Comparing Anouilh’s and Sophocles' 'Antigone'

 by Matthew Chedgey

Anouilh’s Antigone is much more modern shares with Sophocles' original the same location. However, the two texts are written in a contextually different period, each serving a different purpose

Anachronisms abound in Anouilh's version, such as Antigone is served with hot coffee and tartes, Creon talks to her in his shirt sleeves, Polynices and Eteocles smoke cigarettes, etc; these are added to avoid giving the impression that he is representing something which happened long ago and does not concern us to-day. And by this means too, he succeeds in giving a sense of timelessness to his drama. The nurse additionally is added within the modern play to add a sense of maternity that adds to the strangeness of this tragic and harsh world. She is almost the shield to Antigone by warding off danger and evil. It is also worth noting that she also allows Haemon to make his appearance on stage. 

In Anouilh’s play Antigone is unmistakeably identified with the French resistance due to the frequent threats of torture to the heroine which one could draw parallels with the Gestapo interrogations in the fact that they often exposed corpses as a deterrent to resistance fighters. Also, the characterisation of Creon's guards, whose brutality and low morals accompany their vile language, very much recall the French fascist terror squads which were arguably more feared and hated than the Gestapo itself. 

Arguably, in both plays Antigone is presented to be a moral woman who wishes to bury her fallen brother out of respect. However, with Antigone obviously being the symbol of the French resistance (the Protagonist) and in turn Cleon and his men being the Antagonists, surely with France being under Nazi occupation it would have been in the Nazis' best interest to censor plays that present themselves to be evil and immoral. However, in Anouilh’s play the presentation of Creon is much more favourable than that of Sophocles. Alongside being sympathetic and caring to Antigone initially,  Anouilh presents Creon to be a practical man whose assumption of powers faces him with a tragic dilemma: his desire to rule firmly but fairly, to restore and maintain peace within a chaotic situation; he is frustrated with a persistent and supposedly irrational resistance (Antigone). These are almost identical to the terms in which the Nazis claimed to have experiences within occupied France.

I also believe it is key to look at the chorus as In Sophocles’ play it would have been a group of elderly men in which the chorus leader would speak for the men, the chorus at the time gave narration to the audience about the characters actions. However, in modern theatre this role is rather hard to use and as a result has not made an attempt to create a proper Chorus and has kept only one actor whom he still calls the Chorus. This actor in a kind of prologue introduces the barriers to us and gives a few facts necessary for the understanding of the plot; at one stage he explains the author's views on the nature of tragedy. He also speaks a few times to Creon in the course of the drama. 

Moreover, the opening scenes differ as in Anouilh’s Antigone has already attempted to try and bury the body unlike Sophocles which reveals to me that Anouilh is possibly trying to create a greater sense of desperation in the character of Antigone. 

Tying onto my previous point, I also believe in Anouilh’s play Antigone is presented to be much more cut off from the world and distant from her close ones as she struggles to cope with the deaths of her two brothers and the exile of her father. Personally, I believe Anouilh provides a more in depth and possibly more realistic of Antigone’s character in the play than Sophocles 

Finally, I believe that whilst both plays successfully present a sense of tragedy, In Anouilh's version the question of human happiness is introduced into the play. This question cen be seen in three different parts of the play: the scenes that precede the dialogue with Cleon, destroy her daily routine which from my perspective reveals her happiness stems from the simple joys from life such as having breakfast and conversing with her nurse and sister. Later in the play  with the first half of the dialogue between Antigone and Creon, Creon slowly reveals Antigone’s irrational thinking, but with identifying the word ‘happiness’, it has revealed to the audience the innermost reason for Antigone’s refusal. Antigone, after finally realising her acts justifies them by a refusal of time and existence, which from my perspective is a form of suicide. 

To conclude, in my opinion, the great difference between the two dramas does not lie in the general structure but in the contents of each separate scene, and a comparison of the scenes will show how differently Anouilh treats the same subject.