Martin Luther King Jr. And Antigone: An Analysis

“If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law,”1 are words once written by Henry David Thoreau. What makes a law unjust is when a code that a majority group compels a minority group to obey, and the law does not affect the majority group.2 Antigone, the protagonist in Sophocles’ book Antigone, and Martin Luther King Jr. are very similar in there approaches to dealing with unjust laws; utilizing forms of civil disobedience, sharing the same values of the Good Life: being the value of family, respect for others, and the belief of self-empowerment. However, there’s a large discrepancy between the two; Martin Luther King Jr. opposed an unjust law that directly

Within Letter from a Birmingham Jail, MLK describes the four-step plan one must follow to carry on a nonviolent campaign. Antigone’s actions throughout Antigone carefully mimic those steps. Throughout the story you can consider Antigone’s actions to be part of a nonviolent campaign. MLK says that, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action” (paragraph six). Antigone determined there was an injustice committed when Creon’s edict decreed that no one would be able to bury her brother Polyneices or they face a punishment by death. Antigone finds this to be an injustice, when she asks for help from her sister Ismene she says, “…And now you can prove what you are: A true sister, or a traitor to your family.” (Antigone 26-27). Once captured by the Sentry she negotiates with Creon, attempting to appeal to him so he is able to understand her reverence for the dead is what god wants (lines 355-420). Within self-purification Antigone undergoes strong emotions that could be alluded to feelings of suicide and depression. All she wants is to bury Polyneices and not let this injustice go unnoticed. She is willing to go to great lengths to fight for what she believes in and the extent she goes to stand up for what she believes is the act of self-purification MLK talks about. Her direct action is

After being arrested and imprisoned in Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote one of his most famous works to the people of Birmingham, titled “Letter From Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963. This piece speaks of the evils of the segregation laws and how the blacks had been treated unfairly in Birmingham, in an attempt to get the white people to support the desegregation of Birmingham. He had been imprisoned because of his participation in a civil disobedience protest, and he is arguing that, even though the white people of Birmingham see the black’s way of protesting as wrong, it is a justified way to fight back against the unjust laws. In “Letter From Birmingham

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.

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”.

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

Although both Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s methods of civil disobedience have merit, I favor Dr. King’s ideas and objectives that focused on perusing change and gaining support for the greater good. Intentionally breaking the law and fully accepting the consequences, regardless of the situation, is no simple task. Antigone and Dr. King completed this task but for totally different reasons and in totally different ways as shown in Sophocles Antigone and Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Dr. King himself.

Martin Luther King Jr and Antigone were two people who used a nonviolent resistance technique to stand up for a cause they believed in. The technique they used is called Civil disobedience which is the refusal to comply with certain laws in a peaceful, non-aggressive protest. Both Martin Luther King Jr and Antigone were seeking justice for a cause without having to become physically violent with the opposing party. It took strength to go against their oppressors but they were willing to make self-less sacrifices. Martin Luther King Jr and Antigone provides many examples of how they used a similar approach to have a nonviolent confrontation.

In Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letters From A Birmingham Jail, both Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. portray similarities of civil disobedience against the opposing authority in order to fulfill what they set out to achieve against all odds. Throughout the course of both of their lives, they continually and constantly strive and defend their actions to fight for the injustice acted upon them. Antigone is fighting against the unfair ruling of the corrupt king of Thebes, Creon, and Martin Luther King Jr. is fighting the racial intolerance against the racist, unjust white men and women across America. However, both Antigone and Dr. King suffer through several, negative consequences because of their disobedience and defiance,

Antigone and King’s views on civil disobedience are executed very differently. They both had their own purpose to follow what they believed in, but both were achieved differently. Martin Luther King Jr. followed his own beliefs to risk his life while Antigone risked her life to follow the Gods for honor just to make sure her brother was properly buried. I will show how Martin Luther King Jr. fought for freedom while risking his life for blacks not only in Birmingham Alabama, but also around the world. Also, how Antigone knew the consequences she would face to give her brother a proper burial, but still fought for what was right

Many people in history have brought change through non-violent civil disobedience, including Susan B. Anthony, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and many more people which have had the courage to stand up for they believe in, but also what they know is right. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most well-know civil activistto have lived, because of his determination of making sure that everyone was treated equally and fairly. One the earliest examples of civil disobedience happend is recorded Sophecles' dramatic tragedy called Antigone. Both Antigone and Martin Luther King used civil disobedience to bring about change, and they bith gave their lives for what they believed to what was in line of God's laws.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone both use civil disobedience for the greater good of mankind. However their views contrast upon the way they approach their conflicts. In “the Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King believes in civil disobedience strictly to change laws for the advancement of a certain mistreated group of individuals in order to promote social equality. On the other hand, in the story Antigone, she is inflexible with the unjust law of the King and uses civil disobedience to show that the divine law is greater than the law of the state. The two characters differences can attribute to their unique ways of trying to accomplish their goals. King obviously uses his civil disobedience in a more passive, patient,

One of the themes found in Antigone is the law of the divine versus the law of men. This theme is used to the advantage of Creon to explain why Polynices and Eteocles are getting a different burial treatment and why Antigone is being punished with death. The way Creon sees this situation is that Polynices was an enemy of the Gods because he tried to destroy the motherland and an enemy of the motherland is an enemy of the Gods. On the other hand, Eteocles was going to get a dissent burial because he sacrificed his life for the well being of the motherland, thus making him a royal subject of the Gods. The situation with Antigone is different because even though, Creon states that Antigone is breaking the rules of the Gods, in reality she is just

Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone are faced with laws they believe are unjust, and carry out civil disobedience to fight these unjust laws. They are both able to effectively reach their ends and happen to share many of the same beliefs, such as that direct action is necessary and must be carried out in a timely manner. However, there are many differences between the two and their situations. Antigone is simply disobeying the laws set in place by her father, while King is fighting against those of a whole nation, and is not only fighting for himself and the people around him, but for all Americans. I sympathize with King more because he fought on a much larger scale and because his actions were more deliberate.

Both Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. engaged in civil disobedience as a means of eliciting a revolutionary societal change; however, Antigone never seemed to get past her own pride to see if she could have negotiated with Kreon. Antigone never had an intent for change in the long term, in contrast, Martin Luther King Jr. used his moral argument to challenge the law in order to leave a long term change for future generations. Martin Luther King Jr.’s actions possess more merit than Antigone’s actions because he attempted to negotiate. On the other hand, Antigone went ahead and broke the law which ultimately led to her demise. Martin Luther King Jr. broke the law to leave a legacy behind him for not just himself, but for the masses, whereas Antigone died and that caused additional suffering without a purposeful societal change.