The story of Antigone starts with the problem of Polyneices’ burial. Antigone, as his sister, thinks her brother should deserve a formal burial; however, her uncle Creon, the king, considers Polyneice as a traitor, who fights against his own city. And then, Creon pays the price for his wrong decision. Even though, at the end, he changes his mind, it is too late, and he lost his family.
After reading Antigone, there is a question coming out. As a leader, how to determine whether a person is a traitor?
Being a top person in a society, authority always makes he or she blind or deaf because the certain power satisfies his or her desire of being respected. It is a common personality existing in human beings (specially leaders in undemocratic countries). In the story, Creon thinks his decisions should not be questioned because he is the one. He even ignores his son’s advice. The character of Creon reminds me a person.
Do you know Kim Jong-il, the supreme leader of North Korea? That man is kind of a king who rules everything in that country. I remember I have heard a fallacy from him. He said, the more hungry your people are, the more obedient they are. I feel so sympathy for people of North Korea.
Back to Antigone.
When I read the suicide part of Creon’s son and his wife, I had the strong feeling of retribution. Finally, Creon pays for his arrogance and opinionated.
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Yes, I am familiar with Kim Jong Il. And I agree with you: he seems much more interested in exerting his power than in trying to make the lives of his people better. I seem to recall a while back when he let a large number of his fellow North Koreans starve to death rather than accept aid from his foreign "enemies." Do I have that right?
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are being too pitiless to Creon. Remember the old addage, 'stick to your guns'. Creon was only being loyal to his gods and his family... Except for Antigone (and technically they were not family yet?). Polynices had sent an army to attack the city in which Creon's family resided. If I had the power to, I would probably would have responded with such brash actions with a deffensive decree of my own as well. And as for him not backing down, well, if a ruler turned his decision every time someone opposed him he would be an unsubstantial ruler.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Creon's fault as a ruler lies more in not recognizing the possible consequences to his impulsive mandate.