Analysis Of Arthur Miller Causes A Tragic Hero To Fall '

A tragic hero is a very favored person that suffers from a downfall which leads to their death. John Proctor, like many others, is a tragic hero. The author, Arthur Miller, gives John Proctor the role of a tragic hero throughout the story of The Crucible. This protagonist, John Proctor, made judgement errors that inevitably led to his own destruction. John Proctor is an afflicted individual. He believes his affair with Abigail irreparably damaged him in the eyes of God, his wife Elizabeth, and himself. John Proctor succumbed to sin and committed the crime of adultery; however, he lacks the capacity to forgive himself. When referencing criticism, John Proctor and the Crucible of Individuation in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Michelle I Pearson, who also agrees John Proctor is a tragic hero, once said in her article that “While the people of Salem look at Proctor and see a strong, hard-working, no-nonsense man, Proctor himself knows that he is an adulterer, a lecher, and that he drives himself to try to be free of his guilt. Not until faced with a crisis, however, will he leave the persona behind and begin the process of individuation.” The criticism provided helps prove John Proctor fits the role of a tragic hero in The Crucible. In order to convey the message of iniquity in the Puritan society, Arthur Miller casts John Proctor in The Crucible because he is able to overcome his tragic flaw of hubris, but still the circumstances unfortunately led to his death. Proctor is a very respected man in Salem but he also has a few flaws that have proved him to be a tragic hero which are prideful, lustful, and well respected. Later in The Crucible, Proctor realizes his flaws and tries to fix them but it is too late. One of Proctor’s tragic flaws is that he is too prideful.

"The American Dream is the largely unacknowledged screen in front of which all American writing plays itself out," Arthur Miller has said (Galvin). To many people Arthur Miller is known for his role against communist accusations and using his writing to portray what has happened during McCarthyism. From Miller’s struggles as a child to his first big break as a playwright to his fight against the government, he has still been able to maintain integrity in his writing and captivated many audiences over the years.

A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor, the protagonist, as a tragic hero who has a major flaw—lust for Abigail, his teenage house servant. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation is highly upheld, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but this affair triggers a major series of events in Salem, where unproven accusations lead to internal struggle and eventually to catastrophe.

Sometimes when a situation turns bad, many people begin to assume the worst. Arthur Miller uses Hasty Generalizations to show the panic and even fear of the

Arthur Miller introduces a dynamic character, John Proctor, in his play The Crucible. John, known for his loyalty and detest of hypocrisy, is involved in the adulterous action of cheating on his wife Elizabeth with their housekeeper, Abigail. The question of if John Proctor is a tragic hero surfaces as his downfall is followed by the very truth of his hidden affair. In Miller’s essay, Tragedy and the Common Man, he challenges the basic definition of a tragic hero and explains how the common man could be in the category of a hero. Based on Miller’s arguments, it is apparent that John Proctor encounters the situations that makes someone a tragic hero, and therefore can be considered one.

“As a general rule . . . the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity” (“Tragedy”). Miller, the author of the Crucible and the Tragedy and the Common Man, said these words to prove that a tragic play is not meant to be pessimistic, but more optimistic. In The Crucible, John Proctor, a farmer that proves to be the protagonist, goes through a dramatic change throughout the play; learning to forgive himself for his flaws, and in the end to have pride and stand up for what is right.

Miller writes the story in a very unique way. He gives his readers a chance to explore the words written on his pages, with the hope that the reader is able to draw their own conclusions from his work. His unparalleled approach to the essay forces the reader to use critical thinking in order to make since of the essay. Miller’s feelings about reading, writing and the

Arthur Miller writes about the tragic results of human failings in his play, The Crucible. He presents characters from the past and infuses them with renewed vitality and color. Miller demonstrates the horrifying results of succumbing to personal motives and flaws as he writes the painful story of the Salem witch trials. Not only do the trials stem from human failings but also from neglect of moral and religious considerations of that time. Characters begin to overlook Puritan values of thrift and hope for salvation. Focusing on the flawed characters, they begin to exhibit land lust, envy of the miserable and self-preservation.

“I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were” ( Tragedy and the Common Man). Arthur Miller follows his Millerian conventions of tragedy in the writing of The Crucible. Often literature uses tragedy to display a depressing theme represented by the tragic hero.

Arthur Miller gives a clear understanding of what a tragic hero is. A tragic hero is someone like

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a literary character of magnitude that “makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his or her destruction”. Unlike the Greek philosopher’s description, Arthur Miller, the author of the essay “Tragedy and the Common Man”, considers a tragic hero to be a character of ordinary status that “is ready to lay down their life to secure his or her personal dignity”. Miller illustrates this belief in his Puritanical play The Crucible, featuring the honest and wholesome protagonist, John Proctor as the tragic hero. Proctor, a farmer who despises hypocrites, finds himself in a string of conflict when he commits adultery with his former house servant and becomes what he hates most, resulting in his death. Proctor’s role as a true classical tragic hero is demonstrated by his relentless fight to expose Abigail and the “witch trials” as lies, and save his wife and secure “good name”.

have been many tragic heroes which can relate to Arthur Miller’s essay “Tragedy and the

Arthur Miller was an American playwright who wrote plays such as “The Crucible” and “Death of a Salesman” because he thought theatre could change the world. He wrote his works based on friends, his own life, and family. People believed he was a man of integrity and a hero because of the ways he portrayed himself.

'A view from the bridge' by Arthur Miller is a tragic intense play about family struggle, lust, passion and deceit. My aim is too look at the relationship of Catherine and Eddie. To understand the relationship, we must understand the atmosphere and culture. To do this we need to know why Miller wrote the play, background history and why this is significant to understanding the relationship between Catherine and Eddie.

A View From the Bridge ' He's like a weird'. This opinion of Rodolfo expressed by Eddie encapsulates the main theme of the 20th century play, 'A View From the Bridge', by Arthur Miller. Rodolfo is subject to Eddie's hostile feelings towards him, emotions like abhorrence, resentment, jealousy and aggression. Eddie's belief in manliness and masochistic behaviour is one explanation why he detests Rodolfo with such vehemence.