Antigone And Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey the demands or certain laws of a government/ occupying power. Without resorting to violence or active events of conflict, it is typically used in the form of a peaceful protest. Civil disobedience has been seen in historical context as a main approach and philosophy of nationalist movements in Africa, India, and also in the American civil rights movement. It can also be a useful tactic in labor, anti-war, and other social movements occurring in numerous countries around the world. In both Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, the author describes two very different displays of civil disobedience. Antigone disobeyed “man’s law” and buried her brother. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the other hand, fought to change the law for the rights of a large group of people. For this reason, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s efforts were more admirable than the efforts of Antigone.

Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” are two works of literature addressing the concept of nonviolent civil disobedience. “Antigone” is the story of a young woman, who the play is named after, who buries her brother against the law, as he was a traitor. She was then incarcerated and sentenced to death by the king of Thebes and her uncle, Creon. “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, as the name implies, was written while King was arrested in Birmingham for leading a public demonstration. The letter is a response to another letter sent by a group of white clergymen criticizing his work, and to a broader extent, is addressed to the church and those who are complacent in the segregation occurring during

He started American Civil Rights Movement, in order to spread equality among the people of United States. There was huge protest against racial discrimination and social segregation in the southern part of United States. He explained Just laws and Unjust application of Law. Unjust laws are those laws which are not based on morality whereas unjust application of law refers to the law which is against justice, implemented on someone else. MLK along with few other people started a movement in which they violated unjust law and he did that by starting civil disobedience movement. While staying in jail Martin Luther king expresses his opinion on being criticized by the clergymen’s. He talks about the Southern Cristian leadership conference and its operation in south. Later, he gives the moral reason of staying in Birmingham, to fight against injustice. He took the path of non-violence to bring back the rights. There were four basic steps involved in this nonviolence campaign, collection of facts, negotiation, self-purification and direct action. He gave the difference between just law and unjust law, just laws are those laws which raises humans’ personality whereas unjust laws brings down an individual’s personality. A law is said to be unjust if a minority group has to obey the majority. In non-violence resistance he said that freedom is always demanded by the oppressed. He focuses on the creative

In order to achieve this, civil rights activists “used nonviolent tactics” such as “boycotts, marches and sit-ins” (Thomas). From this united black movement rose many prominent figures such as Rosa Parks who “refused to yield her seat” on bus to a white man to rebel against segregation on transportation as well as Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his famous speech and led countless marches (Kronenwetter). These individuals inspired many to come forward and join the movement. Organizations such as Congress of Racial Equality were formed and groups such as Freedom Riders and Freedom Summer took action in different states in the south to fight for equality and justice. Black power finally started to take a major step forward in the late 1950s and 1960s as the “Brown v. Board of Education ruling desegregated schools” (Thomas). The final bill proposed by Kennedy and finally signed by Johnson was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which “ended segregation in public places and employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” (Thomas) and ultimately propelled black power forward. However, the civil rights movement ended abruptly when king was assassinated in 1968 (Kronenwetter). All in all, during the 1950-1960, America went through great change. The civil rights movement changed American society forever; all the blood, sweat, and sacrifice paid off as the black society gained more opportunities and improved

Leading up to the point of her death, Antigone resisted Kreon’s (the king) decision to leave her brother, Polyneices to die in the open with his remains picked upon by stray animals. According to Kreon, Polyneices was a traitor to the city after being defeated by his brother (who was also killed in a duel) in a war over the throne. Kreon used the law as his

Both Antigone in the play Sophocles Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” went against the “law” to do what they thought was right. Both heroes knew about the consequences that came with their actions. Antigone decided to bury her brother, Polyneices, despite the possibility of being killed. Similarly, Dr. Martin Luther King continued protesting and creating speeches peacefully in spite of him being sent to jail.

In Sophocles’ Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used resistance against powerful leaders to follow their morals and make a statement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s approach towards the reconstruction of society’s cultural understanding of segregation by speaking truth to power used civil disobedience in a more public and large-scale approach, whereas Antigone’s use of civil disobedience defied the law in a much more private, small-scale way to do what she believed what was right. In addition to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s advocacy for equal treatment and Antigone’s dedication to obey the gods, they used their determination to refuse to obey the laws of the land in order to stand behind their own morals.

In today’s culture, there are many different movements sweeping the nation to fight for rights or against unjust laws. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone goes against Creon’s law to bury her brother. Polynices and Eteocles, her brothers, were waged in a civil war when both were killed, but Creon classifies Polynices as a traitor, forbidding anyone to bury him. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an influential activist in the Civil Rights Movement to fight for African American rights. He wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to address the clergymen in Birmingham, Alabama that imprisoned him over his nonviolent protests. Both Antigone and King are similar in their willingness to sacrifice themselves for a greater cause, fight against unjust laws, and stand-up to political powers.

Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the advantages and purposes for his theory of nonviolent direct action in his Letter From Birmingham City Jail. He shows four basic steps that must be taken to achieve nonviolent action. They include 1) collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive; 2) negotiation; 3) self-purification; and 4) direct action. Each of these steps will be explained as part of King's argument later in this essay. The main purpose of a nonviolent campaign is to force any community to confront a problem rather than refuse to negotiate or face a specific issue. In the letter, King discusses his group's reasons for coming to Birmingham.

Antigone defies the law of King Creon to honor her brother with a proper burial. She willingly goes against the King to follow the law of the gods’ regardless of the consequences, doing what she believes is right. Similarly, Martin Luther King travels to Birmingham to march and protest the injustices towards Black people because he believed it is the right thing to do. Although Antigone was not afraid to die for what she believed in, Martin Luther King’s method of civil disobedience was more effective because Antigone failed to promote negotiations and just accepted her punishment freely. King believed that to properly have a nonviolent approach towards injustice you must be able to speak peacefully to gain understanding for negotiation. Urging people to create tension in the form of civil disobedience to promote awareness of the injustices.

Today, the word disobedience carries a negative connotation that acts as a deterrent for necessary disobedience. The common way in which people view disobedience is as a rejection of a rule, law, or a simple standard. Historically, rules were implemented in ways that were deemed immoral by society. Therefore, civil disobedience is justified to combat immoral standards implemented in society. However, civil disobedience is only justified under these circumstances, mainly for the betterment of society. Historic figures such as Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. all acted civilly disobedience, but society benefitted from their movements. Civil disobedience is the underlying theme of Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail. The main character of Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone, acts civil disobedience, just as Dr. King acted civilly disobedient. Both Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. fought to gain justice for the people who they believed were denied the rights of society. Although Antigone believes she is fighting for a just cause, she acts civilly disobedient by advocating for a traitor to society, deeming her civil disobedience unjust. Martin Luther King Jr., in contrast, did fight for a just cause by advocating for equal rights of all persons, which justifies his civil disobedience.

By introducing his nonviolent philosophies into the civil rights movement and therefore provoking social change, Martin Luther King Martin Luther King forced America to confront its painful racial legacy by highlighting the riddles of poverty and socioeconomic inequality. The legacy that Martin Luther King left further defined nonviolent American protest as he fuelled the movement through series of images and tactics relating to nonviolence, religion, and ethnic and national

Justice is the process result of using law to fairly judge and punish a crime or a criminal. Injustice is the lack of fairness and justice. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement. This movement was a mass popular movement to secure equal access and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship to all the people living in America. The act was active between 1955 and 1968. King was famous for using nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice, and he never got tired of trying to end segregation laws. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he and others were protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. A court had ordered that King could not hold protests in Birmingham. While King was in jail, he wrote a letter, “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, to the newspaper explaining why he had broken the law. In the book, “Antigone” by Sophocles, similar events had happened to the main character, Antigone. Creon, the king of Thebes, had ordered for no one to mourn over the death of Polynices, son of Oedipus (the former king of Thebes who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother), there was to be no type of burial or prayers for him. If anyone was to try and touch the body of Polynices there was to be sentenced to death. Antigone played a bigger role than Creon in that she defied the law and started the whole play’s chain of events, eventually leading to nearly everyone’s death. Regardless Ismene’s, her sister, warning to listen to the king’s edict, Antigone gave her brother a burial, prayers and poured ritual wine on the corpse. Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone both had fought for something they believed in, something that went against the law and both were punished for their ‘crime’.

Antigone’s struggle was for the rights of a single person, her brother, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight was for not only for himself but also for the welfare of those mistreated by the unfairness in the country. Both are due to the value systems on which laws are created are, for the most part, morally and ethically based. What one society might consider a ‘bad’ law might not be otherwise thought of as unjust. Sophocles’ Antigone exemplified the moral and ethical conflicts that can rise from an unjust law, using the character Antigone as a central point. Although she engaged in civil disobedience, for burying her brother, Polyneices, even though it was not tolerated, her efforts were applauded by the audience and in her own heart. Antigone defined ‘unjust’ as something that went against the laws of the gods. She finds the bond between relatives so strong that she feels she owes it to her brother to give him a burial, even if the law forbids it. Martin Luther King Jr., in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, describes an unjust law as “a code that is out of harmony with the moral law… not rooted in eternal and natural law.” (paragraph 16). He addresses the biased practices of segregation in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, and the unsuccessful attempts at regulating it. He wants to eradicate the problem of racial prejudice to achieve brotherhood. King also brings up a similar point as Antigone, saying that he ‘must constantly respond to the… call for aid,’ (paragraph 3) and that ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ (paragraph 4). In the cases of the writings and the people involved, King’s reason helps make a more compelling argument for civil

Civil law’s intent should work to govern a society justly while fostering a sense of fairness to all citizens. However, when civil law contradicts what is morally right, there are few that argue for justice and the higher good of all mankind. Although both Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. justified breaking civil law, King spoke for the whole of the African American race through his nonviolent protest striving to achieve equality for all African Americans, whereas Antigone acted for her affected family to show proper respect through civil disobedience.