in how they handle their violations. Antigone boldly and proudly breaks the law, does not care if she is caught, and loudly admits to the crime in front of her fellow Theban citizens. On the other hand, Mrs. Hale performs her crime artfully and quietly, does not want to be caught, and has no intentions of exposing her crime. Both characters accomplish their tasks, but Mrs. Hale's actions are carried out more effectively. She saves her neighbor and herself from imprisonment.
The opening events of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, quickly establish the central conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon has decreed that the traitor Polynices, who tried to burn down the temple of gods in Thebes, must not be given proper burial. Antigone is the only one who will speak against this decree and insists on the sacredness of family and a symbolic burial for her brother. Whereas Antigone sees no validity in a law that disregards the duty family members owe one another, Creon's point of view is exactly opposite. He has no use for anyone who places private ties above the common good, as he proclaims firmly to the Chorus and the audience as he revels in his victory over Polynices. He sees Polynices as an enemy to the state because he attacked his brother. Creon's first speech, which is dominated by words such as "authority” and "law”, shows the extent to which Creon fixates on government and law as the supreme authority. Between Antigone and Creon there can be no compromise—they both find absolute validity in the respective loyalties they uphold.
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 abused his power by thinking that he can change or brake the laws of the Gods and not allowing other people to brake his laws. He did not want to burry Polyneices' body, but one of the God's law is that every human deserves to be buried after death not depending what that certain person did in his lifetime. Creon caused fear among his people by making a public announcement that nobody is allowed to burry Polyneices. He said that the state of Thebes consists of only him, and that there are no other laws then his.
Summing up, Antigone decides to express her discontent with what she considers to be the unethical new regime of King Creon by burying her brother's body. By taking this bold step, Antigone shows the strength that an individual’s actions hold in a democracy. Creon, with his stubborn attitude, shows how a democracy where peoples’ voices are not heard can be dysfunctional, and that laws should be made by taking other people into confidence and not on an individual basis. In the end, Antigone resolves to sacrifice her own life in the service of a greater justice. It is this kind of formidable resolve that changes the course of history, and that is something that we can respect equally in the 5th century B.C. and the 21st century A.D.
Following Creon's rise to power, he makes an edict. He declares that Eteocles will be "given full military honors," while for Polynices, the edict "forbids anyone to bury him." (Antigone, p. 659) This is the edict that Antigone wants to defy. Many people might say that Antigone is wrong is defying the law, but I do not. Here in America, we have essentially two sets of laws. One is the laws that are passed be Congress and the state governments. The other law is the Constitution of the United States. Which do you think is the higher law? The Constitution answers that question for us. It says that it is that highest law, and that no other law can defy it. Also, we have our own moral laws that we use to make everyday decisions. In ancient Greece, they had a system of laws very similar to today's system.
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.
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 ...
Charles Dickens once said, "The law is an ass." Though at first, it seems harsh and very strange, the deeper meaning is one that is a perfect summary of the Greek tragedy Antigone. The meaning of an "ass," is a stubborn, obstinate, perverse, immovable animal. Throughout Antigone, the characters must deal with the clash between Civil and Divine law. They struggle to discover what is truly right and wrong, good and bad. In the end, they are forced to make the distinction as to which is which. In Sophocles' Antigone, Civil and Divine Law both have ass-like qualities. The decision by every character for what is most important to them, determines their fate and destiny.
Creon’s laws are flaw, harsh and immoral, they take on the ‘gods who live forever’ (788), up to the point were his actions ‘seize [his] good mind,’ (791) and deprive him of moral thought. Creon’s restrictive democracy motivates Polynecie’s sister Antigone, who...
The failures of Creon leadership represent the limitations of autocratic government and thereby serve to promote democracy. At the play’s opening, Creon is portrayed sympathetically. He presents his decree preventing the burial of Polynices as just retribution for his crimes against Thebes and as an effective way to prevent pollution (Sophocles 62). He feels further vindicated because the chorus, consisting of elder representatives of the populace, supports the decree. Even Antigone’s impassioned defence, which invokes the “unwritten and unfailing” (73) laws of the gods, appears to have no impact on the chorus, who states that “she does not know how to bend amidst her troubles” (74). This perception of Creon begins to shift upon Antigone’s death sentence. Although the punishment seems as cruel and excessive, Creon firmly believes it to be a necessary deed. He is “eager to display his full control of a crisis barely averted...
Divine laws & Civil laws are both very constructive as to keeping society in place, but what happens when Civil law clashes with Divine law? In Antigone, Creon creates a law that contradicts Divine law. This creates a lot of tragic conflict throughout the story. Things turn sour when Antigone chooses to follow the Divine law instead of Creon’s law. She decided to bury her brother, Polyneices. Even though Creon’s law goes against it. When Antigone buried him she was aware of the consequences that Creon had once he found out Antigone had done it. Antigone realized how dire the consequences were going to be and she became very hesitant. She attempts to gain pity from the choragus & they react in a very confronting way. The Tragic hero of “Antigone”