Three dead bodies, angry Gods, and a bad omen foreseen by a prophet come true. Such are the effects of a foolish king's actions. In Sophocles's Antigone, Creon fails as a statesman because of three primary faults: he makes governing decisions without taking advice from others, he abuses his absolute power as a king, and he has an extremely quick and volatile temper.
             The foremost of Creon's faults is making his decisions without first consulting and receiving an opinion from other people. For example, Creon and Haemon argue whether Antigone's actions are honorable: "Since when do I take my orders from the people of Thebes?" (Sc. 3.628-630). Creon is being very stubborn and refuses to even think about the thoughts of his people whom he governs. Creon uses his absolute power to ensure his opinion as the correct and only belief, and he does not even take into consideration the view of the Theban civilians. In addition, when Teiresias comes to give counsel, the prophet blames the king of Thebes for all the disatrous omens. Creon, in turn, accuses Teiresias of bribery and falsehood. The foolish king again shows his obstinacy by not listening to advice from anyone. This time it is much worse because he is brushing aside the words of Teiresias, a prophet who had yet to ever be proven wrong. Creon is not being fair and just to the people, and Teiresias warns him to be reasonable. Even with this warning, the king still does not change his opinion and misuses his power. Not taking guidance from other people can be a statesman's most serious mistake, and for Creon this is the fault which starts the entire sequence of events leading up to the death of his family.
             Abusing one's power can also lead to a downfall as a leader, and for Creon it is another fault which leads to his spectacular failure as a statesman. For instance, Creon issues a decree that Polynices is to be left for the wild animals...