Oedipus the King and Antigone

In Oedipus the King and Antigone, Creon does a dramatic change from one play to the next. In Oedipus the King, Creon was only known as the brother of Jocasta and the brother in law of Oedipus. Creon did not have a lot of power and he wanted to keep it that way. Creon felt that Jocasta, Oedipus, and himself all had equal power, but Creon lived more stressed free. Nice, cool, and collected are words that can describe Creon when he was first introduced in Oedipus the king. When Oedipus gave up his crown as king, Creon takes his place as King of Thebes. When Creon became King of Thebes in the second play called Antigone, Creon did a whole 360 in the way he thought of things. He started not to care about his people and became very cruel and self centered.

In Oedipus the King Creon says; "And I am the third, all of us are equals?" (Sophocles lines 649) he also states; "Look at it this way, first: who in his right mind would rather live in anxiety than sleep in peace." (Sophocles lines 653). When Creon said these two quotes he was trying to interpret the fact that he would never want to try and take Oedipus job as king because it's stressful and nobody in there right sense would want to take on that type of power. He didn't want power because he is still well known just because he is the brother of Jocasta, and people loves him in Thebes. Creon rather go to sleep with a clear mind then to take on the responsibility of keeping a city in their right state. In Antigone; Antigone states this about Creon's new law as king "The punishment for disobedience is death by stoning." One can see the difference of thought by him, first: Creon wanted to live in a peaceful mind and now that he got the power he is verbally and physically abusing it. So from one play to the next the readers can see that Creon's mind state changed drastically.

Another way that shows that Creon has changed is when he stated to the people of Thebes in the first play of Oedipus the King; "The damage I'd face from such an accusation is nothing simple. No there's nothing worse: Branded a traitor in the city, a traitor to all of you and my good friends." (Sophocles lines 580) When Creon said that he seemed to be very apologetic and concerned about what people in Thebes thought of him. He didn't want to be known as a traitor and he was willing to reach out to everybody to make sure nobody looked at him in that way. When he reached to the second play in Antigone Haemon (the son of Creon) said to his father "The people of Thebes thinks not." (Antigone lines 629) and Creon responded saying "Since when do I take my orders from the people of Thebes?" (Antigone lines 630) He also said "No I am King and responsible only to myself." (Antigone lines 632) Creon sounds very self-centered and not concerned of what people think of him. Haemon try to tell his father that the city doesn't