Preview

Summary: Response To Tragedy And The Common Man

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
268 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary: Response To Tragedy And The Common Man
Response to Tragedy and the Common Man

In this article, Miller questions the authenticity of the tragic hero. This article deals with the issue of tragedy as it absolutely affects the common everyday man. According to him, tragedy shouldn’t be stereotyped or limited to the kings and just people in the society. As a matter of fact, we pity those people not because of their suffering, but primarily because they are human too and we can connect to the emotionally.
Like Miller, I too believe that what constitutes a tragic hero, needs not to be a person of kingly status, but one who lives amongst the ordinary people. The struggle to gain that “rightful” position in society is not only exhibited by monarchs or aristocrats, but is best shown

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    A tragic hero is somewhere around the lines between things like honor, commitment, and nobleness. In the crucible, John Proctor resembles just what a tragic hero is, he fulfills all the expectations a tragic hero would follow. He had a tragic flaw that follows him along the way which was Abigail, the girl he had an affair with.…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is a tragic hero. A tragic hero is defined as a person who is good and decent, yet he has a tragic flaw which leads to his downfall. In The Crucible, John Proctor is a highly respected farmer whose tragic flaw is pride. John Proctor plays a crucial role in Salem when the townspeople were being falsely accused and hanged as witches by a group of teenage girls. One of these girls is Abigail Williams, with whom John Proctor had an affair. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is noble and honorable, he is very protective, yet his tragic flaw is that he had an affair with Abigail Williams.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A tragic hero is a character who has errors that leads to his or her destruction. In reading “Romeo and Juliet”, Romeo would be the tragic hero. If the audience looks at the role of justice or revenge and its influence on each character's choices when analyzing the literature. In the “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, the tragic character could be, Willy, Linda, happy or Biff. It would seem that the majority of the people would choose Willy Loman because of the choices he made in his life, like cheating on his wife and choosing to drive the car to his death but the real tragic hero is Biff.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor, the main character in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible can be classified as a tragic hero. The term tragic hero was made by Aristotle who was a Greek philosopher that lived between 384BC and 322BC. He said that the main characteristics that a character must have to be a tragic hero is having a noble status, a flaw that will lead to their downfall when they make a mistake, the audience must be able to feel empathy towards the character, and finally the character must face a tragic death with a realization of what they’ve done wrong. John Proctor possesses most of the crucial characteristics, therefore he is a tragic hero.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history, the stereotypical tragic hero has been known to appear in many famous writings. This type of writing has more recently shown up in play manuscripts, pure fiction, and history itself. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a prime example of this writing strategy based on the characters created and the way the author develops them throughout the manuscript. John Proctor, one of the very prominent character in the manuscript, not only fits into this category but flourishes and deepens the plot of the play as the said tragic hero. Arthur Miller’s portrayal of John Proctor confirms Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero by his interactions with the townspeople and his hesitation to speak out about the hysteria in Salem.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Arthur Miller’s 1949 New York times piece Tragedy and The Common Man he claims that the most tragic stories are those of the average person “who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity.” It is often believed that the reason not many tragedies are written today is because there is no tragedy to be found in today’s common man, Miller believes the exact opposite to be true. He believes that “the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were.” A novel that shows the journey to selfhood of a tragic hero brilliantly is Richard Yates’ novel Revolutionary Road. Within the novel the character April Wheeler is this so-called tragic hero.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history many authors and their works of literature have been studied and pondered upon in order to fully understand them. Amongst these works of literature are two great pieces, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, and A Doll’s House, by Henrik Johan Ibsen. Both authors tell empowering stories about unveiling the truth and empowerment in marriage yet the way Sophocles and Ibsen go about telling these stories is very different. A tragic hero is one that has many characteristics and through both of these plays readers gain insight on how these characters are true tragic heroes by them displaying a scene of suffering, a tragic flaw, and a tragic dilemma.…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Saefasfd

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    on the evidence in the play, which character fits the definition of the tragic hero…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The unavoidable result is that tragedy is old fashioned; Tis for royalty. If the excitement of tragic action were honestly a asset of a high character alone, it is unbelievable that mankind should cherish tragedy above all, let alone understand that. Tragedy is invoked when a character is ready to die to secure his one objective. In Shakespearean tragedies, from Hamlet to Macbeth, the primary struggle is that attempt of gaining their “rightful” position in society. Furthermore, Tragedy then is the outcome of a man’s pressure to evaluate himself.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Willy Loman's Suicide

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Although other tragedies portray tragic heroes as noble figures who fall from grace, Arthur Miller crafts a hero by instead elevating a common man. Similar to the pride of Sophocles’ Oedipus and the impossible dream of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby, Willy Loman possesses the characteristics of a classic tragic hero with his own pride and rejection of reality. Through the character of Willy Loman, Arthur Miller shows us that even the most average person can experience the most heart wrenching tragedies…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Proctors Hamartia

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What is a tragic hero? A tragic hero is someone of noble stature that is good but not perfect and has committed a fatal flaw. As a result of this flaw he is judged and has a downfall on his grand stature. He realizes his mistake, and learns from it. He then accepts his death with dignity. In the play The Crucible written in the early 1950’s by Arthur Miller, does John Proctor qualify as a tragic hero? During the playwright, John Proctor does have the elements to qualify as a tragic hero; he gives the reader a marvelous tragic hero for any time. He is a flawed figure who finds his moral center just as everything is falling to pieces around him.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor Essay

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1692 in the little town of Salem, Massachusetts tragic events took place that would alter this miniscule town forever (Conforti par. 1). Specifically, the witch trials that spring made it one of the most famous towns in American History. Being accused of witchcraft, many people met their deaths and were hung. The witch trials were started and ended by the actions of one man, John Proctor. This is illustrated in The Crucible, a book written to depict the events of these trials. It would seem that John Proctor would be the tragic hero stopping the witch trials. A tragic hero is someone who is not perfect but yet has reputable standing as did Proctor. To be considered a tragic hero one would also have to have a flaw, leading to one’s own demise, but the tragic fate is not necessarily deserved. (Straker par.1). However, his flaws lead him to deserve his fate. He died to save others and to stop the witch trials which he had caused by his own wrong doing (Miller 1137). Despite the respect John Proctor had as well as his his flaws, which ignited the flame of the witch trials, he is not a tragic hero because he is innately good.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Bradley, the tragic hero must be of a person of high degree or of public importance with exceptional nature, which raises person, in some respect much above the average level of humanity. This trait will acts as double-edged sword as it is his greatness but also his fatality. The fatal trait, joining with hero's tragic flaw or flawed act, brings catastrophe; that is, his downfall and ultimately his death. The tragic hero must be good or admirable, or at least recognized by person's high degree or greatness; so we may be vividly conscious of the possibilities of human nature.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Arthur Miller's 1949 essay, "Tragedy and the Common Man," Miller began by saying, "In this age few tragedies are written." This particular essay was published in the New York Times, was also the preface that was prepared for "Death of a Salesman" in 1949. Before Miller's "Death of a Salesman," there was only one type of tragedy—that which fit Aristotle's definition. For Aristotle, plays of tragedy had to revolve around kings, gods, or people of high class. In these classic tragedies, the diction must be elevated and fitting of the characters.<br><br>Arthur Miller challenged just about every belief and convention that had previously been accepted about tragic plays, as in Shakespeare's "Hamlet"—which could be considered the paragon of tragedies. In claiming, "The tragic mode is archaic," Miller explains "that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were." This very notion that regular people are just as fit to be main characters in a tragedy as royalty was also applied to the audience's understanding of a tragic play. If the play was supposed to be about upper-class people, and was spoken in a vernacular that was only known to the high-bred, how were the common people who saw these plays supposed to comprehend their meaning? The only way for this problem to be solved, according to Miller, was to present a character to whom the audience will readily relate. Miller did this by presenting Willy Loman, the main character of "Death of a Salesman," who was a common workingman with a wife and two kids.<br><br>The reason that there is such an absence of tragedies in this day and age, is that "the turn which modern literature has taken toward the purely psychiatric view of life, or the purely sociological," has been one that creates skepticism. With so much thinking involved, and analyzing, no one can really enjoy a play for what it is—pure entertainment. By constantly trying to figure out a reason for why something happened, the…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As the audience stares at a film screen, it is almost always evident who is the tragic hero. Although obvious, the definition of the tragic hero has no fit stereotype. The Greeks insisted upon a rich, tragic hero with noble birth, while more recent playwrights argue that nobility and wealth does not matter. The only set definition of a tragic hero is in the eyes of creator. Orson Welles created a tragic hero in several of his films, including Othello and Citizen Kane. Although his description varies from others, it is evident that his remains the same throughout his films. Orson Welles defines the tragic hero as a man who has always had a difficult life yet, is a well-known, important figure in their setting who, although is tall and handsome, is two-sided, desperate for love and loses everything by his death. Welles' Othello and Kane are no exception.…

    • 1639 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays