Similarities Between Antigone And Letter From Birmingham Jail

Throughout time, people have been yearning to live in a society where all is morally correct. Every individual may have a different set of morals or varying definitions of what exactly is just and what is unjust, but almost all are willing to fight for what is right. As a matter of fact, it is the responsibility of the people to fight against injustices and search for order in a society led by rulers who impose unjust laws. However, Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail both show how there are costs in this fight for moral preservation. These costs come in the form of civil disobedience and taking a stand among a conforming society, while also risking one’s self and possibly suffering in the process.

Antigone defies King Creon’s law and buries her brother as a way to help his soul find peace, while invoking divine law as a defense for her actions. A soldier catches Antigone in the act, but she does not attempt an escape or deny what she is doing. Instead, she simply accepts her punishment. Consequently, she is condemned to die. On another note, Antigone being female is a large factor in the story. Just as in King’s time where African-Americans struggle with gaining any say or power just because of the color of their skin, Antigone and other women in their own time battle social customs that assume women are the weaker gender compared to men. These men hold all the political offices, and therefore create the laws. Despite being a member of a royal family, Antigone has no real power over

Unlike King, Antigone refuses to be passive and takes a more defiant approach. In Letter from Birmingham Jail, King composes a message opposing the government laws to protest and fight for justice. Here, King defends the use of nonviolent resistance to racism, such as sit-ins, marches, strikes, and many more. These types of nonviolent activities are part of King’s emphasis on direct action, which is a form of political activism that seeks to remedy social, political, or economic ills. Even though King’s followers do not do anything harmful to those around them, they still suffer from violent acts, arrests, and humiliation from authorities. King also argues that people have a moral responsibility to break any unjust law. Explaining the difference between what he thinks is a just an unjust law, he states, “An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality” (King, paragraph