Tragedy And The Common Man Argumentative Essay

The main point of the essay is to show that there are not many written tragedies in our time, mainly because there is not enough heroes around us. Arthur Miller's thesis statement is, "the tragic mode is archaic, fit only for the very highly place, the kings or the kingly, and where this admission is not made in so many words it is most often implied.” What he is saying is that tragedies are outdated because they are only fit for kings.

The play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, takes issue with those in America who place too much stress upon material gain, at the expense of other, more admirable human values. Miller uses flashbacks to provide exposition, to foreshadow the upcoming tragedy, and most importantly to reveal character traits. An analysis of the main character, Willy Loman, illustrates the underlying theme that the concern over material success breaks down the bonds between men that form the basis of a smooth-functioning society.

"If I play a hero or a good guy, I'll try to find his darkness or his flaws." -J. Kinnaman. (Brainyqoute.com) As Kinnaman mentioned, there are almost always flaws in a hero, and these defects usually make the story more interesting. (Knowing a protagonist's defects is helpful to follow the story, because they usually propel the tension the story.) (-- removed HTML --) , an ancient Greek epic poem written by Homer, the protagonist attracts readers by showing not only his heroic qualities but also his shortcomings. The poem is mainly about Odysseus, a victorious general of the Trojan War, going back to his beloved homeland Ithaca after the brutal battle. However, he suffers through a 20-year-voyage to get home, which is caused by his own flaws. Indeed, he has plenty of heroic qualities, yet they are closely connected to his defects.

Arthur Miller was a playwright who wrote plays such as “The Crucible” and “Death of a Salesman”. Miller was a kind man and wanted to keep his reputation to a high standard. He believed that theater would change the world. His works were based off of his life, friends, and family. The way he portrayed himself made people believe that he was a hero. Elia Kazan was Miller’s director on Broadway when “Death of a Salesman” came out in 1947. The play was about a New York family’s life in reality and what they wanted it to be.

Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, is well-known for his interpretation of a tragic hero in his other writings such as the protagonists in the Death of a Salesman and All My Sons. Miller describes a tragic hero as a male unable to deal with his actions and image. This definition contradicted other tragic heroes in novels by other authors. An example of this is F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby. The tragic hero in that novel, Jay Gatsby, is known for his wealth, unlike John Proctor in The Crucible. John Proctor, the protagonist in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, struggles with his guilt and attempt to regain his reputation within his community of Salem, which in the end, is his downfall.

position in society. In addition, the downfall of a tragic hero is caused by fault of their own, often

“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 redefines the genre of tragedy and the tragic hero. Miller defines a tragedy as a person struggling against an injustice in the world around him to, which he responds forcefully. Miller states that the “wound from which the inevitable events spiral is the wound of indignity, and its dominant force is indignation” (144). The wound originates from the injustice in the environment, but it is perceived by the character as an “indignation” or other forms of outrage. Ultimately, the struggle of the character leads to that character’s downfall, and also reveals the nature of injustice as being insurmountable by the individual. Miller writes that the character’s “destruction in the attempt [to evaluate himself justly] posits a wrong or an evil in his environment” (145). Therefore, Miller idea of tragedy stems not from the flaws within the character, but from the flaws within the environment in which he or she lives that the character rails against, but is never able to overcome.

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”.

Hamlet’s tragic flaw would definitely be his inability to decide and move forward fast enough, because of this he makes it difficult to move forward on anything. For instance, he wanted to believe the ghost, but he hesitated and chose to wait until he proved Claudius did indeed kill his father. It took until Act III Scene II for Hamlet to finally confirm that Claudius purposely murdered his father to get to the throne. He watched Claudius and got the reaction he hoped for during the play, but Hamlet still did not have a plan to kill Claudius. Hamlet tends to procrastinate and it did not help since Claudius caught up to his plans and began to be suspicious of Hamlet. Hamlet thinks too much and Claudius is a man of action. Hamlet spends too much

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

“Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them...great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning.” Tragic heroes are characters of notoriety; held in high regard but are struck with misfortune through their own error. The most noble of men can succumb to their own flaws until driven to the brink of insanity, as illustrated in Shakespeare’s play, King Lear. King Lear represents all qualities of a tragic hero and in the end is ruined by his own vice, by driving himself to the point of full-blown insanity as a result of his actions.

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

many questions to be answered. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman takes place in the late