Antigone Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

People often reflect on their past and look back at the times they regret. Most often people tend to regret experiences that caused him or her strife. However, others tend to look at these types of experiences and claim that they were a necessary part of their lives in order for them make sense of life. Antigone, from Sophocles’ Antigone, and Martin Luther King Jr and his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, engage in civil disobedience where both fight the laws of the land in order to follow a higher good with no regret. However, both do such in specific ways that ultimately differ from one another: Dr. King believes civil disobedience is a necessary moral obligation to defy unjust laws while Antigone believes it is necessary in order to please
the gods. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr believes that his act of civil disobedience was fair and just. To him, breaking the law was necessary because it was an essential moral obligation to fulfill. He claims in his letter that any unjust laws should never be carried out, yet just laws should always be followed. Dr. King states in the “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all’". Protesting in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama was, to him, just, for it followed the law of freedom of assembly and speech without any violence whatsoever. On the other hand, the laws in place that segregated whites from blacks were nothing more than unfair rules that should not be abided by the masses. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, as stated before, claimed in his letter that such laws that approve the harassment or mistreatment of others are, too, considered unjust, for such laws damage a community and the individual victims’ lives. Dr. King states, “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority”. It was this mindset King possessed that allowed him to fight for what was right. Believing any law that inflicts damage upon any group of people is fair is without a doubt wrong in every aspect. A community cannot grow if it does not work together and a person cannot live a happy successful life if he or she is out-casted by one’s own peers. What disturbed Dr. King the most was the fact that white supporters of integration would not use their privilege to help aid King in his battle against segregation. He states in the letter, “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is… the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice...”. Understanding that his white moderates would not moral obligations, he took matters into his own hands. With his acts of chaos, the country began see the true extent of their actions and in time, America became more integrated than ever before. Civil disobedience is not only found in reality, but also within literature.
In Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone, on the other hand, believes her act of civil disobedience to bury Polyneices was justified due to her belief that the laws of the gods should be carried out above any man made law, including those declared by Kreon and that those who have passed away before her must be honored. In the beginning of the play, Antigone tries to convince her sister, Ismene, to bury the body of her brother. Ismene, at first, was skeptical, for she knew it was Kreon’s decree that no one shall bury Polyneices for he was a traitor to the state. However, Antigone thought otherwise. Antigone states, “I’ll lie there, dear to him, with my dear friend, when I’ve performed this crime of piety; for I must please those down below a longer time than those up here, since I shall lie there always. You, though, if you think it best, dishonor what is honored by the gods” (Sophocles 22-23). Antigone believes burying her brother is of higher standards than to follow the laws of Kreon, for the gods must be worshiped above all else and she follows her principles to the very end. A king may rule the land, but the gods rule all and it is this mindset that Antigone possesses that allows her to fulfill the gods’ wishes. Later in the play, when Antigone is questioned by Kreon himself, she denies nothing and bluntly states that his mortal laws are no match to the laws of the gods. She claims, “It was not Zeus who made this proclamation; nor was it Justice dwelling with the gods below who set in place such laws as these for humankind; nor did I think your proclamations had such strength that, mortal as you are, you could outrun those laws that are the gods’, unwritten and unshakable. Their laws are not for now or yesterday, but live forever…” (Sophocles 38). Antigone followed through her decision to bury her brother because the gods’ laws are eternal. It was Antigone’s strength to stand by her
principles that ultimately lead Kreon to attempt to amend his wrongdoings. However, he was too late and Antigone took herself from the world. It is only natural to feel sympathy towards both Antigone and Dr. King due to their suffering for attempting to live a better life. Both deserve credit and respect for their commitment towards their strong moral principles. Yet, Dr. King deserves more sympathy. Even though Antigone dies due to her actions, she had the decision to let herself live or die. She ultimately chose to take herself out of this world instead of deal with the hand fate dealt her, even though it called her death anyways. At least Antigone could have maintained her dignity and even her life if she had allowed her stoning. Dr. King did not attempt to escape from prison while he was held in Birmingham. He dealt with his situation and made the best out of it by still attempting to engage in his practice of non-violent protest by writing letters to pro-segregation supporters. From Antigone to “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, civil disobedience can be justified. Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone experience persecution for their crimes against the land. Both believed their actions were in good standing due to the fact that their actions followed a higher sense of good. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr uses a moral basis to justify his protesting for integration and what defines a just and unjust law. Antigone defies the laws of her own family in by burying her brother in order to pursue the natural laws of the gods and in her attempt, she took herself from this world to escape man’s defiance of the gods. Regardless of the outcome, the two show the world that chaos is needed to restore order. Defiance creates acceptance. Like a ying yang symbol, in order to find balance, good must coexist with evil. With the civil disobediences of Dr. King and Antigone, their “evils” lead to the realization of a better world.