In the book, Burial And Thebes, the king, Creon, can be compared to the presidential candidate, Donald Trump. They have many things in common, such as thinking they are better than everyone, a tendency to bully others, and the ability to say the most stupid things that might later affect them in life. Donald Trump and King Creon also have a tendency to think of themselves as gods, as if they are ones who can give wisdom to the lesser people below them. They also have similar views on women. For example, in Creon’s case, no woman has any power. In Trump’s case, he tends to degrade woman with his opinions. Even though these two very cocky men are thousands of years apart, they both have similar views on they way life should be. Creon and Donald
One of Creon’s many failures as a statesman is his prideful attitude. For example, Creon believes that gods chose him to lead the kingdom: “But see, the king comes here, /Creon, the son of Menoeceus, /Whom the gods have appointed for us/In our recent change of fortune.” (Par. 122—125).This quote explains how authoritative Creon was when he first became king. Also, Sophocles explains how Creon’s divine rights made him feel superior to everyone else, which made him more insolent. In addition, Creon believes that he is the sole leader of the kingdom: “We’ll have no woman’s law here, while I live.” (Sc 2.444). Sophocles illustrates the dangers of pride in kingship. He emphasizes more on how kings should be reasonable to the citiz...
Time changes a lot of things, but somehow it didn’t change the way these two men viewed the world. Bill Clinton and RFK (Robert F Kennedy) both delivered speeches after tragic events. Some of the things they said in their speeches were truly inspiring, and they wanted to make sure that their country was alright after a tragic event. Both of their speeches shared a lot of common purposes that helped the nation cope with a devastating event.
After the two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, kill themselves in battle, Creon becomes the King of Thebes. Creon quickly establishes his authority over the City of Thebes. He states, “Polyneices, I say, is to have no burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for him; he shall lie on the plain, unburied; and the birds and the scavenging dogs can do with him whatever they like” (Sophocles 1808). As for the brother Eteocles, Creon demands that he has a proper burial because he was fighting for his country. In addition, Creon explains to his senators that they are not to support anyone who breaks the law. Without hesitation, Creon expects everyone in Thebes to follow his decree. He does not care that the tradition has always been to give everyone a proper burial. In this case, Creon defies the laws of the Gods further demonstrating his stubborn ways. Within his establishment as King, Creon automatically has various demands and expectations from the senators and the people of Thebes.
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
as the King of Thebes. Creon poses to be a major authority figure in a patriarchal
Donald Trump’s hypocritical claim to be a Christian is conspicuous as he holds up Grandma’s bible and mispronounces 2 Corinthians, etc., as if to make a joke of the whole thing. When 60 minutes first interviewed with Donald Trump and his new running mate, Mike Pence, interviewer Leslie Stahl contrasted the difference between the two, saying Trump was brash and Pence was quiet and religious. Trump butted in, “Oh, I’m religious.” The proof he offered? “Well, I won the evangelicals.” Trump said.
In both Antigone and Medea, three leading characters—Creon of Thebes, Medea, and Jason—hold dominant authority in their own way. Jason, married to Megareus—daughter of another King Creon, receives a small recognition of power because of this marriage. He “is lying on a royal wedding bed.” (Medea 24). However, Creon of Thebes holds greater power as king. Born in Colchis, a “country of barbarians,” Medea’s power in no way compares to the power in a reigning, royal sense of King Creon (Medea 637). Her power lies in her wicked actions of selfishly doing whatever she wants, deceivingly poisoning Megareus and Creon, and angrily murdering her own children. Creon, newly reigning king of Thebes, immediately demonstrates his position of authority in his address to the people of his country. His opening speech to the people sets the tone for Creon’s character—powerful, pleasing to his people, and full of confidence. These qualities are...
Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln has made one of the biggest impacts in United States History by saving the Union during the American Civil War and emancipating the slaves. Lincoln has always been considered anti-slavery, though he seemed to become more of an abolitionist as his term went by. Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated in a drama theatre in 1865. This formed many issues because the president after Lincoln was a southerner named Andrew Johnson. Johnson did not execute Lincoln’s plans correctly and did not understand his visions. Lincoln had solutions to many issues that Johnson did not know about. On top of that President Johnson was not a man who was greatly liked. Although Lincoln was
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
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.
The throne of the king of Thebes was passed from King Laius to Oedipus to Creon, making Creon a noble and royal figure. Being a part of the nobility is the first part of the requirement of being a tragic hero involving being a noble and having noble character. Along with having a noble title, Creon possesses the attribute of being noble and honorable. Putting aside Creon’s pride and selfishness for now, he still has the wellbeing and safety of his country, Thebes, at heart. Creon explain...
...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.
In addition, Creon disregards what had historically been the best counsel for the city, the blind prophet Tiresias. Despite Tiresias’ warnings that his “high resolve that sets this plague on Thebes,” will “strike [him] down with the pains [he] perfected,” Creon’s stubborn commitment to the laws of state turns to be his error. Eventually convinced by Tiresias’ warnings, Creon resolves to release Antigone from her isolated tomb. Regrettably, he’s too late and the consequences of his insolence for the divine laws were far worse than if he had “[L]ay[ed] [my] pride bare to the blows of ruin” (1220). Creon’s undoing can be viewed as an allegory of the calamities that ensue when the laws of man pursue to challenge the ancient laws of gods.
Sophocles, following the Greek standard of tragedy, casts Creon as the tragic hero plagued by his own pride, inflexibility and power. Creon believes his authority to be twofold, both as the king and as the head of his family. He claims that the throne is the source of all power, saying ?whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed ? must be obeyed, in all things, great and small, just and unjust? (Sophocles 217), and he demands the utmost allegiance from his son, bidding him to ?subordinate everything else?to [his] father?s will? (Sophocles 216). Creon is filled with hubris, and he rejects any solution that might compromise his image. For instance, when the guards escort Antigone to the palace, he demands of the Choragos, ?Who is the man...