Similarities Between Martin Luther King And Antigone

While both Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. both opposed superior figures such as King Creon and the United States Government or white supremacists, their purposes behind their resistances were quite different as well as their techniques for battling their oppressors. While MLK fought for the civil rights of the black community, Antigone fought for her brother. Her civil disobedience stemmed from a personal issue whereas MLK stood up for those who were being labeled and discriminated yet staying quiet. Their methods in their civil disobedience were drastically different, while Antigone maintains a passive aggressive attitude towards Creon, MLK takes more of a “self-purification” path and does not foster anger against the white community. Regardless of my appreciation for Antigone’s courage to stand up to the King for the honor of her brother and her family, MLK’s actions and decisions made a greater difference in society as his strategies such as demonstrations were thought-out and backed up by thousands of other people.

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.

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.

In Sophocles, Antigone, translated by Ruby Blondell, the main character, Antigone, rebelled against the unethical treatment of her brothers, while Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also rebelled against the unethical treatment of African Americans in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Both Antigone and King Jr. sacrificed their lives to highlight the unethical and unjust treatment in their societies. However, King Jr. uses civil disobedience to achieve his goals to end inequality for African Americans in the United States and is assassinated, while Antigone uses her religion as motivation to bury her brothers and ultimately commit suicide as she so strongly disapproves the actions which the King of Thebes, Kreon. King Jr.’s tactics were more effective than Antigone’s as King Jr. was able to pave the way for equality for African Americans in the United States, while Antigone’s tactics only left Creon to feel guilty and led to no change in her society.

Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther king demonstrate that breaking laws that are unjust can be a good thing by bringing reform. Their nonviolent approach of civil disobedience till this day leave an impact on how we go about social injustice. Through their actions and words, both Antigone, and Dr. Martin Luther king demonstrate that they are not afraid to die for their beliefs and inspire us to take a passive approach towards the social injustices we are faced by in our community. I sympathize more with Dr. Martin Luther King because I believe that he took a more logical approach in stopping social injustice, as well as the fact that he is willing to put his life on the line for a whole community of people, in contrast to Antigone who is willing to die for solely her brother.

Today the United States still struggles with injustice and unjust laws that causes many problems within the country. Such as it did 54 years ago, and even during the BC ages was it a problem. Dr King’s letter explains how he knew he broke the law by blocking a road, but did it due to the racism and injustices that were happening. In Antigone, she buries her brother even though he was not meant to, and due to she is a female and that she broke the law that was unjust her consequence is to die. Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” explore a common theme that law sometimes conflicts with justice through the characters of Antigone, Creon, and the voice of Dr. King.

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.

The story of Antigone deals with Antigone’s brother who’s body has been left unburied because of crimes against the state. The sight of her brother being unburied drives Antigone to take action against the state and bury her brother regardless of the consequences. The concept of the Greek afterlife was far more important and sacred than living life itself. Everything they did while they were alive was to please the many gods they worshipped. They built temples for their Gods, made statues to symbolize their Gods, and had a different God to explain things that we now say are an act of mother nature. Antigone percieved her actions to be courageous and valid, and Kreone, the King, percieved them as blasphemous. The entire story focuses on

In Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. fight against the injustices that they faced. Antigone fights against the edict given by the stubborn and arrogant Kreon, while Martin Luther King Jr. is fighting against racial intolerance from the American people. Antigone uses religion to justify her actions and Martin Luther King Jr. uses logic and rationale, causing Martin Luther King Jr.’s methods to be more effective.

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.

As I see it, Antigone had every right to perform a burial for Polyneices. She was not trying to deliberately upset or disobey Kreon, but she knew she had to do what she felt was right in her heart. She was aware of the consequences and she still followed through with it, therefore, it clearly meant a lot to her. Burying her brother, respecting the gods, and standing up to Kreon demonstrates her true defiant character for staying loyal to herself and to family, no matter the outcome. It could not have been easy for Antigone to challenge Kreon who is her uncle and also the King of Thebes. This showcases how strong and courageous she is for not being afraid or ashamed to tell Kreon what she's done. A quote by Antigone on page 40 and lines 499-507 of Sophocle's play states "Then what's delaying you? For there is nothing in your words that's pleasing to me-may there never be! And naturally you disapprove of mine as well. Yet how could I have won more glorious renown than by the act of placing my own brother in a tomb? These people here would say my action pleases all of them, if fear did not lock up their tongues. But this is one of kingship's many blessings-that it can both act and speak just as it wishes to." After Kreon discovers that Antigone is the one responsible for the burial of Polyneices, Antigone is essentially telling Kreon that she knows he disagrees with her actions, but she has no regret and he should just take her away and kill her because she is content and proud of herself for

In Antigone, Kreon is struggling to fight for the good life in the way that he see's fit. As the ruler of Thebes, he declares that the body of one of the two brothers who fought a civil war over Thebes, Polyneices, not be buried. In Kreon's eyes, this edict was a necessary precaution in order to protect his city and his people. However, this decree came at a great cost to his interpersonal relationships. Originally, his niece, Antigone, was caught attempting to bury the body of Polyneices, who was her brother, in order to give him the honor that he deserves in death. This greatly angers Kreon, he sees her actions as a direct opposition to him, and orders that she be sentenced to death. At this point, we see the collapse of his first relationship. Kreon is being forced to chose between upholding his values, or facing the consequences of sending Antigone to her death, and he chooses to fight for what he views as right. Moreover, once he decides that

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.

The Laws of Tradition are more important than The Laws of the state. Antigone has a choice to break the law of her religion or break the law of Creon. Her religion would say that it is against the law to not bury polyneices but it would be against Creon’s law to bury polyneices. The laws of the gods are more important to Antigone than the laws of Creon. Antigone wants Ismene to go with her to bury their brother, but Ismene doesn’t want to Creon to kill her.

 Antigone feels that her crime is a display of respect for her dead brother, and her intentions were, in no way, criminal.  Antigone’s love for her brother and her reverence for the gods' wishes help her to overcome her fear of punishment for her actions. She makes the final decision to go through with the preparation of her brother’s body and his burial after coming to terms with her religious beliefs and their prevalence over Kreon’s demands.  A sentry catches her in the process of covering her brother’s body with dirt, and brings her before Kreon.  Antigone openly admits to her actions, as seen in the following passage: