Antigone has a very strong devotion to her beliefs. She not only knows the right thing to do, she refuses to let anything get in the way of her doing the right thing. This devotion to a cause is very rarely seen. This loyalty to morals is often linked with the Free French during World War II. The struggle for Antigone to do what is right even though there were harsh punishments if she were to be caught is strongly linked to the opposition of the Nazi occupation of France. It was only a matter of time before the people of France got the courage and strength to take back what was theirs. The leaders of the Free French galvanized their people with the story of Antigone. Many forms of Antigone were written and performed in France during this time. It is common for literary characters to be parallels into real life situations. Not many parallels have been made to historical American figures; but, two people in American society who have embraced this devotion are Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi started the non-violent tactics that were later used by Dr. King during the Civil Rights Movement. Gandhi is so renowned for this that the UN declared October 2nd, his birthday, “The International Day of Non-violence”. Gandhi was very active in rights and independence movements in many different countries. Martin Luther King is much more like Antigone because they both saw a cause worth fighting for and they both did not stop until their goals had been reached. His Montgomery Bus Boycott was a long tough road for him to walk; but he stuck to his beliefs and was in it till the end. It was not only Dr. King who was employing this steadfast method. Many were staging sit-ins all across the South. The members of the sit-ins knew they would be physically and verbally beaten but they also knew that the cause was more important than the repercussions. Nothing could stop this group from reaching their goal. Their determination rivals that of Antigone when she knows that must bury her brother and give him the righteous path to an afterlife with the gods. Both Antigone and the civil rights activists faced persecution and pain. Creon can be linked to the police officers that were ordered to break up the civil rights marches. They both opposed the competition with force and harm. Hoses and dogs could not keep the marchers from reaching their goal, and execution could not keep Antigone from honoring her bother. 428
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Alex, I think King and Gandhi are appropriate examples, since both used conscience as a means to oppose a form of corrupt authority. And since that is much of what the play is about, the comparison seems well founded. (But what I'm not quite clear on is what any of this has to do with the Beastie Boys??)
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