Compare And Contrast Antigone And Civil Disobedience

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.

Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws. Antigone by Sophocles has a majority of examples of civil disobedience. A few examples that stand out is when Creon does not believe Polyneices deserves a proper burial, but Antigone believes that is human right to have one. Another example is when everyone in Thebes believes that what Antigone has done is not wrong and stand by her. One last example of civil disobedience is when Antigone knows it is against the law to bury her brother, but she knows and does the right thing for her brother. Civil disobedience is displayed all over the country. There are many examples of civil disobedience throughout history, for example, when Rosa Parks refused to sit in the color section of the bus. Another example is when Saudi Arabia women believe it was their right to drive because men can, therefore why can’t they. One last example, the Palestinian women and children wanted to leave because of the way they were treated because of their religion. Civil disobedience is an important role in a majority of peoples lives. The examples of civil disobedience in Antigone and the examples in the articles are similar because Antigone and the articles have one common goal they believe and stand for what is right and just.

Being that Antigone is the protagonist, her character is important in the play. She made the decision to bury her brother knowing that it was against Creon’s law. Ismene refused to help Antigone, which left her angry, yet still determined to bury her brother. She knew that burying her brother could lead to her own death, but she continued to show courage, strength, and determination throughout her role. In the beginning, Antigone says, “Dear god, shout it from the rooftops. I’ll hate you all the more for silence/ tell the world!”(17,100-101). This was said to Ismene, when they were discussing burial plans and Ismene was telling Antigone that she was against the plan. Antigone’s dialogue shows that she is not worried about being punished or worried about who knows what she has done. It is clear that Antigone is sincere about honoring the gods, her actions show that she feels that she is pleasing the gods and that is all that matters to her. “These laws/ I was not about to break them, not out of fear of some man’s wounded pride, and face the retribution of the gods.”(30, 509-511). This demonstrates how she feels about man’s law vs. divine law. In the plot, there was not one time where Antigone denied

Finally on page 774, Antigone is still determined to give her loving brother, Polyneices, a proper burial when she says, “…as for me, I will bury the brother I love.” In this incident, Antigone is headstrong about giving her brother what he deserves, despite the fact that Ismene told her to obey the law. Antigone is acting as if she were a rebellious teenager because she is contradicting political laws to perform acts that would seem moral to her for the sake of Polyneices. Like the discussion Antigone had with her sister, she will remain being headstrong to whoever confronts her.

Moral? Or Immoral? Those are questions that unconsciously go through a human’s mind when he or she makes decisions in everyday life. Some, however, may wonder where the boundaries are set. Most people believe that they have these restrictions on what is moral or immoral based off of experience or just by a “gut feeling.” Through the texts, Antigone and a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” readers see the conflict that arises concerning the idea of morality. Both Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expressed their ideas on the topic; they agreed that the line was drawn when a direct family member or group of people were placed in danger or were wronged. The two characters’ actions were shaped by individuals like Kreon and the “white moderates” of the city of Birmingham. Antigone battled with Kreon to obtain justice for her late brother, while Dr. King criticized the citizens who were content with abiding to questionable laws to not break the peace. Their modes of action, however, were different. Antigone handled the disagreement by herself, while Dr. King utilized the power of many to make his point clear.

Disobedience always comes with a reason, some do it to go against something that is wrong others do it for attention or because they do not care about the situation. When there is an unjust law that is putting someone down or is oppressing it, people will begin to go against the law and not stand around while everyone including themselves gets hurt. Just Laws are to help and to keep everyone safe and unjust laws are made for minorities to stay away from the high-class group who want nothing with them. Sadly today there are still unjust laws to put people down but they are not standing around to let it happen. Martin Luther King could not watch his brothers and sisters be constantly put down so he went against unjust laws to stand his grounds. Antigone shared similarities when she went against king Creon rules rule to not bury her brother Polyneicês, she knew the consequences but paid no minds and stood her ground and kept doing what she has planned to do.

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.

If you will not, I will; I shall not prove disloyal.” (A. 2). All along, Antigone very well understood that if she opposed the rules of Creon, she would most definitely be killed yet she was determined enough to bury Polyneicies’s body.

Before Antigone disobeys the edict, she tells her sister Ismene “…for I must please those down below a longer time than those up here since I shall lie there always. You, though, if you think it best, dishonor what is honored by the gods” (Sophocles 23). She continues with “… what I shall suffer will be far less dire than dying an ignoble death!” (Sophocles 24). Antigone explains that her time above will be shorter than her time below ground, where she will live for all of eternity, therefore she must please the gods of the underworld before she pleases the man. Antigone also believes that dishonoring the gods is a sin, that those who dishonor the gods will be punished far greater than they will be punished by man. This emphasizes Antigone’s view that the law of the gods is superior to those of man, therefore the gods must be obeyed first and foremost. Thus, Antigone pays burial rites to Polyneices and is captured by the guards by the order of King Kreon. King Kreon discusses Antigone’s disobedience of his law, during this conversation Antigone explains that since the proclamations did not come from the

Civil disobedience is the purposeful violation of a law to show that it is unconstitutional or morally defective. In the plays, Antigone and Trifles, the female main characters commit an act of civil disobedience. The plays are respectively written by Sophocles and Susan Glaspell. Antigone, the main character of Antigone, protects her dead brother's honor as she disobeys the laws of King Creon. Mrs. Hale, the main character of Trifles prevents a neighbor from being charged with homicide as she breaks the law in front of two lawmen-The Sheriff and the County Attorney. Both characters' crimes are similar; however, their differences lie in how they handle their violations. Antigone

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.

Antigone wants to be redeemed in the afterlife through her act of burying Polyneices. This is especially clear when she decides that she will bury him and die before she has even appealed to Creon. The only route she can see is one that results in her death. Not until she is directly confronted by her uncle does she attempt to dissuade him from dishonoring Polyneices. Even then, she seems to be simply defending her own actions rather than accusing him of being wrong, as she so adamantly has done with Ismene. He needs to implore her to “Speak!” (166, 442), and when she does, she is flippant and prideful. Antigone only engages in real dialogue with him when he forces her to. This could be interpreted as her simply understanding his position and accepting it, but I find that unlikely. She clearly fundamentally disagrees with him and his interpretation of the gods, but instead of trying to persuade him to recant his decree and bury her brother, she capitalizes on the position she’s in and thrusts herself into martyrdom. Even by the gods’ standards, this does not seem to be justice or “rightness”. Her surface level loyalty to her family may initially appeal, but I find it insincere and not right when I explore it more closely.

Antigone and Martin Luther King, Jr. both fought against unjust laws, nevertheless, Antigone was sticking up for a proper burial for her brother, while Martin Luther King, Jr. was fighting for the minority group to be treated equally to everyone else. Though both were fighting for what was right, Antigone was only impacting her brother’s life and Martin Luther King, Jr. was impacting minorities all over that were being treated with unjust.

Though this order was made, Antigone disregarded it and buried her brother. The main point for her doing this was to stand up for her religious beliefs, which she was then oppressed for. While she was being confronted by Creon about her actions, she said, “Nor could I think that a decree of yours—/A man—could override the laws of Heaven” (453-454). Antigone believed that it was the law of the gods for a person to have a proper burial so, she disobeyed Creon’s law in order to obey the gods, who she deemed as more important due to their eternal state (457).

Now when the guards discovered that someone buried the body of Polyneices, the head sentry went to tell the king, whereupon Creon became enthralled with anger. He told the sentry that he judged him to be a bribed soldier and that he could not return unless he found the person who had buried the body or told of whom it was that had bribed him. After this the horrified sentry and his men brushed off the sacred burial dust from the body and kept watch from a distance to see if the rebel would return to bury the body. Sure enough, during a sandstorm Antigone was seen burying the body that she had cared for so well before. The guards grabbed her and she showed no fear. She did not try to evade her pursuers and she was brought before the king. The king first asked her if she had heard his proclamation concerning the burial of her brother. She blatantly told him that could not have helped hearing it. If she had denied hearing it, she may have escaped death, but she did not want to escape it, and she felt that she had done nothing wrong. She believed that her death would be of no importance, but that the death of her brother would