Civil Disobedience in Antigone and Trifles

1102 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Womens role in antigone

Civil Disobedience of Antigone and Mrs. Hale

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 boldly and proudly breaks the law, does not care if she is caught, and loudly admits to the crime in front of her fellow Theban citizens. On the other hand, Mrs. Hale performs her crime artfully and quietly, does not want to be caught, and has no intentions of exposing her crime. Both characters accomplish their tasks, but Mrs. Hale's actions are carried out more effectively. She saves her neighbor and herself from imprisonment.

In both plays, the main characters break the laws for justifiable reasons. In Antigone, Antigone's dead brother, Polynices, is considered a traitor and King Creon "forbids anyone to bury him, mourn him" (Sophocles 88). She knows that all men deserve a proper burial and to not do so will be "an outrage sacred to the gods!" (Sophocles 95). Therefore, she "raise[s] a mound for him [Polynices]" (Sophocles 95) so that her city will not have to "face the retribution of the gods" (Sophocles512). She violates King Creon's decree to appease her gods. In Trifles, Mrs. Hale ...

... middle of paper ...

...f civil disobedience causes a tragic domino effect. Antigone commits suicide. Haemon, who is Creon's son and Antigone's fiancé, is torn apart by grief and kills himself. Haemon's mother and Creon's wife, Eurydice, learns of her son's death. She becomes despondent and takes her own life: "She drove home to the heart with her own hand, once she learned her son was dead" (Antigone 1440-1441). Her words do end many things. The law is banished. Her brother is allowed to be buried, but now he is accompanied by three others.

Sophocles' Antigone and Glaspell's Mrs. Hale both accomplish their tasks. Antigone's glorified act of civil disobedience costs many lives and has horrific consequences. Mrs. Hale's modest act of civil disobedience saves lives. There is no doubt that Mrs. Hale's defiant whisper obtained greater results than Antigone's screams of rebellion.

Show More
Related

  • Antigone Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    Antigone is the niece of a king and goes against her uncle’s command when he says that Polyneices isn’t allowed to have a soldier’s burial and his body must be left in the desert to rot. Antigone decides to bury him anyway because she values god’s law of burial over her uncle’s rule. Antigone tells her sister “Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come?... He is my brother. And he is your brother, too… Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way” (Sophocles 694). Antigone values her brother over her uncle & she believes in god’s law over Creon’s decision. King values equality and common law. He dictates “It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the

    Read More

  • Obedience To Civil Law In Jean Anouilh's Antigone

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Obedience to civil law is necessary to uphold order and peace. In the play, Antigone, by Jean Anouilh, Creon, the king of Thebes, states that anarchy is the greatest of evils and that good lives are made through discipline and lawfulness (Anouilh 42-47). Creon’s judgment and emphatic support of civil law makes him an inadequate leader because his actions in various situations lead to the untruthful messages to his people and the loss of his family members.

    Read More

  • Exploration of Civil Disobedience in Sophocles' Antigone, King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, and Plato's From Crito

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    Exploration of Civil Disobedience in Sophocles' Antigone, King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, and Plato's From Crito

    Read More

  • Antigone Foil To Creon

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Creon’s wife, Eurydice, finds out that her son is dead she kills herself. Creon's downfall started when Antigone choose to hang herself. “ You will not see the sun race through its cycle many times before you lose a child of your own loins, a corpse in payment for these corpses. You’ve thrown down to those below someone from up above-in your arrogance you’ve moved a living soul into a grave, leaving here a body owned by the gods below- unburied, dispossessed, unsanctified. That's no concern of yours or gods above. In this you violate the ones below. And so destroying avengers wait for you, Furies of Hades and the gods, Who’ll see you caught up in this very wickedness (1194-1205).” This quote explains that in view of the unnecessary death of Antigone he will meet his demise. This man predicts that he would lose his

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience In Antigone By Martin Luther King

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play, Antigone, two brothers are killed in battle. One of them, Polyneices, is considered to be a rebel by the new ruler of Thebes, Creon. The corrupt and prideful king, Creon, created an edict that states that nobody could bury Polynices’s body because he was a traitor to Thebes and his family and denies the sanctification and burial of Polyneices's body because of his rebellion and intends to leave him to become the meal of wild animals. Polyneices's sister, Antigone, defies Creon by giving her brother a proper burial, no matter the consequences. Both King and Antigone sought to do what they thought was the right thing to do, even if it was against the law. Though King and Antigone are two completely different people from two completely different times, they were actually quite similar in that they both were minorities at a disadvantage, and lacking power and credibility among those in control. King and Antigone both fought for injustice and what they believed in, however, not necessarily in the same

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Antigone's Views On Civil Disobedience

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both Antigone and Dr. 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 intended to evoke 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 possessed more merit than Antigone’s actions because he attempted to negotiate. On the other hand, Antigone proceeded to break 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 caused additional suffering without a purposeful societal change.

    Read More

  • Creon's Death In Sophocles Antigone

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    After being locked up in a dark, damp cave, Antigone was fed up with wallowing in her own pity, and takes her own life by “hang[ing] by the neck in a fine linen noose, strangled in her veils,” (1347–1348). Seeing the graceful young woman embraced in the arms of his own son, Creon immediately swells with anger towards un-masculine Haemon because of his display of love, and the significance of Antigone’s death goes straight over his head. Her strong sense of self – knowing who she is, what she values, and what makes her happy – enables her to make regretless decisions that alter her time to come. One of those decisions instigated Haemon’s fate to be sealed as well, prompting Eurydice, mother of the prince, to join her son in the underworld. Not long after becoming aware of her child’s downfall, Eurydice sacrifices her life at the heart of the palace, and “raised a cry for the noble fate of Megareus, the hero killed in the first assault, then for Haemon, then with her dying breath she called down torments on [Creon’s] head–[Creon] killed her sons,” (1429–1432). Creon’s heart fills with grief, for the fault of these three deaths lies with him, and pathetic self-pities are the only thoughts running through his mind. Despite the three-deceased’s blood lying

    Read More

  • Antigone, by Sophocles

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a democracy, people choose representatives to lead and govern them. However, these representatives might take unpopular steps. In such instances the people may show their disapproval of a policy and vent their grievances through acts of civil disobedience. Henry Thoreau said, “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.” It is both the right and responsibility of a person to fight an unjust law, and civil disobedience allows one to convey his thoughts and ideas in a passive, nonviolent way. In Sophocles’ Antigone, written in 442 B.C., we find one of the earliest examples of civil disobedience. The play emphasizes the right of the individual to reject his government’s infringement on his freedom to perform a personal obligation and highlights the struggle that one faces in doing so. More importantly, it shows how such actions help further the cause of democracy. It strengthens the belief that each individual’s opinion is important in a democracy and makes a difference. Eventually, we see Creon realize his mistake – his stubbornness – which teaches him that he should have room for more than one opinion. Also, women at that time were not considered equal citizens, but Antigone’s actions left people to rethink the extent of the equality in Athenian democracy.

    Read More

  • The Characters Of Antigone And King Creon

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    He anxiously awaits the day when he can call Antigone his wife, but because she defies King Creon, she deprives him of that opportunity. At first, Haemon tries to be loyal to his father. He tells Creon that he supports his decision to execute Antigone. However, as the conversation continues, he reveals that the community members are starting to renounce Creon’s decision. As the pain of potentially losing his fiancé becomes too much, he also renounces his father’s decision, arguing that the Gods would not condone it. In an act against his father, Haemon hurries to the cave Antigone was exiled to, in hopes to save her, but instead finds her hanging from the veil she was supposed to wear on her wedding day. Instantly overwhelmed with grief, Haemon, “[bewails] the loss of his bride” (Sophocles 152). Similarly, to Ismene’s case, Haemon cannot picture himself living on Earth without Antigone by his side, and commits suicide. In Antigone’s desire to appease the Gods, she abandons her loved ones, and causes them great suffering. This could have been avoided has she not pursued her desire to bury

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience In Antigone

    1951 Words  | 4 Pages

    Could her act of defiance be considered civil disobedience? “Civil disobedience is an attempt to bring about a change in the law or in government policy through the violation of a law that is believed to be immoral, unconstitutional, or irreligious… in the tradition of civil disobedience, the purpose of violating a law, as a form of protest, has been to appeal to the conscience of the community in having injustice recognized and the law repealed… This objective in civil disobedience is almost always associated with the efforts of the disobedient to disavow personal complicity with an unjust system supported by obedience to the unjust law. There must be a sufficiently clear and logical link between the law or policy that is the object of protest and the law that is violated.” (Churchill 66-67) Assuming that Antigone’s disobedience to the law could be considered civil disobedience may not be totally accurate because, while it was nonviolent and for a greater good, her purpose was not necessarily to “appeal to the conscience of the community in having injustice recognized and the law repealed”. Her motive was not necessarily to bring about change. However, the law was proving to be irreligious. Antigone wanted to do what she wanted because she felt that the gods and her family that had passed on before her would be pleased. Her reasons are directly linked to her family and her faith, and she defies the government for more important reasons than trying to stir up trouble. She makes her choice because of personal

    Read More

  • Examples Of Bravery In Antigone

    147 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Oedipus Sophocles Antigone it shows a story about a brave and confident girl standing up for what she believes in. The author seemed optimistic that Antigone would get justice for her brother. Civil disobedience is sometimes necessary if it helps people succeed in what they believe in.

    Read More

  • Civic Responsibility vs. Religious Duty in Antigone

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play Antigone, Creon, king of Thebes faces a harsh conflict with himself, involving the values of family and religion verse the civic responsibility he must maintain for the city of Thebes that comes with being the new king. In theory no decision Creon makes is going to be the rite one. Although both Antigone and Creon have justified reasons for believing in there own laws only one can be upheld by the play and how Sophocles interoperates the play himself. Creon must decide whether to punish Antigone, a princess, daughter of king Oedipus, or fail at enforcing his own law and look weak in front of the citizens of Thebes as their new leader. The law stated that anybody who touched the corpse of Polyneices, a prince, and son of Oedipus would be stoned in the town square.

    Read More

  • Antigone: Martin Luther King's Nonviolent Campaign

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ut her son’s death, she goes and slits her throat. Creon then feels Antigone’s direct action when he is all alone at the end of the play. His edict caused so much pain in suffering for his family, he led them all to suicide.

    Read More

  • charant Character Changes in Sophocles' Antigone

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.

    Read More

  • Religion vs. State in “Antigone"

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the play Creon goes against the Gods by making it illegal to bury Polyneices, Antigone’s brother because he is deemed a traitor. The burying of a dead body is seen as a necessity by all of Greece as it is an unspoken law of the Gods. Antigone goes to bury her brother so his afterlife will be better. She does it in spite of the law that Creon has made. “It is the dead, not the living, who make the longest demands” (192) She tries to explain to her sister, Ismene, that they must bury Polyneices, but even that close relationship has trouble because of the law. Ismene is unwilling to suffer the consequences of the law, to save her brother’s soul “Forgive me but I am helpless: I must yield to those in authority” (192) Even the two sisters who have just lost both of their brothers have different views on the matter. One will not stray from the law and what is deemed right by their king, while the other will accept any punishment, even death just to do what she believes is right.

    Read More

More about Civil Disobedience in Antigone and Trifles

Open Document