In the play Wasps, Aristophanes informs the audience about the fact that their leaders are completely corrupted. This is done frequently throughout the play through the use of the humour device of ridiculing of an individual, in this case, Cleon is that individual. Using comedy to his advantage, Aristophanes continuously mocks Cleon in the play. In fact, at one point he even calls him a ‘whale-creature’ to describe his physical appearance. i.e. “And this disgusting whale-creature had pair of scales and it was weighing out bits of fat from a carcass… Dividing up the body politic – I see it all. Horrible!” Aside from insulting Cleon’s appearance, Aristophanes also addresses the fact that political leaders are stealing from the people and, that …show more content…
The message being, the blind following of corrupted leaders. In the series, a character named Baldrick is portrayed as the stock buffoon/bomolochus. In episode two, (Corporal Punishment), Blackadder, is on trial for killing a carrier Pigeon, and, when Baldrick is about to take the stand, Blackadder tells him to “Deny everything,” but things don’t turn out as Blackadder had initially expected. Upon taking the stand Baldrick is asked, “Are you Private Baldrick?” to which he replies “NO!” The results are hilarious as he keeps denying everything the defence is saying. To me, using the bomolochus to get a serious message across to the audience is the best and wittiest way to do so. Realistically, Baldrick blindly following Blackadder’s orders should have resulted incarcerated for lying to the court. However, since this is a work of fiction, it is understandable why he isn’t incarcerated. What these plays show us is that throughout time, people have been blindly following others with power, without even saying a word and, the leaders keep pursuing their corrupt
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.
All throughout the Roman comedy Cleostrata’s power over her husband Lysidamus and her ability to embarrass him is painfully obvious. In the beginning of Act II, when Cleostrata is going to visit Myrrhina her slave Pardalisca informs her that Lysidamus wants lunch ready for when he returns home. Cleostrata’s responded “I will not get things ready, and not a thing shall be cooked this day, either … I’ll punish him, the gallant – with hunger, thirst, hard words, hard treatment, - oh, I’ll punish him” (Casina, 150-155). Clearly, Cleostrata accurately illustrates the type of “unmastered creature” Marcus Porcius Cato
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.
Antigone is a play about the tension caused when two individuals have conflicting claims regarding law. In this case, the moral superiority of the laws of the city, represented by Creon, and the laws of the gods, represented bt Antigone. In contrast, Oedipus The King is driven by the tensions within Oedipus himself. That play both begins and concludes within the public domain, the plot being driven by the plague that troubles the city, and which is so graphically brought to life by the Priest. In both Antigone (ll179-82) and Oedipus The King (ll29-31) the city is likened to a storm tossed ship, and it cannot be merely coincidence that Oedipus The King was written at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, a time when Athens itself was suffering the effects of plague. Oedipus The King reaches its climax with a now blinded Oedipus daring to show himself to the people of Thebes, forgetting that he is no longer the leader of the state. In Antigone, it is Creons abuse of absolute power that leads to his tragic downfall. Whilst Oedipus determinedly tried to get to the root of his peoples ills, ultimately discovering that he was in fact the cause of them, Creon morphs from a supposedly caring leader into a tyrannical despot, eager to take the law into his own hands. It is the actions of Antigone that helps to bring about Creons fall from grace, as her steadfast refusal to accept th...
Aristophanes denounces the importance of the gods' influence on the actions of mortals. In the usual tragedy, the gods play an extremely important role towards the actions of the mortal characters. Through fear of the alternative and examples of the past, Athenians carried out their everyday lives under the guidance of the gods' wishes. Aristophanes challenges the audience, and Greek culture as a whole, by offering a different view on the answers and directions of life, than that of the gods. He denounces the parables and explanations to answers in life that involve the gods. Instead he explains that such things as the aerial whirlwind, and especially the clouds, are the reasoning behind all of natures actions. On the surface these comments were seen as a mockery and very humorous. Underlying this humor is a scary truth, most likely ignored by the congregations witnessing this play. How many times has a character in a tragedy been so willing to contradict the gods? Dominant characters like Creon and Prometheus have blatantly disobeyed the gods. The alternative explanations serve a hidden truth in the hearts of many of the Athenian people. This truth is always again repressed by the end of each play, tragedy or comedy; because their was too great of a fear to upset the higher beings.
Paralleling ¨The Allegory of the Cave,¨ Creon, the king and antagonist of this play, foolishly believes that his opinion is infallible and the people of Thebes must blindly obey. Similar to how the cave dwellers naively accept the puppeteers images, the Thebans accept Creon's law for what it is, except for Antigone. Antigone is able to recognize that the law is incorrect, because she has seen the light and therefore the truth; this is the beginning of the unraveling of Creon’s reign. Creon rules as a King over those who remain in the dark; however, because Antigone has seen the light and can now recognize the truth, she stands in the path of Creon's leadership. Plato establishes that ¨ The state in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best. . . The state in which they are most eager, the worst;¨ contrastingly, Creon is represented as a power hungry tyrant ”declaring ¨Is not the city Held to be his who rules it?¨ Ultimately, Creon’s refusal to accept the truth leads to the death of his niece, son, and wife and the undermine of his rule as predicted by
In the story “Antigone”, Sophocles shows that Creon’s attitude is very angry, making everyone sees him as a tyrant more than as a king. His regard for the laws of the town causes him to abandon most viewpoints, like the laws of the gods, or the rights of the people. He believes that his subjects should obey the laws he has set in place, even if moral or religious beliefs contradict his laws and beliefs. Creon’s idea of a good leader is one who maintains order through violence and fear. More over his arrogant, power-seeking personality prevented him from seeking out advice or listening to his own people.
Creon showed dramatic irony when he said, “only a crazy man is in love with death” (scene 1 line 60). This shows irony because Creon keeps saying any man who defies him will be punished, but Antigone is the one who goes against him. This shows how Creon is ignorant and how he rushes to conclusions believing that only a man could do this when it was Antigone. This shows Creon as sexist and that he is an ignorant man. Creon showed dramatic irony when he said, “As long as I am king…” (Scene 1 line 49). This shows irony because he was prideful and we knew he would not be king for long. Creon was being prideful and cocky even though he will not be king for much longer. This shows that Creon as a character was very
According to Thucydides, Cleon was most violent person in Athens. He began his discussion through questioning the worth of democracy. He argued that a democracy is totally incapable to govern the other people. He exemplified their changing minds about Mytilenians during the time of war (Livius.org, 2015). He argued about the injustice of Mytilenians with Athens and raise of revolt against Athens by Mytilenians. According to him, the democratic assembly was a place of professional lecturer and they were not focusing on state issue. Cleon used language of hate, injustice and punishment during his speech. However, he talked about the enforcement of law in vase of Mytilenians (HISTORY.com,
The character of Creon matches up to the tragic character elements; in some ways Creon is good, he is a fair ruler, he spares Ismene’s life, and he ended up seeing error in his ways and tried to do the right thing. Creon also acts appropriately in the time for his gender and rank. His misogony, is very common among men in this time and as a male king his view that “no woman is going to lord… over [him]” (594) is also very understandable. However Antigone is rebellious and fights against how she is told to live her life, therefore her character does not follow Aristotle’s rules of tragedy. Furthermore although Creon’s views do change within the play, the changes are believable because the good comes from a place that has already been seen in him. This contrasts the way that Antigone—after remaining strong and stubborn the whole play—crumbles when she faces death and ends up killing herself. Finally Creon is the true tragic hero because he is the person who is hurt the most in this play. Although Antigone Is hurt in this play, she dies, effectively ridding herself of that pain. Creon on the other hand, unconsciously makes decisions leading to the death of his son and his wife and is left with “the guilt of all their deaths” upon him. Although clearly both Creon and Antigone’s characters have the fall associated with a tragic hero, Creon is the true tragic hero of Sophocles’
In Oedipus the King, Creon uses his rationality to connect with Oedipus. Throughout the play, he provides calm leadership that pushes Thebes through the drama. Creon, the brother-in-law of Oedipus and brother of Jocasta, is a character with high authority but little responsibility until the end. Unlike the rest of the people, Creon is much more forgiving and supportive of Oedipus. Additionally, he is never seen overwhelmed despite the drama going on in his own home. In the face of power, rather than letting his selfish needs take control, Creon focuses on his family. He doesn’t resort to argument and blaming others as he understands it will only lead to further conflict. Instead, he uses quick thinking to force characters
Creon's character possesses an infinite number of glitches in his personality, but his excessive pride was the root of his problems. His pride leads him to make accusations, before he considers the wise advice of others. Creon's pride also fills him not just as a king superior to the Gods, but also a man superior to women. The issue of Antigone being condemned to die becomes more than just a person who disobeys Creon; instead, the punishment is given even more eagerly, because it is a woman who disobeys a man. Creon's intelligent son warns Creon the people of Thebes sympathize with Antigone, but Creon accuses Haemon of being a "woman's slave" (line 756). Even though he is suppose to be loyal to the state and her citizens, he defensively questions if "the town [is] to tell [him] how [he] ought to rule?"(Line 734)The Theban king is too prideful to obey even the wisest of prophets, blind Teresias, insisting that "the whole crew of seers are money-mad" (line 1055). Creon finally puts his pride aside and listens to the Chorus' wise advice. It is difficult even then, and he obeys only because he fears the punishment that he might receive. "To yield [for Creon] is terrible" (line 1095) meaning to swallow his pride and admit that he is wrong is a very difficult thing for him to do. When Creon loses his wife and son, Creon's pride disappears, and he admits that he made a terrible mistake by not listening to anyone's advice.
Antigone, a tragic drama written by Sophocles explores the different ranges of characters: static and dynamic or flat and round. Creon, King of Thebes in the dramatic play Antigone takes on the role that of a static character. Throughout the whole play Creon believed the idea that he was above the law of the Gods and his decrees cannot be disputed. Unknowingly, who would think that Creon’s sense of pride would cause him the life of his wife, son, and niece? However, at the very end of the play Creon returns to the palace, holding his son’s lifeless body, where he finds out that his wife has killed herself as well. Overwhelmed with grief about the death of his loved ones, Creon turns to the Chorus and says, “Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish. I have killed my son and wife. I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to thought of dust” (1833). Creon takes responsibility of the death of his son and wife by calling himself a “rash” man and this is where Creon undergoes the changes of a dynamic character by admitting that he was wrong.
Sophocles depicts intelligence along with foolishness and irresponsibility to teach the world the importance of following the laws to avoid the consequences. “When laws are kept, how proudly the city stands! When laws are broken, what of the city then?” (Ode 1, line 21-22). This is situational irony because when one is smart and follow the laws things will go correctly. Creon has the incentive of taking charge and figuring out who is going against his law. On the other hand, when one disobeys the laws acting foolish and irresponsible things are bound to go wrong. Creon going against the laws gets him in a hard spot in his life losing everyone who is close to him. Creon’s stubbornness is implied when he states in scene 2, line 88, “The inflexible heart breaks first.” This shows situational irony because he himself states that the inflexible will break, when he is extremely inflexible when it comes to the law he has created. Sophocles purpose of this is to show when one goes against the gods (laws) one is destined to lose. Thus, causing Creon to live a hopeless life after he lost everything due to his inflexibility of his
The strengths and weaknesses of the Athenian character traits laid out in the “Funeral Oration” are exemplified by the character of Creon in Sophocles’ Antigone, and suggest that Athenians held certain concerns in the Golden Age of their empire.