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Modern Government through the Eyes of Antigone

 

            In the play "Antigone," by Sophocles, Antigone is the mourning sister of her brother Polynices, who was slain in battle by his own brother and left unburied by his uncle Creon who now rules the city of Thebes. We see that Antigone buries Polynices after being told of Creon's law that whoever buries him shall receive the punishment of death. As a mourning sister, she doesn't dare to leave Polynices' body out in the open to rot. Despite Creon's law she believes what she is doing is right according to divine law. As the play unfolds we see how similar she is to an activist like Edward Snowden.
             When the play opens with Antigone asking her sister Ismene to help bury Polynices' body, Antigone tells Ismene, "Help me lift the body up. My own brother and yours I will! If you will not, I will; I shall not prove disloyal"" (Sophocles 2). This shows how loyal she is to her brother and in a way similar to Edward Snowden. Edward Snowden was a former employee of the C.I.A. who leaked data to the public on surveillance programs. When he discovered that the spy agency was surveying regular people's emails, he wanted to do what was right and inform the public just as Antigone did burying her brother despite Creon's law. They're also different from each other as Antigone sacrificed more on her behalf by endangering her own life while Snowden fled from the U.S.A. to seek asylum in Hong Kong. One can say that the C.I.A. and Creon are the antagonists, as Antigone and Snowden are the heroes in their respective roles.
             In Creon's role, he is the king of Thebes who enforces the laws enacted in his kingdom as does the government the C.I.A. is a part of in the U.S.A. Both Antigone and Snowden commit civil disobedience in doing what they believe is right but Antigone accepts the consequences of her actions as she plainly states to Creon: "I say I did it; I deny it not. Would you aught more than take my life, whom you did catch?"" (Sophocles 17,19) This shows that Antigone takes full responsibility of her actions and accepts death while Snowden flees the U.


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