Compare And Contrast Letter From Birmingham Jail And Antigone

In the world that we live in today, civil disobedience is a subject that has been and continues to be an extremely relevant issue in life. But even though it is a relevant topic, it is one that brings much disagreement when conversed about. The topic that is widely debated to what is the most effective way that civil disobedience can be used by citizens against unjust laws and rulings by those in power, using words or in the most extreme cases getting violent. There is a wide range of ways that civil disobedience is used, in Sophocles Antigone and Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail two different methods can be seen. King uses the power of his words to unite a nation against the unjustness of a country, while Antigone uses the power of

King is writing a letter to the clergymen, in response to them telling him that he should get the people to stop protesting the mistreatment, explaining the reasons why he feels called to protest and demand a change even if it's against the law. King writes “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here…… so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.” (Paragraph 3) and “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Paragraph 4), He continues to explain how and why it is important to continue the peaceful protests. Antigone is acting in response to a law decreed by King Creon after a war, where one of her brothers fought on the opposing side and was declared a traitor and not be buried, that is telling her she is not allowed to bury her brother which she finds to against both the laws outlined by the gods and what she morally believes. She even says, “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.” (453-457). During their fights, both King and Antigone refused to back down even in the face of punishment, they believed their cause was important enough to incite civil disobedience and take whatever punishment was given, even death if

King is personally more compelling, including the way he addresses his opposers and his objective and rationale that require civil disobedience. King’s reason for his fight was for the equal rights of all wronged by the unmerited laws that were in place during the time in the United States. At the end of his letter he said, “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” (Paragraph 39) showing his goal for the future and what he was striving for. Throughout his letter he never tries to be condescending towards the clergymen, to whom he is addressing this letter, instead laying the facts out in the letter as unprejudiced as possible, because he knows the clergymen and those against his cause will be trying to find things that are untrue. This can be seen when he writes, “But since I feel that you are men of genuine goodwill and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” (Paragraph 1) which show how is planning to lay out the facts and answers which they ask of them. King also showed much kindness and love towards others even those who did not like them or questioned his actions. He