Relevance of Antigone story in modern society

Relevance of Antigone’s story in modern society. The story of Antigone by Sophocles is about the confrontation between Antigone, the daughter of the deceased King Oedipus, and her uncle Creon, the reigning ruler of Thebes. The story opens with the tragic death of Oedipus sons; Eteocles and Polynices. The two brothers killed each other in a supremacy battle to take the kingdom of Thebes. Each son was to rule the throne in alternate years, but when Eteocles declined to relinquish power, Polynices waged a war in retaliation, resulting in their deaths. Their uncle Creon, who became king, gave a decree to bury Eteocles with honor as the defender of the kingdom while Polynices’ body left to rot as punishment for being a traitor. When Antigone’s efforts to persuade her sister Ismene to bury their brother proved futile, she ignored the king’s order and buried Polynices herself. This act of disobedience resulted in severe punishment by a furious King Creon (Söderbäck 36). Some moral lessons can be drawn from Sophocles’ story that apply to routine life. This paper focuses on the themes of justice, pride, and gender.
Sophocles’ story highlights the theme of justice and the need to uphold what is right. Antigone fearlessly challenged the King’s order to leave her brother’s body to rot. Such a stance is comparable to the contemporary controversies on the fight for human right. In 2014, for example, civil rights movements protested worldwide when the bodies of passengers …