I sat before the my loyal subjects of Thebes. Looking down from my pedestal I am able to see deeply into the eyes of my men and women. These eyes were not filled with happiness and joy, but express deep sadness and depression. They all had been mourning the deaths of love ones. Brave souls who had died valiantly defending their country. Too many had died today. Too many sons, husbands, fathers, and nephews; almost everyone was in pain. I know that I would have to stand up and condemn the traitors, or these incredible men's deaths would all be for naught. Standing up I spoke to my people,
"When I see any danger threatening my people, Whatever it may be, I shall declare it. No man who is his country's enemy [s]hall call himself my friend. Our country is life; only when she rids safely, have we any friends at all. Such is my policy for our common weal" (131).
When I said this I saw hope creep back into my people. They now know my true feelings. That their sons, husbands, fathers, and nephews were my friends. Their deaths hurt me just as much as it had hurt them. No! The traitors deserve to rot in the scorching sun. For Polynices came, "intending to burn and destroy his fatherland and the gods of his fatherland" (131). He strived and accomplished to destroy homes, and the lives of the innocent. When I look around I see pain and suffering. These people had no need to involve themselves in my family's dispute, but they willingly volunteered themselves to put down the traitors. Like faithful subjects they are. I say now "there is no more deadly peril than disobedience; states are devoured by it, homes laid in ruins... simple obedience saves the lives of hundreds of honest folk" (144). This traitor does not deserve the honor of being buried. His actions had but one motive, to destroy this beautiful city. Do you think this is what makes a good leader, acting purely on emotions? No, he deserves to rot. The devastation Polynices caused is evident to my subjects.
If I bury him, I will be honoring the man who killed many of my men. If I bury him, the people will lose sight of what is important. If I bury him, I will never forgive myself for letting some edict of the gods get in the way of the happiness and well being of my people! I WILL NOT BURY HIM!!!!!
I am so glad she assigned you Creon since even when we were reading it, you were defending him. This is some great stuff. You made a lot of great points, and it was very well written. Good job, man.
ReplyDeleteThose last two sentences reveal that pig-headedness we see in Creon when he is especially unreasonable during the play, but most of your blog shows him to be a deeply empathetic ruler! Great perspective to offer, and it helps to remind us that there were TWO important values being considered by Sophocles in the play. We weren't told to evaluate one bad principle and one good principle; but one good, and one MORE good. Great job highlighting the reasons why Creon would have made the edict he did; not only did he care about his people, he also had a son in the battle who died which certainly would have further stoked his fire on this issue.
ReplyDeleteWork on typos and fragments; that's your Achilles' heel as far as writing goes Matthew, so I'm going to keep bugging you about it. Your analysis is awesome, but you won't improve as a writer unless you're consciously ensuring that the grammar stuff is neat and tidy. Make sure verb tenses align and that pronouns/antecedents match up. Also, even if you want to employ a fragment for the sake of rhythm, for now, don't. We need to break you of that habit before we start bringing it back in for effect.
Great analysis and inclusion of quotes; an effective defense of Creon!
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