Creon: a Virtuous King?
Creon: A Virtuous King?
Antigone is a Greek Tragedy that was written in 441 B.C. by Sophocles who is considered one of the great tragedians of the Greek time period and even today. Antigone is a complex play which centers on the two main characters, Antigone and Creon; Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and the niece to Creon. This play starts with brothers to Antigone, Polyneices and Eteocles dying in war; they killed each other tragically while fighting over the throne of Thebes. Eteocles receives a respectable stately burial and Polyneices was considered a traitor and is disgraced, not allowed to receive a proper burial. If anyone gets close to the body of Polyneices or tries to bury him they would be condemned to death by King Creon, who has become the new monarch to the throne. King Creon makes some tragic decisions throughout the story such as condemning his niece to death and ignoring the pleas to overturn his decisions. Is Creon a virtuous King? No. The definition of the word virtuous is to demonstrate moral excellence. In this play King Creon does not follow the laws of the Gods but follows the laws of man. This does not mean Creon is a bad person, but he is the King. In this position a King makes laws and must ensure that people abide by them and if not set the example of punishment to the lawbreakers. Secondly, Polyneices is a traitor however you look at it. Even today a traitor can be imprisoned or even punished to death in a lot of countries. I will talk about how Creon was a good King but makes some unfortunate decisions in the following paragraphs.
One common attribute of Greek Tragedy is that most of the characters have very good intentions; with this being said, I feel King Creon had the best of intentions as a new ruler. Being new to the position Creon has a lot to prove; the first thing on his agenda is to make the decision that Polyneices is not to receive an honorable burial. Creon decides this punishment not because he is
Antigone is a Greek Tragedy that was written in 441 B.C. by Sophocles who is considered one of the great tragedians of the Greek time period and even today. Antigone is a complex play which centers on the two main characters, Antigone and Creon; Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and the niece to Creon. This play starts with brothers to Antigone, Polyneices and Eteocles dying in war; they killed each other tragically while fighting over the throne of Thebes. Eteocles receives a respectable stately burial and Polyneices was considered a traitor and is disgraced, not allowed to receive a proper burial. If anyone gets close to the body of Polyneices or tries to bury him they would be condemned to death by King Creon, who has become the new monarch to the throne. King Creon makes some tragic decisions throughout the story such as condemning his niece to death and ignoring the pleas to overturn his decisions. Is Creon a virtuous King? No. The definition of the word virtuous is to demonstrate moral excellence. In this play King Creon does not follow the laws of the Gods but follows the laws of man. This does not mean Creon is a bad person, but he is the King. In this position a King makes laws and must ensure that people abide by them and if not set the example of punishment to the lawbreakers. Secondly, Polyneices is a traitor however you look at it. Even today a traitor can be imprisoned or even punished to death in a lot of countries. I will talk about how Creon was a good King but makes some unfortunate decisions in the following paragraphs.
One common attribute of Greek Tragedy is that most of the characters have very good intentions; with this being said, I feel King Creon had the best of intentions as a new ruler. Being new to the position Creon has a lot to prove; the first thing on his agenda is to make the decision that Polyneices is not to receive an honorable burial. Creon decides this punishment not because he is
References: “Chapter 37/ Sophocles/ Antigone." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Comp. Dana Gioia and X. J. Kennedy. 10th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2007. 1324-352. Print.