Power Hungry

One point of Antigone that I found particularly interesting was that Creon ended up repeating Oedipus’s mistake of ignoring the prophecy and holding onto his pride until it was too late. In the story ‘Oedipus,’ Creon is on the other side, watching the King make his mistakes and yet he learns nothing from that situation. He continuously sees people telling Oedipus that he is being hardheaded and needs to look at things clearly. Then, when Creon finds himself in the same pickle that Oedipus was in, he goes down the same path. Creon ends up repeating many of the same actions of Oedipus. Teiresias says, “I tell you, Creon, you yourself have brought this new calamity upon us….The only crime is pride (1345).” Just as Oedipus brought the plague to Thebes when he killed his father, Creon has brought misfortune to the city as well. Another example is when Creon finds out about a person burying Polyneices. His first reaction is that people are trying to overthrow him, just like when Oedipus heard the prophecy about him killing his father and marrying his mother. Once I finished the story, I kept trying to think of possible reasons as to why Creon was being so rash rather than stopping and listening to those around him, and I came up with the idea that when people get in control and inherit a large source of power, it goes straight to their head.

People are innately power hungry, so once they get a hold of that power, they think that they are ultimately right in everything. The idea is evident in today’s society, which can be seen with people at any workplace trying to pull eachother down in order to climb higher in the business world. In some cases, when they achieve that power, they grow conceded and think that they are right no matter what. Creon, in ‘Antigone,’ believes that Polyneices shouldn’t be buried because he was a traitor to Thebes, even though everyone around him told him that the Gods would be upset. Rather than thinking of what would be best for the city, he goes with what he thinks is right, which ends up being the wrong thing to do. Just as the sentry said, “How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong! (1331)” He as king thinks that he is, “licensed to say and do whatever [he pleases] (1335).” He gets his moment of clarity too late and loses his wife and son.

I think that by the end of the story, Creon ends up being the tragic hero. Yes, at the beginning of the story he comes off as a unlikable character; however, by the end we pity him because he does end up realizing his mistake but by that time, it’s too late and Haimon, the Queen, and Antigone are all dead. His tragic flaw, obviously, is pride, which ultimately destroys him. He is a man of high standing suffering from misfortune. I think that a person who comes into a great deal of power needs to have a strong mind, and Creon in the end proves to everyone that he is weak. He let his pride consume him for too long and will now spend the rest of his life suffering from his mistakes. (551)