Absolute Power in Antigone
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," said Lord Acton generations ago. In the Greek tragedy Antigone, written by Sophocles, there was a character named Kreon, the antagonist, who was the king of Thebes. Thebes was an autocratic state where Kreon had absolute power. Throughout the course of the play, Kreon abused his privilege of absolute power; and this caused him to suffer greatly, even though he was warned by a few people of his bad deeds. What Sophocles commented on absolute power was that one should not abuse it. If it was abused, he or she had to expect bad consequences. This was indicated by what happened to Kreon when he abused his power. Kreon settled a decree that prohibited anyone from burying Polyneices' dead body. He was proud of his decree, and he also stated that he would be a good king by listening to what people said regarding his decisions. When the decree was broken by Antigone, Kreon sentenced her to death. This angered the gods because they wanted the dead body of Polyneices buried, and they did not want a live body (that of Antigone) buried in a cave. Kreon was told by Haimon to change his mind, but Kreon rejected his request and went ahead and buried Antigone alive. Teiresi
He also stated that matters that had to be taken care of by the gods were out of his hands and that "'a crime of violence is being done'" (1249), and Kreon was in charge of it. Kreon asked her if she really went against the decree, and Antigone denied nothing. When a person died, the gods expected the body to be buried so that they could take it to the underworld. However, this was not how he reacted when Kreon heard that somebody buried Polyneices' body. Kreon thought that all of the sentries were bribed into not telling him who was the culprit (372-391). He did this by doing what he favored, regardless of the gods' rules, which was to bury a live soul and let a dead body rot in the open. When Kreon's wife, Eurydice, found out about her son, she committed suicide too. He defied what Koryphaios had said and just declared that the gods would never bury Polyneices, and he got his way. By the end of the play, Kreon found out that both Antigone and Haimon had committed suicide. While he was talking to the senate, a sentry came in and told Kreon that Polyneices' body had been buried. Kreon rejected both Haimon's request and Teiresias' warning, and as a result, he suffered in the end. The laws they have made for men are well marked out. Antigone wanted to bury her brother's body, but Ismene objected because she said that they should not disobey Kreon, who had absolute power and had prohibited Polyneices' burial (26-80).
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