Leadership in Antigone
Lao Tzu once said, "To lead people, walk behind them." A good leader is one who understands and wants the best for their people. They will listen and guide but not dictate and order around. In the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, Creon is created to show a clearly evident difference between a good leader and a bad leader. Sophocles explores the nature of leadership by making Creon a ruler who rules out of fear, demands complete devotion no matter the circumstance, and is unable to accept advice. These flaws in his character will evidently leave him bemoaning his decisions at the end of the play. Creon's ideology of ruling out of fear is prevalent in the first few pages of the play. In the beginning, Creon proclaims his edict by saying Etocles will have a proper burial but because Polynices fought on the opposing army he will be left for, "birds in search of
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In the beginning of the story Creon said, "I have even less esteem for a man who deems a friend more important than his fatherland" (L. 176). No matter the circumstance Creon wants loyalty. When Antigone buries her brother she disobeys Creon and does not give him the devotion he thinks he deserves. To Creon, he comes before family and that is a major character flaw. A good leader understands and shows compassion, Creon does not. The inability to accept advice is a defect that can hurt a character. In Antigone, Tiresias foreshadows an event through a prophet he tells Creon that leads to his downfall. "You will have to offer as a corpse one sprung from your own loins, a death in exchange for a death" ( L.1025-1017). Tiresias goes to Creon and tells him, "you must obey the prophet" ( L.950) Creon agrees but in turn he does not. This results in the loss of his son Haemon who kills himself after he sees Antigone dead. If Creon listened to the advice things could have turned out