Civil Disobedience In Antigone Essay

Civil disobedience is present all over the world in our lives today and is also present in Antigone by Sophocles. The play is a greek tragedy about Antigone, a young girl who disobeys a law made by her uncle, Creon, the king of Thebes. The towns people are told to leave her brother Polyneices’ corpse unburied, but she defies this law and decides to do what is right, which is giving her brother a proper burial. By doing this, Antigone is being civilly disobedient, which is the defiance of governmental laws in a peaceful, non-violent way. Modern civil disobedience occurs in the articles, “ A Leading Pioneer”, “Saudi Arabia Women Defy Authorities Over Female Driving Ban”, and “Rosa Parks Leaves Challenge to consider Justness of Laws”. These stories …show more content…
In the tragic play, once Polyneices and Eteocles, Antigone’s brothers, commit fratricide, Creon decides to give Eteocles a proper burial for being loyal to him, but he demands that Polyneices corpse must lay untouched since he was a traitor to Thebes. Antigone is very hurt by this and is determined to give Polyneices respect and grant him with a proper burial, which is an act of civil disobedience. Antigone shows her determination when she says to Ismene, “I / Will bury him. I will have a noble death / And lie with him, a dear sister with a dear brother.” (Sophocles 71-73) Antigone uses the word “will” multiple times, which exhibits her intentness to give her brother what he deserves, a proper burial, even if it is an act of civil disobedience. By saying “I will have a noble death / And lie with him”, she is also implying that she knows she will die for