individual is buried. The Greek burial process is broken into three stages, the prosthesis, the ekphora, and the interment. If someone never receives this three step burial process are doomed to wander by the river of Styx by the entrance of the underworld causing the soul to never find peace and be at rest. The denial of a proper burial to a corpse is not only an insult to the individual; it is also one of the highest forms of disrespect because it damns the soul for all time. In Greek religion, it’s mainly the woman’s responsibility to make sure the person gets a proper burial and the soul is saved. In the play “Antigone” that takes place in ancient Greece, the tragic hero Antigone understands her religious duty to bury he brother Polyneices and go against Creon, her uncle and ruler even though this means certain death for her.
Throughout the play, Antigone shows her responsibility and respect to her family and religion. These feelings are Antigone’s downfall and the reason Antigone is considered and characterized as a tragic hero. These strong feelings of commitment and respect to her family and religion cause Antigone to bury her brother Polyneices, even though she knows if she gets caught it means an inevitable death. In the play, Antigone says “shout it out”(Antigone 99). This quote expresses how Antigone is willing to stand up to Creon to express how important her religious and family duties are even if it causes her death.
There are many reasons people break the law and in the play “Antigone” the main character Antigone breaks the same law or rule of burying the body of Polyneices multiple times. Antigone states, “I shall be a criminal- but a religious one”(Antigone 84-85). Religion is a powerful motivator and it causes people to break laws and even give up their lives for their religion and what they believe in. Martin Luther King Jr. is a perfect example of someone who is driven by religion like Antigone. He and Antigone both broke an ample amount of laws that their religion didn’t agree with. In both cases Antigone a woman in ancient Greece and Martin Luther King Jr. an African American in a segregated American society we both oppressed. They both found strength and themselves in their religions; this caused them to break laws for their religion and lead to both of their tragic deaths.
Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. were driven by a strong set of religious and family obligations. They weren’t afraid to do what they thought was morally right even if it put them in harms way. They both put moral righteousness in front of their society’s written laws that they viewed as unjust; it’s this righteousness that led to their deaths. It is the same righteousness that causes both Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone to be viewed as heroes and leaders that inspire people to do the right thing and to fight for what they believe in.
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