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 proved to be a more effective leader because his method of approaching a problem was tackled through a set of four basic steps: determining whether injustices were present, negotiation, self-purification, and lastly direct action. Through these four steps, Martin Luther King Jr. not only engaged in civil disobedience, but set the tone for the Civil Rights Movement. This is a key difference between Antigone and King’s views on civil disobedience because Antigone was defiant in her actions, while King used more reasoning and logic to follow through with his actions. Although Antigone tried to bury her brother honorably, she never sought out any form of negotiation with Kreon. This is the main difference that separates Martin Luther King Jr.’s method of civil disobedience to those of Antigone. Through these four steps, Dr. King made his arguments intelligently and provided a plan to execute rallies and marches in an organized and timely manner. All aspects surrounding his organized protests were performed with purposeful precision. On the contrary, Antigone’s reaction to her brother’s death was not thought out as she never questioned Kreon about the law or challenged it; she assumed her fate
This made her sound increasingly emotional and sarcastic in the way she spoke to him, which made him less inclined to show mercy. Antigone, a defiant young woman, buried her brother with the sole purpose of doing what was just and moral. However, her decision caused an upheaval of problems as Kreon condemned her to death, and her sister Ismene was suffering now because she was going to lose yet another sibling. Antigone knew death was going to be an end result as she stated that, “You be as you think best, but I shall bury him. To me it’s fine to die performing such a deed.” (Sophocles lines 70-71). Kreon was so furious at the fact that Antigone committed such an act, and that she had no regret for what she did by the attitude and arrogance Antigone portrayed. In contrast to Antigone’s emotional and defiant attitude, Dr. King was more calm and collected in the way he presented his ideas. The way a leader speaks is very crucial to the way people will come to perceive an individual. Dr. King addressed every problem raised in a calm manner with reasoning behind his claims. By speaking in a fluent and non-aggressive manner people come to understand what you are saying, and there is a better chance of compromise. Antigone bitterly argues with Kreon about her sentence and what she did, instead of trying to peacefully try to make him understand what her
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
Antigone decides to betray Kreon’s law in order to honor the gods and their greater law. She says “you [Kreon], who are human/to violate the lawful traditions/the gods have not written merely, but made infallible,” defending her decision to bury the out-casted Polyneices because the law that prohibits it was not proclaimed by Zeus. When Kreon asks Antigone why she honors Eteokles (her other brother who also dies in the battle in Thebes) and Polyneices equally, she responds “Death is a god/who wants his laws obeyed,” corroborating the motive of why she upheld divine law over Kreon’s law (Sophocles 41). Even Haimon, Kreon’s own son and Antigone’s betrothed, supports Antigone by saying “the gods implant intelligence in humans/…that is the supreme one” (Sophocles 48). However, Antigone’s superior motive in giving Polyneices an honorable death is love. While conferring her plan with her sister, Ismene, Antigone tells her “He’s my brother an yours too/ and whether you will or not, I’ll stand by him,” indicating her love to her brother (Sophocles 22). In addition, Antigone is most direct with her intentions when she says “I am different. I love my brother/and I’m going to go bury him, now” (Sophocles 24). After Kreon asks Antigone why she dared to break his law, knowing the repercussions, she expresses that “if I had left my own brother stay unburied/I would have suffered all the pain I do not feel now,” further denoting her unwavering devotion to Polyneices even during her own conviction. Richard Emil Braun, an highly praised writer, also believes Antigone’s primary motive to bury her brother was love, as he says “The second burial of Polyneices shows that Antigone…did the deed, and not for money, but for love…Antigone was prompted by her love to fulfill a religious duty.” Civil disobedience to Antigone is
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.
King, being calm and using negotiation and logic, and Antigone being demanding and defiant. Antigone has some flaws about her, but she also has some good traits about her. One is being willing to do anything for her family. She represents a strong woman in a male dominant society as King represented a determined man in a society full of racists. She was willing to risk her life to give her brother a proper burial because that is what she believed in. In the same, King was willing to go to jail to stand up for what he believed in. However, if Antigone had followed King's steps of civil disobedience, there might not have been so much
The play Antigone opens up with the dialogue of two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, with two completely different opinions. Antigone believes that as Polyneices' sisters, they are responsible for burying him properly, according to the god's rules. On the contrary, Ismene feels that they should not get involved, they are "women born, unapt to cope with men." (Sophacles, p.3) Antigone disregards this statement and still adamantly insists that they must bury him. She feels that by burying him, she will be following the gods, which is more important than following the ruler. As she says on page 3, “Loving and loved, I will lie by his (Polynices) side. Far longer is there need I satisfy those nether Powers, than powers on earth; for there for ever must I lie.” She believes that in afterlife she ...
One might say Antigone’s principles against the cruel and powerful King Creon are similar to the principles of Martin Luther King, Jr., against the unjust laws of prejudice in America. Antigone is fighting the biased ruling of the corrupt and arrogant king Creon. MLK(Martin Luther King Jr.) is fighting for racial equality against generations of Americans. Antigone and MLK both defend their principles and actions against the battle of injustice. However, Antigone takes a more audacious approach , while Mr. King uses a more cogent path. Nevertheless, some might say Antigone’s actions were unruly and superfluous.
Summing up, Antigone decides to express her discontent with what she considers to be the unethical new regime of King Creon by burying her brother's body. By taking this bold step, Antigone shows the strength that an individual’s actions hold in a democracy. Creon, with his stubborn attitude, shows how a democracy where peoples’ voices are not heard can be dysfunctional, and that laws should be made by taking other people into confidence and not on an individual basis. In the end, Antigone resolves to sacrifice her own life in the service of a greater justice. It is this kind of formidable resolve that changes the course of history, and that is something that we can respect equally in the 5th century B.C. and the 21st century A.D.
Comparing the Civil Disobedience of Martin Luther King Jr., Henry David Thoreau, and Mohandas Gandhi. From the onset of man fighting for freedom or his beliefs, the question has always been whether one person can make a difference using words rather than wars. Philosophically, the concept of civil disobedience would appear to be an ineffective weapon against political injustice; history however has proven it to repeatedly be one of the most powerful weapons of the common man. Martin Luther King Jr. looked at the way African Americans were treated in the United States and saw an increase in inequality.
Antigone remains a static character at stage five throughout the story. Faced with people who do not agree with her decision, Antigone stands tall with what is morally right to her. Kohlberg’s Theory is not only universal but also helps readers understand a character morally. Choosing whether or not to bury her brother, Polyneices, or to follow the law given by Creon, does not derail her moral
Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most prominent African-American civil rights leaders, said, “man who won't die for something is not fit to live.” In the play Antigone, Sophocles uses Antigone and Haimon’s rebellious characters as they stand up to Kreon’s authority to risk their lives for their own respective beliefs. Similar to the rebellious characters in Antigone, in Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Nwoye and Okonkwo disobey authority and voice their own opinions. Achebe and Sophocles use characters who challenge authority to reveal the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs, regardless of the consequences. Antigone risks her own life to bury her brother, therefore, she goes against Kreon’s edict that Polyneices should be left unburied; she believes Polyneices deserves to reach the afterlife.
In Antigone, Antigone goes through Martin Luther King Jr.’s steps for a nonviolent campaign and it becomes violent and deadly. Antigone successfully goes through each step of the nonviolent campaign proving that Creon’s edict was unjust and unlawful. In the end, Creon truly finds out how senseless his edict was, when he was left alone as the King of Thebes without a wife, a son, or a daughter-in-law to be.
In Antigone, her brother Polynices, turned against his own city by attacking his own brother just so he could become king. On this day, both brothers died. One, Eteocles, was given funeral honors, but the other, Polynices, was not. This decision was made by Creon, Antigone’s uncle and the current King of Thebes. Creon said “He is to have no grave, no burial, no mourning from anyone; it is forbidden.'; (Pg. 432; l. 165) He also announced that anyone who should attempt to bury him would be put to death. After hearing this decision, Antigone said that Creon couldn’t do that and that the Gods would want Polynices to have a proper burial, therefore Antigone promised to her sister Ismene that she would be the one to defy Creon and bury her brother; and she didn’t care if the whole city knew of her plans. After being caught in the act, she was taken to the palace and when asked by Creon why she did it. Knowing the punishment that would come from it, she replied by saying that she didn’t think Creon had the power to overrule the u...
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.
Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.’s essay “Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience” has two main features. The first feature of King’s essay is a call for action; action to bring about change. The second feature, the more easily viewed feature of this essay is a call for a specific type of action to bring about a specific type of change. The change King wishes to bring about is a peace and equality brought about through non-violent actions.
Antigone firmly believed that Divine law was far more superior to Civil Law in all respects. To her, the gods determined her fate completely. Obeying the gods was more crucial to obeying the government. "I know I am pleasing those I should please most." (Line 103) She chose to bury her brother Polynieces, though she knew that in doing so she would face her own certain death because King Creon forbid it. According to the Divine law, the dead need to have a proper burial in order to make the journey to the underworld. Antigone would not let her brother go without it. Antigone said of Creon, "It is not for him to keep me from my own." (Line 54) Antigone is proud of her acti...