Creon, Tool Of Despair In Sophocles Antigone

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Creon, Tool of Despair

Of the one hundred and twenty plays and tales Sophocles had written during his time, only seven have survived to today and Antigone a tale of the constant turmoil of the royal family of Thebes is one of those few ancient tales. Creon, the new king of the city of Thebes, strives for justice and absolute loyalty to the crown, however, after he discovered that an unidentified citizen had defied one of his recently announced laws, he inflicted his fury on himself and those around him. Creon is the tragic figure that functions as an instrument of the suffering of others and contributes to the tragic vision of the story, Antigone by Sophocles, as a whole by threatening his subjects and family with death, ignoring the thoughts of his elders and peers, and bringing the feeling of death to himself and also death itself to those around him. …show more content…

Despite Creon’s past successful leadership, it often appeared as though Creon’s common choice of decisions and following threats led to his loss as his actions caused his people enough fear to want to either escape his rule. Such examples are seen with the guard who says “you won’t see me coming here again.”(Sophocles, 286) which clearly showed his loss of loyalty to Creon after he and the other guards had been threatened under false accusations, or Antigone whose main purpose in the story was to cause to incite conflict by defying Creon’s laws. The worst example of his ignorance to other’s opinions was when Creon’s own son Haemon one of the few people who would be in his favor, enraged Creon into a blind fury simply by stating that he disagreed with his choice in “No, not when I see you making a mistake and being unjust” (Sophocles,847/848). Unfortunately for all involved, no matter their intentions or actions, it always seems as though Creon’s judgements were precisely incorrect and poorly

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