Comparing Jack & Creon
Comparing Jack & Creon
Leadership: “the ability to lead and exert authority.” In the play �Antigone’ by Sophocles, and in the novel �Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding, leadership is largely portrayed by the main characters. Creon, the powerfully built King of Thebes, is compared to Jack, the strong-willed school boy who is stuck on an island. When comparing the roles of both Creon and Jack, there are many similarities and differences that arise ultimately coming to the conclusion that Creon is the worse leader.
The two leaders are considerably alike in various ways. When both Creon and Jack believed in something or wanted something done their way, they fought for it and absolutely nothing could stop them. Creon would not listen to anything his son had to say about Antigone because he believed that whoever buried Polyneices was to be killed and even though it was Antigone, she was to die and nothing could be done differently. Creon states in line 105: “My voice is the one voice giving orders in this city.” He makes sure that everyone knows he is the leader and what he says goes. The same applies for the fierce Jack. When he wants something, he will fight for it. For example, Jack is furious when he loses the election to Ralph and therefore he continually tries to take over, finally creating his own tribe where everyone has to follow his every rule. Another similarity between the two leaders is that they both caused many unnecessary deaths. In �Antigone’, Creon was the cause of Antigone’s death, consequently leading to the death of his son, Haemon, and his wife, Eurydice. He felt it was right for him, as the king, to still punish Antigone for what she had done even though he knew it would most likely result in the loss of Haemon as well. From �Lord of the Flies’ Jack was so selfish that once he turned completely savage, there was no going back. He killed almost everything in sight. The death of modest Simon and clever Piggy was predominantly Jack’s fault. Although Jack was not exactly the one who killed them, he was the brains behind it all, who brought the other boys to his level of savagery and influenced them to kill as well.
In addition, Creon and Jack also have their differences. Creon fought for the rules originally set and for his city of Thebes, whereas Jack fought to become the dictator over everyone and to set rules that were to benefit only him. Creon was not willing to bend the rules for Antigone, even though she was his niece and the soon-to-be