Sophocles' play Antigone is a classic story of an individual standing up for what she believes in. The simplicity of Sophocles' characterization, which allows Antigone to transcend all time and place, is obvious according to the opinions of three classics professors: Werner Jaeger, Edith Hall, and Sarah Pomeroy.

According to Jaeger's article "Sophocles' Mastery of Character Development," Sophocles' timeless characters had the power to entirely change the world of literature because they, above all others in Greek tragedy, have an "independent life in the imagination apart from the stage and the actual plot in which they appear" (Jaeger 36). His creations resemble the real women and men of fifth-century Greece and their passions and emotions, yet their simplicity of character sets them apart.

Unlike later ages that tried to achieve nobility through violence, colossal size, and startling effects (Jaeger 37), Sophocles uses no exaggeration. All clumsy, earthy descriptions are stripped...