Creon: Cultural Trauma And Collective Guilt In Three Modern Antigone

Antigone chronicles the fictional events within the fabled Ancient Greek dynasty of Thebes, Antigone (daughter of the former King Oedipus Rex and late Queen Jocasta) and King Creon (brother of the late Queen Jocasta) after the war of succession between the late Eteocles and Polynices (Antigone’s brothers; Creon’s nephews). The play illustrates the complexities of autocratic rule with Antigone and Creon’s ideological clash, with Creon advocating for an absolute upholding of his own mandate of improper disposal of Polynices’ remains, which he justifies by his own proclaimed divine right. Sophocles portrays King Creon as not only a tyrant but a warning for the inevitable dangers of absolute rule within autocratic, absolute monarchies. This analysis

Soll examines the events of Antigone (as well as Luiz Rafael Sanchez’s translation/reinterpretation within La Pasion de Antigona Perez) as an ancient commentary on pan-era phenomena of cultural trauma, an “empirical evidence that a haunting is occurring in society” (Soll). Soll also likens characters such as Ismene and the common people to fearful bystanders witness to an unjust tyrant’s free reign, with lines from Ismene such as “he’s the king, Antigone. He’s stronger than we are. And everyone agrees with him. The streets of Thebes are full of them” (88). In her words, “Creon has constructed a narrative of the evil brother vs. the heroic one in order to explain the civil conflict and give society the possibility of moving forward,” illustrating Creon as a demagogue (Soll). A likeness is drawn between Antigone herself to the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, a notable group of mothers who “gathered every week in front of the seat of government to demand the return of their missing children and who were instrumental in turning public perception against the dictatorship” during a time of massive government-orchestrated kidnappings and disappearances of children in 1970-80s Argentina (Soll). This analysis of the conflict between Creon and Antigone adds a global historical perspective on Creon’s

Fletcher analyzes Creon’s actions through a historical perspective, noting that the Athenian government at the time was self-assured in the success of their democratic processes, with Sophocles being a high-ranking political figure at the time. Sophocles was well-versed in historical and political studies, and the play centers around the ideological fallacies of both Creon and the autocracy he symbolizes. She notes that “unlike the "democratic" monarchs of tragedy, Theseus or Pelasgus, Creon does not consult the citizens of Thebes before he makes his announcement forbidding the burial” (Fletcher). She offers a bit of food for thought that would likely give Sophocles a chuckle, asking “what gives a legal performative its status beyond its utterance by a powerful civic figure?” (Fletcher). Critical analysis of Creon as a symbolic character, Antigone as a tragedy, and Sophocles as a well-studied intellectual reveal with certainty that the intention was to portray Creon as an unjust