Creon Speech Essay

Creon Creon, the king of Thebes, has two very long speeches at the beginning of the play. They each show different sides of his character’s personality. In the first one, he is calm and relaxed, making no effort to be mean or rude to anyone, just expressing his beliefs. In the second one, he is quite rude and disrespectful to the guard, not even trying to believe what he is saying. In just the first few pages, you see that he isn’t trustworthy, as he acts differently in front of multiple people, than he does with just one other person. The first speech he gives is about his personal beliefs about people. He says, “ For me, a man who rules the entire state, and does not take the best advice there is, but through fear keeps his mouth forever shut, such a man is the worst of men - and always will be.” Much of the speech is full of quotes such as this one, explaining his disgust with some people, but being careful not to offend anyone. He then announces that Eteocles will have a proper burial, since he holds more respect in Creon’s mind. But Polyneices, Eteocles’ brother, will be left out for the animals to eat. Polyneices started the war for the throne, and to Creon, he is much less deserving of his respect, so he will not be

Creon is no longer speaking to multiple people, and is instead talking to only the guard who was supposed to be watching Polyneices’ body. From the start he is very rude, clearly angered by what has happened. “ Stop now - before what you’re about to say enrages me completely and reveals that you’re not only old but stupid, too,” is the first line of the speech. He continues to mock the guard, and accuses him of purposefully letting Polyneices’ body be stolen for money. He accuses him of being paid off because he knows the people don’t like him, and would do anything to disobey him. Creon threatens to have the guard killed if he can’t figure out who stole the body and buried it