Compare And Contrast Antigone And Martin Luther King

Both were oppressed by laws that they had no control over, and both fought against those laws with the reasoning that morality is more important than the words of men. Rather than obeying Creon’s decree, Antigone chose to display the respect she had for her brother. King placed his political and social goals for equality in America over his personal safety. Consequently, both Antigone and King paid the ultimate price for their actions and beliefs—with their lives. While Antigone’s motive for breaking the law was more personal, and King’s was more politically inclined, the ideas they shared in regards to the morality of breaking such laws were similar: a morally unjust law is not truly a law at

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.

Rosa Parks and Antigone both stood up to the authority for what they thought was right even though it was against the law. Antigone stood up for her brother when the king Creon said he did not deserve a proper

The fight for the good life begins with a single event. A word out of turn, an act of protest and overall, a continuous support of ones’ morals. Throughout their life, one is ingrained with morals up until the final breath they take. Antigone violates Creon’s edict and fights for the rights of her brother Polyneices and goes against the word of the law. Martin Luther King Junior (MLK) fights against racial inequality and lobbies racial views with acts of civil disobediences. Both Antigone and MLK acted against laws they believed to be unjust. Their own life experiences and the morals they grew up with influenced where the fine line of right and wrong stands. In Sophocles Antigone and MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, I am going to

While both Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. fought for their religious and human rights, I believe that Martin Luther King Jr.’s ability to use both religion and nationalism gave him the ability to achieve his goal of civil disobedience in ways that Antigone could not. Martin Luther King Jr. used his religious background to give his claim greater influence in the deep south, calling upon every one of the Christian faith to rally behind a Reverend in trouble. His call to nationalism gave him the ability to have the nation standing with him against the leaders of Birmingham, evoking a sense of pride and unity in the nation against this injustice. Antigone used her civil disobedience to fight for her religious right to bury her brother Polyneices body. While Antigone remained nonviolent throughout her protest, her lack of negotiation with Kreon shows that her civil disobedience was misguided. Antigone failed to rationalize with Kreon, instead choosing to blatantly disobey without exhausting all of her options. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of religion, nationalism, and negotiation are why I believe that his civil disobedience was more effective than Antigone’s.

From the monarchs of the ancient era to the democracy of today, order has been maintained by means of rules and regulations known as laws. Compliance with these laws is enforced through punishments ranging in severity according to the crimes committed to reduce violence and misconduct from individuals within a society. However, just as citizens consent to abide by the laws of the state in which they reside, one is compelled to preserve justice and condemn the unjust decisions of man when the social contract contradicts the laws sanctioned by God. Approaching this conflict between natural and manmade laws in a non-violent manner is called “civil disobedience”.

The first step in Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent campaign is collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive, which is what Antigone does when hearing about the death of both of her brothers.

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 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. Compared to Antigone, Dr. King’s approach was more strategic and planned out. In addition to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s advocacy for equal treatment and Antigone’s dedication to obey the gods, they used

The law holds a lot of power and corruption but people like Rosa Parks helped fix those corruption by taking a stand. Most activist go against the majority, the people with power. Antigone is like Rosa Parks, she stands up for what she believes in. In both of their cases the law was corrupted. Rosa Parks broke a law where the color of you skin affects where you should sit.

Martin Luther Kind Jr. is from a time not so distant from today and spoke out against issues that remain relevant today. However, Antigone’s issues do not appear as relatable in the modern era due to the justice she fought for and the un-comfortableness she struggled with. Still, they both spoke about ideas that were considered socially uncomfortable, politically controversial, religiously irreverent, and culturally radical.

Antigone was willing to go as far as death to follow the law of the Gods, and Martin Luther King went to jail for his unlawful actions. They both believed that the punishment was greater if they didn’t go through with their civil disobedience. They were both courageous and sacrificed themselves to better their societies.

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 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.

When analyzing both Oedipus the King and Antigone, Oedipus and Antigone are very alike in ways. When reading these plays, the mind is wired to compare how the protagonists are alike, and contrast how they are different. Antigone and Oedipus are idolized by the people, but the legacy of Oedipus seems to have been altered due to the fact that he has experienced bad past family relationships; therefore as Gale explains, “Antigone hangs herself. Creon’s son Haemon, who was in love with Antigone, commits suicide. Shortly thereafter Creon’s wife, Eurydice, overcome with grief at the death of her son, kills herself as well. Despairing for his loss, Creon prays to the gods for his own death as the play ends.”, as if the whole family was on a demise. Antigone for example, lived for the credit she would receive because she killed and buried her brother. This was against the law of the gods as they considered it leaving a corpse out to be picked by vultures. Antigone was also the biggest threat to Creon, her uncle. Already being on death row and having nothing to lose, she stood up to Creon when nobody else would because it would mean certain death. Both Antigone and Oedipus’ destiny were determined either by an oracle or self-determined, their demise was eventually coming. Antigone and Oedipus really allow the reader to view the world they live in and what struggles they went through in their point of

The two of them are fighting for better justice for people as a whole. An example of this would be Antigone fighting for her brothers body to be moved out of the open are and to be covered. King is fighting for equal rights, for people of color to have a chance in life and to be treated as an equal to the white man. I think that Antigone was rebelling against the general idea of the dead being treated like her brother had been. " I cannot side with hatred. My nature sides with love," (Sophocles 13). Second, Antigone is the best to come up against King because she was willing to essentially sacrifice her life for the service of a greater kind of justice. Within the text we see Antigone give up her time to be put in jail and to be faced with death. Isn 't this exactly what King did. King made it his life to teach others of justice and to bring about justice for the greater good and was killed for it. "Be brave. You are alive. Already my soul is dead. It has gone to help those who died before me," (Sophocles 13). Third, Antigone used nonviolent action to bring about justice, just as King advocated for in his writing. Antigone didn 't tear through the city and begin bringing physical unrest, she stood my her position of what she believed justice was and did it in a peaceable way. This is a big thing to be found in Kings writing. "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate