The Role of Government

In the play Antigone Creon comes out to be the king of Thebes after Eteocles. As he becomes the king, he kind of becomes the dictator of Thebes. He makes a rule that whoever buries the dead body of Polyneices (traitor of Thebes) will get punished. However Antigone breaks the rule of Creon and try to bury Polyneices’s body but gets caught. Then eventually Antigone avoids being killed but gets locked up in a cave. Creon implies “Whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed-Must be obeyed, in all things, great and small, Just and unjust!” (Antigone 2.35-38) to Haemon who is his son. This shows that he is a tyranny ruler and everybody fears him. So no one yet has been against Creon because they have fear that if they do they will get killed. So they just say the good things about Creon fearing death. On the other hand, Haemon has a different way of thinking about the government; democracy. I think the good example of the thinking of democracy is when Haemon says “Yet there are other men who can reason, too; and their opinions might be helpful. You are not in a position to know everything.” (Antigone 3.55-58). This shows that Haemon thinks that the government belongs to the people. Not just to the king.