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Sophocles Oedipus: Creon Character Analysis

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It always seems that in today’s time, in history, or in works of literature that leaders are classified in two ways: good or bad. In other words, leaders handle conflicts and problematic situations in a variety of ways. This can include effective methods in which it is essentially reasonable and justly resolves an issue, yet on the other hand, they can be ineffective methods in which they are irrational, arbitrary, and overall could either exacerbate an issue or resolve an issue but cause more issues afterwards. Leaders always have conflicts to handle; however though, every leader tends to handle them differently. In a sense of considering the characteristics of a leader, one type of leader that consists of moral qualities and executes …show more content…

Just like how all of the details in the previous paragraph demonstrated bad leader qualities, Creon happens to have the qualities of a bad leader as well. His ultimate trait which basically makes him an antagonist in “Antigone” is his self-confidence—excessive pride. For example, even though Creon loves his niece Antigone to death, he refused to let Antigone bury Polyneices because he was a traitor to Thebes, and due to his excessive pride, Creon handled the situation by arresting his own daughter including Ismene who did not even do anything but because he is so self-confident he did not listen to anyone. Another example that proves Creon’s excessive pride is when the blind prophet Teiresias lets him know that he cannot escape fate and that he is doomed, and Creon handled the tight situation by not listening. Eventually Creon discovered that Antigone, Haemon, and Creon’s wife have committed suicide (Ismene’s fate is not directly stated in the play), and finally realized that this was all due to the fact that he didn’t use his brain to solve conflicts and in the end goes into exile. Ultimately, all of the mistakes that Creon had made as a leader and his downfall was due to his excessive pride, which proves that he was a bad leader and that other leaders should not

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