推翻了施泰納(George Steiner)悲劇無法存在於現代社會的理論，雷蒙．威廉士重新定義了悲劇。他把現代社會快速轉變及複雜的特性融入悲劇，並以個人經驗為出發，試圖連結作品與城市、男人與女人。而威廉士這種試圖連結文學與社會經驗、個人與公眾和個體與整體的理論，能夠分成四個面向來分析安蒂岡妮：1. 個人與社會/家庭/國家；2. 人與神；3. 人的法律與神的法律；4. 男人與女人。威廉士這種試圖在二元價值中做出連結的努力，以及前調面對二元衝突時的個人經驗，不僅使古典希臘悲劇重新獲得現代人的重視，更是賦予了它們新時代的意涵。

Raymond Williams enlarges the scope of the tragic by casting away George Steiner’s proclivity for generalizing the particular and specialized expression of tragic experience, and by taking into consideration the
transformation and complexity of modern society. According to Williams, tragedy stands for a loss of connection between a work and a city as well as men and women. The present paper then focuses on how to make connections (i) between the individual and the social/family and state; (ii) between man and gods; (iii) between the law of the land and the law of gods; (iiii) between man and woman in Sophocles’ Antigone.
Through the analysis of Antigone, Williams’ problematic and his theoretical perspectives find their way to live on.