Civil Disobedience In many cases, a person is willing to give everything they possess for what they believe in. Their moral convictions or other reasons encourage them to take actions that they would not usually display. Two examples of individuals following a higher moral law are Antigone, the main character of the age-old Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, and Samuel Adams, an American freedom fighter who led the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Both of these individuals committed civil disobedience, which is a peaceful yet meaningful nonviolent form of resistance committed by breaking specific laws set by a government or other group. Though both committed civil disobedience, Antigone’s and Samuel Adams’s situations differed greatly in their motives,
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Antigone commits civil disobedience by “[burying] the brother [she] loves” (Pro.69), Polyneices, when Creon had specifically declared that Polyneices “[should] lie on the plain, unburied” (1.41). She commits this act of civil disobedience because she wants her brother’s soul to find peace after death. However, an important factor of the civil disobedience that she displays is that she does not take proud, unnecessary actions of defiance, she simply covers the body “over with a light dust /…/ Just enough for the ghost’s peace” (1.84-86). This simple yet symbolic action convinces outsiders who view her situation to increase their support and favor of Antigone over King Creon, the reason being that she is not viewed as a boastful, rebellious girl, but as a brave one. By committing this act of civil disobedience, she tries to prove to the chorus and Creon himself that Creon’s laws dismiss the will of the gods, and that something needs to done about this issue. By arguing aggressively with King Creon, she is not only supporting her own moral convictions, but also setting an example for the rest of Thebes. If she had proudly and more openly defied Creon and his law, rather than simply doing what her brother Polyneices needed, the people she tries to influence may not have been as …show more content…
Samuel Adams committed civil disobedience by leading in the commencing of the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was commenced “on the night of December 16, 1773, [in which] Samuel Adams [along with] the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard” as an act of civil disobedience displaying that they refused to pay forced taxes to Britain ("Boston Tea Party"). The situation of Adams differed from that of Antigone’s in that the situations were much different in scale from each other. When Antigone committed civil disobedience, her display was limited, including only herself resisting. However, the Boston Tea party included over “100 colonists” and collaboratively, dumped “more than 90,000 lbs. (45 tons) of tea” into the Boston Harbor ("Boston Tea Party"). The consequences of this overnight act were immense. For one, it affected the British Government greatly. After the events took place, the British government took offense and “the Boston Tea Party was magnified from a simple matter of destruction of property into an intolerable insult to British authority” ("British View Vs. American View"). This increased their intolerance for revolutionaries in America, pressing them to strengthen their offense in the Revolutionary War. However, on the American side, this act sparked hope in many
Antigone commits civil disobedience by “[burying] the brother [she] loves” (Pro.69), Polyneices, when Creon had specifically declared that Polyneices “[should] lie on the plain, unburied” (1.41). She commits this act of civil disobedience because she wants her brother’s soul to find peace after death. However, an important factor of the civil disobedience that she displays is that she does not take proud, unnecessary actions of defiance, she simply covers the body “over with a light dust /…/ Just enough for the ghost’s peace” (1.84-86). This simple yet symbolic action convinces outsiders who view her situation to increase their support and favor of Antigone over King Creon, the reason being that she is not viewed as a boastful, rebellious girl, but as a brave one. By committing this act of civil disobedience, she tries to prove to the chorus and Creon himself that Creon’s laws dismiss the will of the gods, and that something needs to done about this issue. By arguing aggressively with King Creon, she is not only supporting her own moral convictions, but also setting an example for the rest of Thebes. If she had proudly and more openly defied Creon and his law, rather than simply doing what her brother Polyneices needed, the people she tries to influence may not have been as …show more content…
Samuel Adams committed civil disobedience by leading in the commencing of the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was commenced “on the night of December 16, 1773, [in which] Samuel Adams [along with] the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard” as an act of civil disobedience displaying that they refused to pay forced taxes to Britain ("Boston Tea Party"). The situation of Adams differed from that of Antigone’s in that the situations were much different in scale from each other. When Antigone committed civil disobedience, her display was limited, including only herself resisting. However, the Boston Tea party included over “100 colonists” and collaboratively, dumped “more than 90,000 lbs. (45 tons) of tea” into the Boston Harbor ("Boston Tea Party"). The consequences of this overnight act were immense. For one, it affected the British Government greatly. After the events took place, the British government took offense and “the Boston Tea Party was magnified from a simple matter of destruction of property into an intolerable insult to British authority” ("British View Vs. American View"). This increased their intolerance for revolutionaries in America, pressing them to strengthen their offense in the Revolutionary War. However, on the American side, this act sparked hope in many