Essay on Creon in Sophocles and Anouilhs Antigone -- Antigone essays

Creon in Sophocles and Anouilhs Antigone In twain plays, Creon sees himself as a passive agent rather than a villain, only acting out a predetermine set of instructions based upon certain laws and edicts. Creon tries to give the impression that he is not really in control if it were up to him, as an individual, things would be different. Sophocles Creon tries to washing his hands of Antigones death by leaving her in a sealed cave. The gods will determine her fate, so he thinks. Anouilhs Creon goes so far as to lease the childish stupidity of his own decree. He even confides in Antigone that he is not certain which brothers body was buried. He insists, though, that once knowledge of her act is public, the consider is entirely beyond his control. There is a point of no return past which he is powerless to act. In becoming king, an instrument of the State, Creon can no longer assert his will as an individual, morally or otherwise. Where the original Creon tried to leave matters w ith the gods, Anouilhs Creon points toward the State and its will independent of his own. Antigones fate unfolds in both plays and Creon does not interecede. Although ironically they share a sense of powerlessness, an important distinction can be made at this point. Sophocles Creon learns from Antigones death. Her sacrifice acquires meaning. Anouilhs Creon is too busy with matters of reconcile to assess Antigones death on a personal level. Her sacrifice is inconsequential, another shot fired into the mob. The reaction of each king to Antigones death and the carnage that ensues shapes the determination of each play literally and thematically. Creon in the original play repents belatedly after learnin... ... seems to suggest that devotion must or will be compromised. For Sophocles, morality helps to reinforce order, but on a cosmic, and in many ways absurd, level. Creon is forced to submit to the laws of jealous, fickle, inconstant gods. Antigone is the only advocate for the gods place in taste over mankind and her reward is an untimely death. This order is beyond human comprehension. Both plays leave a reader or audience morally unsettled. We take in Creon morally culpable but are left uneasy by the order established at the conclusion. Perhaps this unsettling effect was at least divide of the playwrights ultimate goal. Works Cited Anouilh, Jean. Antigone. Rpt. in Masters of Modern Drama. Ed. Haskell M. Block and Robert G. Shedd, New York Random House, 1962. Sophocles. Antigone. Rpt. in Ten Greek Plays. Ed. L.R. Lind, Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1957.