Tragedy and Common Man by Arthur Miller

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,

a very common fear every salve of the time inhibited. By illustrating the tragic life of a young

Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers would categorize the play as a tragedy. The problem with any tragedy definition is that most tragic plays do not define the tragedy conditions explained or outlined by Aristotle. According to Telford (1961), a tragedy is a literary

Page 1 of 3Hai Nguyen John Proctor and the McCarthyism “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller illustrates the reflection of the anti-communist hysteria in the United States known as McCarthyism. Miller uses the character John Proctor as a force in demonstrating the way lives were destroyed by McCarthyism. Throughout the story, while Proctor is respected in the community, he has conflict secretly with many people as well as himself. John Proctor is a perfect character because the readers are able to view him as a victim in the society where McCarthyism took place. He is also an adulterer, husband of Elizabeth, and knows what is happening in and outside of the Salem society. Proctor was having a conflict with his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth did not trust John because he had an affair with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth was supposed to trust John, but she refused to because he said he was alone with Abigail for a moment. John cannot say or argue against Elizabeth because of his guilt:” Because it speaks deceit, and I am honest! But I will plead no more! I see how your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!” Elizabeth tried to make John feel guilt, so John wanted to make sure she understood her cold nature may have prompted his cheating. He also has conflict with Abigail Williams which is his mistress. John Proctor was so angry because Abigail accused his wife to witchcraft. She sent Mary Warren with a puppet that has needle inside its

Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible show the hysteria that took place in Salem in 1692. Even though this play is fiction, Miller based the plot of his play on a real historical event which was McCarthyism in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. There’re many connection in The Crucible to be considered as an allegory due to similarities themes and how the characters are being portrayed. Miller does an excellent job of portraying numerals characters used fear for benefit and they showed selfishness and malfeasance. This is also similar to how Joseph McCarthy’s oppressive by using intense fear of the spread of the economic system called communism.

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, hysteria breaks out in Salem when young girls begin pronouncing accusations of witchcraft. One of the accused, Elizabeth Proctor and her husband, John Proctor, live on a farm where he provides and cares for their family. When Elizabeth becomes sick John is unfaithful and has an affair with one of the accusers, Abigail Williams. Through the course of the story, John Proctor moves from denial and deflection of his actions and their consequences in order to maintain his public dignity, to public confession and condemnation for his actions in order to soothe his conscience and maintain his internal sense of integrity. This progression is illustrated by his interactions with his wife, their accusers and the court, who ultimately condemns them.

Modern tragedy is buried in modern culture, and now consists of literary works which reflect the 21st century. There are stories within the lives of the present day common man which are absolutely homogeneous to the literary definition of tragedy. Their characteristics are retained in all senses of the genre: isolationism, and a character flaw in the protagonist. “The modern tragedy is thus redefined: in modern tragedies, smaller men with smaller dreams act through impulse, rather than hubris” (Stratford). Many of the obstacles of modern tragedy men face are poverty, ignorance, substance abuse, abandonment, illness and betrayal- essentially the stories of Hickock and

1. Why is the common man “as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were”?

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

Tragic heroes, according to Miller, actively and entirely commits themselves in a hopeless attempt to attain or regain their personal dignity. Miller states, “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” (144). This statement emphasizes the absence of “personal dignity” that the character seeks to gain or regain, and it

tragedy as man’s struggle to gain his “rightful” position in his society, and whoever that

Throughout this past semester, we have covered a lot of plays and their films that correspond within those plays. While I have learned a lot along the way I have found that there are certain plays that stuck out. Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, and The Importance of Being Earnest were among some of these plays from this semester. However, one of my personal favorites is The Crucible. I was able to uncover many themes from this play such as secret sin, lies and deceit, and religion.

As defined by Aristotle, A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. In the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet is the tragic hero. Prince Hamlet can even be considered a quintessential tragic hero due to how closely he relates to Aristotle’s definition. Initially he has noble motives which were to avenge his father’s death but by the end, his flaws and bad decisions lead him to his death. The fact that Prince Hamlet’s best trait is also his downfall makes him one of the most tragic heroes in Shakespeare’s work. In these ways and more, Prince Hamlet fulfills Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.

A tragedy is a drama or literary piece of work in which the main characters is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow most likely at the consequences of a tragic flaw or moral weakness and also a inability to suffer the unfavourable circumstances. The protagonist and driving force of a tragic drama is known as a tragic hero. In order for a protagonist to qualify as a tragic hero certain elements must be met regarding the character. The tragic hero must be of a noble birth entailing that the protagonist has a higher social status that the average person. The protagonist must go from a state of extreme high to a state of extreme low. The protagonist must go through a change and achieve enlightenment. The tragic hero must have a fatal character flaw which will result in his undoing. The tragic hero must have an emotional climax causing emotional change. The finally element needed to be a tragic hero is that the protagonist must die. Hamlet fits the definition of a tragic hero because Hamlet has a moment of change about himself during the play, he is a person of nobility who

However, for the Elizabethans, more specifically for Marlowe and Shakespeare, tragedy is not a restrictive view of human excellence or weakness as the Greeks are often inclined to present but an affirmative view of human aspirations whose pursuit brings a glory to the definition of a man. Struggle, conflict, suffering and failure may be the inescapable attendants but the human spirit is not stifled in its pursuits by what attends to them. The ability to withstand