Indeed, after her brother’s death, Antigone seems empowered by her feeling that she has to stand up to the patriarchal society even though she’ll be cursed no matter what. She buries her brother Polyneices by giving him an above ground, partial burial through covering him with a layer of and by conducting proper funeral services through anointing his body with ritual liquids. Antigone argues that her actions were justified by her loyalty to her family and to the gods. Therefore she "raise a mound for him, for my dear brother" (95), so that her city will not have to "face the retribution of the gods" (512). Throughout the play there are signs in the natural world that the gods are on the side of Antigone. Interestingly, there are no footprints left beside the body when Antigone puts dust on Polyneices. It's as if the earth itself is attempting to aid Antigone in her crime.
In “Trifles”, after discovering the motive why Mrs. Wright kills her husband, with empathy and sympathy Mrs. Hale quietly hide the evidence to protect her neighbor.
According to the story, after looking around the room, the women discover an empty birdcage and eventually find the dead bird in a box in Mrs. Wright's sewing. The bird has been strangled in the same manner as John Wright. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale know that the bird could be just the motive they are looking for. They could report this to the man immediately to convict Mrs. Wright’s murder. However, “Mrs. Hale rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at Mrs. Peters, whose eyes make a slow turn, finally meeting Mrs. Hale’s,” and then “Mrs. Hale snatches the box and puts it in the pocket of her big coat” (1037). They decide to protect her to get rid of the evidence. Finally, the men are unable to find any clinching evidence that will prevent her from being acquitted by a future jury.
Antigone and Mrs. Hale‘s crimes seem similar; indeed, they both commit an act of civil disobedience in order trying to eliminate injustice in society. Antigone is determined to bury her brother because of her loyalty to her family and to the gods. She believes no mortal has the right to keep her from her own. Even if Antigone must die during the burial, she will not disgrace the laws of the gods. On another hand, Mrs. Hale breaks the laws to protect her neighbor, Mrs. Wright, from being charged. She assumes that Minnie Wright must have suffered terribly because of John Wright's cold nature by saying, “I don’t think a place’d be any cheer fuller for John Wright’s being in it.” (1031). Therefore Mrs. Hale comes to realize that Minnie Wright is worthy of her protection.
In conclusion, the two characters Antigone and Mrs. Hale’s acts are similar; they do what they believe to be right. However, each one of them has her very own distinct way to handle her “crimes.” Antigone goes on with the burial of her brother because she does not want to face the retribution of the gods. She already knows that she will one day die and she would rather die now than to let her brother rot. On the contrast, Mrs. Hale doesn’t really know the suspect and has never known the victim, yet she has sympathy for Mrs. Wright. She chooses to protect Mrs. Wright, a poor, suffering, lonely woman by quietly, artfully hiding the evidence.
Works Cited
Sophocles. “Antigone.” Literature and the Writing Process. Eds. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman. 9th ed. Boston: Longman, 2011. 722-757. Print.
Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles.” Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman, 9th ed. Boston: Longman, 2011. 1027-1037. Print.
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