Kreon vs. Modern Day Leaders

The play Antigone by Sophocles begins with the death of Antigone’s two brothers Eteocles and Polyneices. The two brothers kill each other in a duel when Eteocles refuses to step down from the throne and allow his brother to be king. After their deaths, Kreon becomes king and orders Eteocles to be buried in honor and left Polyneices unburied to be eaten by vultures. Antigone believes that Polyneices deserves a proper burial and suggests that Ismene, her sister, and she should bury him. Ismene disagrees and does not want to disobey Kreon. However, Antigone buries her dead brother despite what Ismene says. When Kreon finds out that Polyneices has been buried he orders the guards to uncover the body. Antigone attempts to bury her brother once again and is caught in action. Kreon believes that Antigone has disobeyed him and he sentences her to death. When Kreon’s son Haimon finds out about this he is enraged because he was to marry Antigone. Kreon eventually changes his mind but it is too late because Antigone hung herself and Haimon had stabbed himself to death. Then Kreon’s wife Eurydice cut her own throat and left him all alone. The events that took place show how Kreon’s behavior and the way he ruled his state is very

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Near the end of Antigone, Kreon is warned by Teiresias and he told him that he was making a big mistake by killing Antigone. However, Bush’s decision to go to war lost America allies and this shows his lack of leadership. Bush makes us think he isn’t lying to us just like when Kreon says “I won’t be a leader who lies to his people” (line 798). They both believe in war and in our modern day we are in the middle of a war right now. She did not disobey him and the state saw this as well and people did not agree with what he was doing to her. Bush parallel each other in many ways. This quote parallels our modern day and a good example is the 2000 Presidential Election. This is exactly what Bush is saying to the American people when he decided to go to war. Kreon’s ideas are very similar to those of our modern day President Bush.

When Kreon found out that someone had betrayed him and buried Polyneices he was very angry and stated, “find me the perpetrator of this burial” (line 383). Bush needs to correct his wrongs before he makes a huge mistake just like Kreon did and before it is too late. The question is, what would have happened if Kreon would have listened to Haimon and the people? Would things be different in the United States if Bush had listened to the people as well? Kreon was not a good leader because he lost everything by making one small decision. He ordered the United States Army to find the man who did the crime just as Kreon ordered the Sentry to find out who buried Polyneices.

Approximate Word count = 1614
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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