Comparing Sophocles Antigone And If We Must Die

Publilius Syrus once said,(12c) “Man’s life is short; and therefore an honorable death is his immortality,(12c)” that is also the main idea in the play Antigone by Sophocles. After studying “If we must Die” by Jamaican author Claude McKay and “Invictus”by William Ernest Henley then comparing them to Antigone,(12c) it is effortless to decide which one is more related. “If we must Die” is more similar to Antigone seeing that they share the same views of dying an honorable death and making something of life and not just wasting it.
Antigone and “If we must Die” are similar,(12a) for they both have the main idea of dying an honorable death. In “If we must Die” McKay *relates wimpy pigs getting pressed against a wall and killed to everyday people,(12a) and teaches that we should be dying in a way to get people to honor us. Antigone also talks about honorful deaths especially when Antigone is trying to persuade Ismene into burying their brother. Antigone said that if they died in the process then it would be an honorable
“If we must Die” is all about not wasting life especially the last stanza which says,(12c) “Like men we’ll face the murderous,(12c) cowardly pack,(12c) Pressed to the wall,(12c) dying,(12a) but fighting back!” *That says it all, don’t run away from Death,(12a) but instead live life perfectly no matter what. That was also Antigone's mindset,(12d) why would I not bury my brother just so I get to live longer. Antigone probably could not of lived with herself knowing that she left her brother to eternally die just because her death was in the picture. People may say that “Invictus” has that same idea,(12a) but “Invictus” focuses more on never giving up as opposed to not wasting life. Knowing all that makes it impossible to even think that “Invictus” can be more closely related to Antigone the “If we must Die