Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely in Antigone “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said Lord Acton generations ago. In the Greek tragedy Antigone, written by Sophocles, there was a character named Creon, the antagonist, who was the king of Thebes. Thebes was an autocratic state where Creon had absolute power. Throughout the play, Creon has abused his privilege of absolute power; and this caused him great pain, even though he was warned by some people of his evil deeds. What Sophocles commented about absolute power is that it should not be abused. If abused, he or she had to expect bad consequences. This was demonstrated by what happened to Creon when he abused his power. Creon passed a decree forbidding anyone from burying Polyneices' corpse. He was proud of his decree and also said that he would be a good king if he listened to what people said regarding his decisions. When the decree was violated by Antigone, Creon sentenced her to death. This angered the gods because they wanted Polyneices' corpse buried, and they did not want a living body (Antigone's) buried in a cave. Haimon told Kreon to change his mind, but Kreon rejected his request and buried Antigone alive. Teiresias warned Creon that the gods were angry and his actions were responsible. Kreon rejected both Haimon's request and Teiresias' warning, and as a result, he ultimately suffered. At the beginning of the play, Antigone and Ismene are arguing over whether Polyneices' body should be buried. Antigone wanted to bury her brother's body, but Ismene objected because she said they should not disobey Creon, who had absolute power and had forbidden the burial of Polyneices (26-80). Ismene said that the citizens of Thebes did not dare go against what Creon had decreed. They all knew that if they opposed Kreon, they would be punished. In the play, Kreon was first seen addressing the Senate on how a ruler should run his state. He said in his long speech: “I believe that he who reigns in a state and does not follow the advice of the best men, but remains shut up in silence and vague fear, is the worst man in that state. I have believed this for a long time. » 217-221). To impress the Senate, Kreon told them that he would listen to any advice they gave him because that was what a good ruler should do..