Journal #12

Creon seems to be facing a huge struggle. It appears that he is trying to obtain power early on in the play. He is up against reality, but tries to create illusion to avoid it. The reality of the situation is that Creon does not want to be in power, but he became King of Thebes seemingly overnight. The illusion he creates is that he wants this false sense of strength and power.  He admits that there are other things that he enjoys more than power. This also correlates to the choice of yes and no. Creon argues that it is much easier to say no, and it is much harder to yes. Creon says "To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death" (37). This is interesting because Creon says that death is essentially the easy way out, and saying yes can highlight your strength. Creon feels like he is obligated to be King. Also, since he feels like saying yes is more powerful I think that swayed him towards taking the throne. I believe that Anouilh does this to reveal that it is better to base your decisions off of what you really want instead of what society expects. Anouilh illustrates this through Creon and how he feels hurt from the decision he makes because he does what society wants him to do instead of what he wants.