Antigone must challenge Creon in Antigone In his "Funeral Oration" Pericles, the leader of Athens in the war with the other city-states, rallies the patriotism of his people by reminding them of the things that value. It encourages a sense of duty to Athens to the point of self-sacrifice. He glorifies the free and democratic Athenian way of life and extravagantly praises those who are willing to die for it. In Antigone, Creon, leader of Thebes in the recent civil war, must also mobilize the patriotism of his people. While he too praises the loyalty of his people, he does two other things to mobilize the citizens: He highlights his own qualifications for leadership and reminds them of what happens to traitors. Creon speaks to his people at the beginning of Antigone because he is now the sole ruler of Thebes and he wants them to be loyal to him. He knows that there is a possibility that they will not trust him because in Oedipus the King he stated that he was happy to leave the active leadership to others. He is also not next in line to the throne after Laius, the late and beloved king. Even more important is the fact that Laius' nephews, Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polyneices, ended up on opposite sides in a war for Thebes. Some Thebans were probably loyal to Eteocles, but others may have been sympathetic to Polyneices, who tried to take the throne from his brother. Now Creon, the new leader, will have the best chance of success if he can make the people forget Oedipus and the terrible period of his reign, as well as Oedipus' children and the rebellion that divided their country. Although he praises the Thebans for respecting the royal house of Laius, saying, "your loyalty has been unswerving" (line 187), he wants them to be royal... middle of the card... spells trouble for the future of the city and for your own success. At times he seems tougher and more threatening than Pericles, but the problem of uniting people after a war between brothers is more difficult than uniting people to fight strangers (which is what Pericles had to do). After all, Pericles can praise all the Athenians who died for the good of their city in the Peloponnesian War, but Creon cannot praise all the Thebans who died in this battle. His idea for uniting the Theban citizens behind him is to draw attention to himself as an example of all they admire and to show them the terrible consequences of disloyalty. Given the situation, I consider this an admirable goal, but I also understand why it is inevitable that Antigone, the strong daughter of Oedipus and sister of Polyneices, would consider Creon arrogant and challenge his rule..