Untitled Essay, Research Paper

The role of the king in the time of Greek tragedies was simultaneously desired

and dreaded because of the king’s responsibility to the people and because

of the effects of the position on the king’s character. Creon reveals

such ambivalent thoughts towards the kingship in his speech defending himself

from Oedipus’s conspiracy accusation in Oedipus the King; these ambivalent

thoughts reveal much about the nature of the kingship, especially in conjunction

with Creon’s later actions in Antigone.

In attempting to refute Oedipus’s assertion that

Creon has taken part in a conspiracy to obtain the kingship, Creon evaluates

the nature of the kingship and of his present role. First, he says, “Consider,

first, if you think any one/ would choose to rule and fear rather than rule

and sleep” (36.584-585). By this, Creon means that the main difference between

his position and the king’s is that of the accompanying action to ruling.

In both positions, one is a ruler who holds great power over the state. However,

the king is placed in a greater place of accountability to the people. This

accountability is what Creon says inspires “fear” in the king, for if affairs

of state or of the people fall into decline, the king is the first person

whom the citizenry look to blame. This is analogous to executive leaders

throughout history, as one can see in looking at American presidents and

the correlation between the present conditions and events of the nation to

the public’s opinion of the president, regardless of the actual impact

that his decisions may have made in these conditions. Creon maintains that

he has the same amount of power as the king but without the accountability

that inevitably leads a king to distress.

Creon’s reasoning concerning the equality between

his power and Oedipus’s leads him to state:

I was not born with such a frantic yearning

to be a king- but to do what kings do.

And so it is with every one who has learned

wisdom and self-control.

(36.587-590)

He means that he has never desired the position of king, because he sees

no advantage over his present position in the state. Rather, he sees the

disadvantage of the fear that accompanies the position of king. Creon has

evaluated this situation for his circumstances and then goes further in stating

that anyone with wisdom and self-control would come to such a conclusion

as well. This could be interpreted as an insult to Oedipus in two different

ways. Creon could mean that Oedipus and anyone else who desires and assumes

the kingship are by nature not people of wisdom and self-control- or he could

be saying that the position of the kingship is one that strips an individual

of his wisdom and self-control.

In support of the assertion that the kingship changes

one’s character, one could point to the events of Antigone and Creon’s

striking change in character in the play. In Oedipus the King, Creon reveals

himself to be a reasonable ruler, who makes rational decisions and is not

quick to anger, as is revealed by his calmness in his responses to

Oedipus’s heated accusations. However, in Antigone, Creon has become

prideful and irrational. His dealings with Antigone and Teiresias and his

stubbornness in the play indicate a change in his character. In fact, his

actions, especially in his dealings with Teiresias the prophet, are very

similar to Oedipus’s actions in Oedipus the King. Just as Oedipus had

done before him, Creon refuses to completely believe Teiresias’s prophecies

for the state. Creon also emulates his predecessor’s actions in his

accusation of bribery directed towards Teiresias: “Out with it-/ but only

if your words are not for gain” (201. 1128-1129). Creon’s words and

actions in Antigone indicate that he has taken on the negative characteristics

of king that he describes in his speech in Oedipus the King. He has same

amount of power as king, but he now seems to have lost his wisdom and

self-control. This indicates that perhaps his words to Oedipus are, in fact,

mainly an insult to the position of king and to what it evokes from a

person’s character rather than an insult solely directed towards

Oedipus.

Creon also feels that the king is generally not responsive

to the desires of the citizenry: “But if I were the king myself, I must/

do much that went against the grain” (36.590-591). By this, Creon means that

in his present position, he is more apt than the king to know the will of

the people and to respond accordingly. Again, this seems to be a flaw inherent

in the kingship based on Creon’s actions in Antigone. As king Creon

is blind to the fact that the people of Thebes are opposed to his actions

concerning the punishment of Antigone. One who is not king, Creon’s

son Haemon, senses the will of the people:

But what I can hear, in the dark,are things like these:

the city mourns for this girl; they think she is dying

most wrongly and most undeservedly

of all womenkind, for the most glorious acts.

(188.746-749)

Haemon has sensed that the people feel Creon’s actions are unjust, which

is something that Creon is not aware of. However, in his speech, Creon is

also asserting that a king, even when aware of the will of the people, does

not respond accordingly. He demonstrates this in Antigone when he says, “Should

the city tell me how to rule them?” (189.794). Once again, Creon’s words

in Oedipus the King and actions in Antigone correspond and indicate that

his speech reveals characteristics that are inherent in the kingship and

not just in Oedipus’s rule.

Creon finds these characteristics of a king to be despicable

and prefers his own present position. “How should despotic rule seem sweeter

to me/ than painless power and an assured authority?” (36.592-593). He is

saying that his present power is less painful and even more effectual than

that of a king. It is less painful in that he is not held directly accountable

for the conditions of the state. It is more effectual both in that he has

a better sense of the will of the people and in that he is less likely to

allow selfish interest and pride to interfere with his execution of the will

of the people.

Creon’s speech serves two purposes, both effectively.

First, it is a convincing argument to prove that he is not involved a conspiracy

to overthrow Oedipus, although Oedipus’s pride does not allow him to

be convinced by this argument. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly,

Creon’s speech gives insight into the two-sided nature of the kingship,

for although it is a position of great honor and power, it is also a position

that often corrupts the man who holds it. Creon believes that there is a

certain type of man who desires such a position, a man who has not learned

wisdom and self-control. He believes that he is a man who has learned these

attributes; thus, he would not be susceptible to desire for the kingship

and the corruption which would inevitably follow. However, his actions in

Antigone show that there are very few men who will reject the kingship if

presented with the opportunity and even fewer men who will not allow the

kingship to corrupt them.