S. to avoid being thrown in jail. In a way, Snowden is more of a coward compared to Antigone who bravely accepts her consequences. Antigone and Snowden also take a side of which law they want to follow when they commit civil disobedience.
When Creon asks Antigone if she felt she could just overstep his law, she answers, "Because it was not Zeus who ordered it the unchangeable unwritten code of Heaven; This is not of today and yesterday, But lives for ever, having origin"" (Sophocles 17-18). Antigone provides the reason that she broke his law because she was following divine law. When Snowden leaked data on surveillance programs from the C.I.A. to the public, his disclosures prompted Congress to make some calls to hold hearings about it and reopen a debate about portions of the Patriot Act. Snowden was also following the government's guidelines, in that if the government overstepped its boundaries then the people have the right to change or revise a law. Though both followed a certain guideline, Antigone broke the law only caring about herself while Snowden broke the law for the people of the U.S.A.
Antigone and Snowden both outline their reasons to break the law but pertain to specific things and circumstances. Antigone says, "It is no shame to pay respect to our own flesh and blood. The dead clay makes no protest. " (Sophocles 20) She explains that whether or not a family member committed horrible deeds, they have the right to be buried to follow divine law. In Snowden's case he explains that he broke the law to help benefit people's privacy. Antigone's reasoning only seems to help one person's morality to bury their loved ones for closure while Snowden's reasoning focuses on helping the general population and not just pertaining to one group or individual.
At the end of the play when Antigone's punishment is changed to be condemned to be sealed in a cave, her fiance Haemon learns of her situation and then Creon and Haemon argue over Antigone doing a noble deed in burying Polynices and being punished for her action so harshly.
