The Burial At Thebes Rhetorical Devices

The Burial at Thebes, a version of Sophocles’ Antigone written by Seamus Heaney, is a play about newly appointed King Creon, who brands the brother of his niece Antigone a traitor and mandates that his body remains unburied, which sparks the overall conflict in the play. In his first speech that this essay will be focusing on, Creon attempts to assert his newfound authority and justify his command denying Polyneices a burial. Creon's clever use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos and pathos throughout his speech, created an atmosphere for him to be able to not only establish himself as head of state in the eyes of his audience, but also managed to persuade them to accept his decision regarding Eteocles and Polyneices.

Creon begins

Towards the end of this speech, Creon voices that “nobody, let it be understood, nobody is to treat him otherwise”. The repetition of the word ‘nobody’ is manipulative, as it warns the audience that there will be consequences for anybody who tries to disregard his orders. The repetition persuades the reader to not take his words lightly, as it evokes a sense of terror in the readers if they were ever to disobey his words. Furthermore, Creon uses degrading words to describe Polyneices such as “a carcass for the dogs and birds to feed on”. His choice of words suggest that Polyneices is an insignificant part of society due to his betrayal, which manipulates the audience into viewing him in a negative way. On the subject of repetition, Creon repeats the name ‘Eteocles’ in the beginning of his sentences at one point in the speech. By doing this, Creon opens up a vulnerable side that the audience does not know very well, creating a perception that he is bathing in pain from the death of his niece. He is ultimately using sympathy from the audience in order to manipulate them into believing that he has a soft side for the people who die in the name of Thebes. His purpose at this point has become clear: to use strategic manipulation through pathos to reestablish his place in Thebes, and to maneuver the audience’s thinking to align with

In order to affirm his devotion to the people of Thebes, Creon reiterates that “personal loyalty always must give way to patriotic duty”. In this statement we can see how Creon presents his expected value system, being that duty to Thebes comes before personal allegiances. The assonance in his persuasive statement, particularly the ‘L’ sound creates an introspective mood or tone, causing the audience to unconsciously question their personal loyalty towards Thebes. It also creates a sense of quick, light movement, referring to his tone, being quite soft and reflective. This again shows how Creon is able to evoke emotions in the audience, and use soft power to establish his role, that he has control and therefore all loyalty shall lie with him. His tone suggests that he is calm, however the mood can be quite harsh in the sense that if your morals do not align with his there will be consequences for those audience members. To add on, Creon is constantly restarting his priority of the people of Thebes over his personal loyalties, as he suggests that the “state” is his primary concern, after stating that, “there’s no threat that’s going to stop me from acting, ever, in the interests of the citizens''. This establishes his credibility as their new ruler and implies that as their devoted king he commands and deserves their