Many dramatic theorists have documented their opinions of Sophocles' tragic play They have presented their interpretations as to the motives and moral character of Antigone and Creon. I will attempt to encapsulate the basic logic behind the arguments of the critics Brian Vickers, A.C. Bradley (who interprets Hegel), and H. D. F. Kitto, and venture my own humble opinion as to their validity.Brian Vickers clearly favors the character of Antigone. He challenges Hegel and Hegel's view that both Creon and Antigone were essentially right in their beliefs. Vickers sums up Hegel's theories in a single diagram (Vickers 526), showing Creon and Antigone as forces in antithetical opposition. I believe that Hegel's theories of tragedy, as explained by A.C. Bradley, encompass much more than a simple diagram. Hegel thought that Creon and Antigone represented these forces, but not necessarily that they were diametrically opposed. Hegel thought that the tragedy of Antigone was that the beliefs of Antigone and Creon forced them into opposition, because their beliefs were valid and just, though they did not go about practicing their beliefs in a valid and just manner.Vickers presents the notion that Sophocles himself favored the character of Antigone, since Sophocles never criticized her. With this I must disagree; there were many aspects of Antigone's character that Sophocles would not have included had he viewed her as above reproach. For instance, she is dreadfully overbearing and righteous. While Sophocles clearly showed he could paint the picture of a sympathetic character if he so chose in Oedipus the King, I believe that he deliberately made Antigone, frankly, a much more bitchy character than Oedipus. Oedipus displays sympathy and is emotive in ways that Antigone simply isn't, and that makes Oedipus the King much more tragic than Antigone. Here, Oedipus demonstrates his compassionate nature when he tells the plague-stricken citizens of Thebes h...
