Antigone

After reading through Antigone I feel that Creon was wrong in many ways. First, it had been agreed upon that Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polynices would share the power from year to year. When it was Polynices turn to take over Eteocles refused to step down and hand over power. As a result Polynices used foreigners to try and gain power. I do not feel that by doing this he is acting as a trader in anyway. He was simply fighting for what had been agreed upon. Creon was wrong by only allowing Eteocles a proper burial when in fact he was in fact the son going against the agreement. Therefore I feel that either both sons or just Polynices deserved to have a proper burial.

Another way that I feel Creon is wrong is by not allowing Antigone to give her brother a burial. As we discussed in class during this time it was seen as a womans responsibility to hold the burial. Antigone states on page 954 "he has no right to keep me from my own". I feel that she is not only making a statement about it being a womans responsibility to have the burial but also that Creon has no right to keep her from her family. Being a part of the family I feel that both Antigone and Ismene should have the power to make a decision on whether or not their brother is given a proper burial. 

 Overall I think that a job of a King is to be fair to all people that you are ruling over. I do not feel the Creon holds this characteristics at all. I feel that he is self-fish and only concerned with what makes him look like a better person. This is made apparent when he decides Antigone should be stoned to death. He was not willing to let others know that he was capable of killing a family member and wanted all the blame to be put among the community and not himself. These are just of the few reasons that I feel Creon is wrong with his decisions and why he is not a good leader himself. 

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is a courageous and civilized man. Throughout the story we watch as Gilgamesh gains wisdom with each new challenge he is faced with. He is a very power king of Urak and is known as the strongest of all me. However, none of these characteristics make him a great ruler. In fact I feel that he is not a very good ruler at all. To me Gilgamesh is selfish and does things only if they benefit him. He does not care what others want or what feelings they may have. Throughout the story we are show many instances where Gilgamesh shows us just how selfish he really is. One instance is when he decides to kill Humbaba. Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu had no reason to kill Humbaba however they did so anyway. He was doing no harm to anyone or bothering them in anyway yet they still felt the need to kill them. This shows how selfish not only Gilgamesh is but also his friend Enkidu. In the very first paragraph of the story we see “No son is left with his father, for Gilgamest takes them all, even the children;…His lust leaves no virgins to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of a noble…” Although it is not certain why he is taking the sons we do know that he is taking them for his own needs. He is also taking the women in order to fulfill his needs. This too instances show us how he does not think of others when he makes decisions yet he only thinks of himself and how he can please himself. Although these are just a few instances there are many others in the story that show the readers just how selfish Gilgamesh is. Too me being a selfish is the worst quality a leader can have. In order to be a great leader you need to be willing to fight for the needs of your people and that is something that too me Gilgamesh lacks greatly.