Civil Disobedience In The Oedipus Cycles

As of today, upwards of 65 million girls around the world are out of school. In places such as Pakistan, girls are purposely kept out of school by groups like the Taliban and denied basic rights. This oppression is in no way justified and should attended to by doing what is right, even if it means going against the regime like the character Antigone in Sophocles’ The Oedipus Cycles or in today’s world someone like Malala Yousafzai who despite being a young teen, fights for girls’ rights to education. Laws that revoke basic human rights are meant to be broken with civil disobedience because everyone is morally entitled to basic rights, and the oppressive forces that stand as barriers must be overcome. Civil disobedience while opposing direct

Meanwhile, the disobeying of Creon’s edict would only harm her. In actually, Antigone was going for the greater good of all the people which Creon obviously failed to see when his hatred for Antigone’s brother Polyneices overshadowed his better judgement to help the kingdom, which should have been his number one priority. Not only was Antigone willing to commit the deed with all the risk that came with defiance of the law, but when caught she also admitted to take the blame and wholeheartedly accepted her punishment for nothing but upholding the rules of basic morality. Another, more recent, instance this occurred was with Malala Yousufzai and the battle for girls education against the Taliban. The lengths this group would go to are extreme, “In October 2012 Malala Yousafzai [a girl of only 15 years of age] was shot by the Taliban in Pakistan’s northwestern town of Swat when she was returning home

Education or the right to a burial after one’s demise is not a privilege. In fact, it is a basic right of every human. When Antigone stated to Ismane, “He is my brother. And he is your brother...Creon is not enough to stand in my way” (Sophocles 191), these basic rights is what she had in mind. Forgetting the fact that it may be the god’s law, it was justice that should have been granted to Polynices’ body and that is what Antigone was trying to get for her own brother. Thoughts extravagance or rebellion weren’t going through the mind of this young girl. Overstricken with grief from having lost everyone she had once loved, Antigone only wanted the bare minimum for her brother. Consequently, she did whatever it took to grand him that justice everyone else had received. Just so, in Pakistan Malala is trying to spread the word about education. In a speech Malala stated, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education” (Baker 96). As Malala stated education is a basic right and it should be. Race, gender, religion, social stature, or disability must not be a determining factor to who is entitled to their own basic right. This is exactly what Malala is trying to spread throughout the world so her fellow girls in Pakistan can get their basic right to education. Malala’s acts, like Antigone, aren’t asking for much either. Malala only desires for her and all the girls