The Hamartia of Successful Leaders of the Past

When looking at successful leaders of the past, each one had a hamartia, or a flaw, that destroyed their rule. For example, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was one of the greatest rulers Egypt has ever had, but too much power lead to prison. Being in power for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak had an economic growth of 5-6% for the last 5 years, he kept peace for 30 years, he had no religious elements in politics, he gave freedom to leave and enter Egypt, he gave freedom to transfer money in and out of Egypt and had good relations with most of the world. After 30 years in power, Hosni Mubarak was taken out of rule and was put in jail for a court trial. When millions of Egyptians found out that he had sole 70 billion dollars, they were devastated. Many of them questioned how such a loyal and worthy leader become so corrupt, but that was his major flaw. He stole from his people and at in end, ended up in jail. Such character flaws have plagued societies from the beginning of time, dating back to the Ancient Greeks. In Sophocles’ play Polyneices and Etocles were two brothers who started off the play in war, and both ended up dying. When Creon, the king of Thebes, saw this, he ordered that Eteocles be buried but for Polyneices to be left for the dogs and wild animals to eat. Creon reasoned that Eteocles fought for his country, but Polyneices was a traitor. When Antigone, the sister of both brothers, heard the news, she was angry and frustrated. So she went and buried her brother, going against Creon’s law. Even though Antigone is Creon’s niece and his son’s wife, he sentenced her to death for going against his rule. Even though the people of Thebes thought she was right, he thought otherwise, which ended up hurting him. Thus, Creon’s pride leads to h...

... middle of paper ...

...aders have major flaws that bring their rule down. For example, Hosni Mubarak was a president for 30 years in Egypt. He helped Egypt through its ups and downs, but sadly ended up in jail. When looking at Creon, his pride brought both his rule and reputation to ruin. In both cases, the rulers hamartia, had a huge effect on their rule. Even though many people argue that Creon’s hamartia had no effect on his rule rather it was the God’s will, it seems pretty clear that what caused the Gods to make such decisions, was based off Creon’s action. When looking at the Greek Gods, the bring misfortune and ruin upon a city because they feel that something had wrong. When looking at Creon’s case, they brought great misfortune upon his family because he had too much pride, which lead to stupid actions. At the end his actions were the things that affected the God’s consequences.