Examples Of Everyday Tragedy

A tragedy typically illustrates the downfall of the protagonist, who is usually a person of good standing, through one or a series of tragic incidents that he or she does not have control over. The protagonist usually has a wish to achieve some goal but encounters obstacles along the way. The outcome is that the protagonist is unable to overcome these challenges and therefore suffers a change in fortune and experiences a tragic ending.

In order to gain a proper perspective on the concept of what a tragic hero is, we must synthesize information from the following play’s, “The Death Of A Salesman”, and “Oedipus The King”. Both plays takes the stance on the idea that validates the ultimate notion,  “tragic hero. From Willy’s hubris personality to his questionable and mysterious death, to Oedipus dynamic and complex choices and kingly personality that determines his fate. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement that leads to his/her downfall. In other words, even though both characters made incredible contributions and left a very noble legacy, their choices and decisions determined their ultimate fate. In today’s world tragic heroes are commonly present,

Miller’s essay, Tragedy and the Common Man, gives an insightful look past the basic definition of a tragic hero and expands upon the idea that a common man could infact be in a similar position. He starts off talking about the primitive thought that all

“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.

In his essay Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller says, “As a general rule, to which there may be exceptions unknown to me, I think 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: From Orestes to Hamlet, Medea to Macbeth, the underlying struggle in that of the individual attempting to gain his “rightful” position in his society.” I agree and disagree with Miller’s first statement. Just take a look at Oedipus

Arthur Miller’s play Death of A Salesman demonstrates the life of a man facing troubles within himself and society. A tragedy is the imitation of an action that arouses fear and pity. This play could be considered a tragedy because it depicts the downfall of a perfect family and outlines the deterioration of a man’s life. A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, is someone who exemplifies great importance or heroic qualities; however, Arthur Miller views the tragic hero as someone who struggles heroically with life. Using Arthur Miller’s definition, it can be determined that Willy Loman is a tragic hero. Even though Willy Loman does not fit the classical view of a tragic hero, he is in fact a modern day tragic hero because of his error in judgment, a reversal of fortune, and his excessive pride.

When hearing the word Tragedy, it would not be surprising if several different individuals would immediately think of several unique examples of the word. Perhaps one is an opera enthusiast who immediately thinks of Puccini’s La Boheme. Another is a war enthusiast that thinks about History Channel’s new episode highlighting the harshest and bloodiest battles of World War One. Even a third one obsessed with Greek mythology could generate a handful of examples of tragedy. Tragedy, like love or comedy is a universal theme that can be used to entertain, enlighten and excite its audiences. William Shakespeare, a world renown writer, was a master of this genre writing works, including Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Hamlet. Another lesser known

In Death of a Salesman, author Arthur Miller, presents the Lomans, a dysfunctional family. The father of the Lomans, Willy, is the main character of the story. I feel like Willy is the true tragic hero. The definition of tragedy has changed over the course of time with its origins dating back as far as 350 BC, when the Greek philosopher Aristotle introduced the concept of hamartia, a man's fatal flaw. Arthur Miller took Aristotle’s teachings into consideration when writing Death of a Salesman, especially the elements of a tragic hero.

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

    By definition, a tragedy is a story that details the downfall of a protagonist. Most often, the protagonist (tragic hero) is a member of high society who is faced with an oppositional force, be it internal or external. In his Poetics, Aristotle states that "tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities both of character and thought; for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these- thought and character- are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions, again all success or failure depends...." This quote illustrates an aspect of tragedy upon which many works are based, including

What is the correct definition of tragedy anyways? Many people would define tragedy as a disaster, but according to the book The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre by Martin Banham, the word tragedy is “a word whose meaning changes with time and place” (1002). In Medieval times, “tragedy came to mean the downfall of a person of high degree” (Banham 1002), but in recent times, the meaning of the word tragedy has many definitions. According to Banham, “realists refused to limit tragedy to privileged protagonists” (1002). Two famous tragic plays that I found to have a genre of tragedy are Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. In both of these plays, the downfall was not of a person of high degree but there was a

According to Aristotle’s theory of tragedy, tragedies are best equipped to be based on a protagonist that is renowned and prosperous, so his good fortune can be dramatically changed. In contrast, Arthur Miller’s essay “Tragedy and the Common Man” states “that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings ever were.” He proves in his modern essay that the characteristics and emotions of the common man and the highly placed are entitled to be similar. Miller even identifies emotions of a average person and how they result in a better tragedy than those who are highly ranked. In his play “Death of Salesman” he demonstrates that the normal life of a sales man can still make for a great tragedy and that his protagonist, Willy Loman, is worthy of a tragedy.

The word ‘tragedy’ is a common in the modern world, and it is often associated with a “sad or unhappy ending”. Accordingly, every time there is misfortune in a work, it is classified as a ‘tragedy’. Arthur Miller offers the observation that a tragedy is something that is more than just sad. Miller argues that tragedy is not a ‘pessimistic’ view on an event, but it allows for “the reinforcement of the onlookers brightest opinions of the human animal”. Since humans are not in control of his/her own fate, unfortunate things are bound to happen. However, the human spirit that is able to withstand catastrophe allows for hope. In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare presents his tragic hero, Hamlet, as a noble figure who is to be admired because he

The definition of tragedy in Webster’s dictionary is, "drama of elevated theme and diction and with unhappy ending; sad event, serious accident, calamity."  However, the application of this terminology in Shakespearean Tragedy is more expressive.  Tragedy does not only mean death or calamity, but in fact, it refers to a series of steps that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero and eventually to his tragic death.  Lear, the main character in King Lear was affirmed as the tragic hero because the play meets all the requirements of a tragedy.   In order for a character to be qualified as a tragic hero, he must be in a high status on the social chain and the hero also possesses a tragic flaw that initiates the