A Study of Character: The Antigone Motif in Sophocles, Anouilh & Brecht

Abstract

This paper is a twofold discussion of character. It is first a study in comparative drama, a comparison of the characters and plots of three versions of Antigone. This discussion deals primarily with empirical rather than conceptual aspects of the plays. I shall compare and contrast certain structural elements of the plays which indicate an overall theatrical development. Thus, such questions as, "How does Tiresias' absence from Anouilh's Antigone affect the play?" are to be treated. This discussion provides the basis and substantiation for the second, more abstract consideration of drama, namely, a general study of theatrical character with particular emphasis on its dramatic and philosophical essence. I propose to make certain claims about theater in general, its conventions, methods, and aesthetic effects, etc., in order to discuss and to analyze what may be termed the 'ontology of character.' I shall investigate certain authors' concepts of character in relation to Aristotle's as well as other authors' concepts of it. [From Introduction]