針對索福克勒斯筆下的悲劇人物安提戈涅，祁克果在《非此即彼》一書的「古典悲劇元素在現代悲劇內容中的反映」篇中，就其所蘊含的藝術特質進行了深刻反思。與此同時，作者在充分把握古希臘悲劇理論之餘，又重塑了安提戈涅的形象，並使她具有現代悲劇的審美內涵。進而，通過比對同一藝術對象的經典與現代兩種表現範式，祁克果提煉出古典與現代悲劇理論差異的核心所在。即二者在情節的處理上，分別以悲哀與痛苦為側重點。值得一提的是，在痛苦當中往往隱含著個體對自身的反思，以及隨之而來的恐懼與焦慮心理。這在祁克果看來，正是現代美學領域中，使自由得以確立的關鍵所在。因此，其悲劇理論毋寧是對自由涵義的一種美學式解讀。

Aiming at the tragic character of Antigone in Sophocles’ works, Kierkegaard reflected the artistic characteristics of classical tragic elements in the content of modern tragedy in Either/Or. In addition, the author not only fully grasps the ancient Greek tragedy theory, but also reshapes the image of Antigone, and makes her have the aesthetic connotation of modern tragedy. By comparing the classical and modern performance paradigms of the same artistic object, Kierkegaard abstracts the difference between the classical and modern tragedy theories. That is to say, both of them focus on sadness and pain respectively. It is worth mentioning that, in the pain, there is often an individual’s reflection on himself, followed by fear and anxiety. In Kierkegaard’s view, this is the key to the establishment of freedom in the field of modern aesthetics. Therefore, his tragedy theory is rather an aesthetic interpretation of the meaning of freedom.