Common Man as Tragic Hero in Death of a Salesman

Oedipus is endowed mostly all tragic characteristics that qualify him for a model tragic hero. He is the son of the queen Iokaste and King Laios, whi... ... middle of paper ... ...milarly, if we take Oedipus' downfall as fated, the tragic value of the play will be enriched since the Catharsis will be intensified. Catharsis means the evocation of two elements in the spectators: pity and fear. A natural audience has more pity for a man whose tragic end is to a great extent fateful rather than for a man whose bad deeds bring about his downfall. Intensifying pity means a Catharsis with a stronger effect and naturally a bonus for the success of the play since achieving Catharsis is a major purpose of any tragedy.

The noble and honorable Troilus approaches Cressida and instead of tragic hero we meet comedic melodramatic. The epic expressions of devotion and intent are drawn out to the point of ridicule and hyperbole. Although they may see inline with the Roman and Greek traditions of tragedy at first, the addition of flat and even openly sarcastic responses from Cressida cause the reader to question whether Troilus is noble and devoted in his actions or obsessive and pathetic. Where there was fate and honor we now see neurosis and narcissism. Dialogue from traditional tales such as: As he is the well of loyalty, 
the ground of truth, mirror of seemliness, Apollo of wit, stone of security,
virtueís root, finder and head of happiness, Through whom all my sorrow is made less, so then, I love him best, And ... ... middle of paper ... ...admirable when women are given a choice and motivations beyond that of a trophy?

Winters, Yvor. “Maule’s Curse, or Hawthorne and the Problem of Allegory.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.

Therefore Macbeth fits the role of a tragic hero and not a tyrant. In Aristotle's "Poeticus", an ancient Greek drama, the definition of a tragic hero includes several criteria. Firstly, the character must be important and his actions must affect many people. Secondly, the character must be good-natured, well known, respected and brave and of good repute. The third criterion is that the character must have one tragic flaw, which leads to his downfall.

When the individual parts of the play are examined, it satisfies Aristotle’s requirements for a perfect tragedy. In Aristotle’s definition of a perfect tragedy he delegates plot as the most important component of the play. According to Aristotle, plot can be defined as the cause-and-effect chain that presents the incidents to the audience. This chain must have rising action, a climax, and falling action, as well as being self-contained, complex, and contain a significant meaning (McManus). Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman satisfies all of these stipulations completely.

The term tragedy is applied broadly to literary, and especially to dramatic, representations of serious and important actions which turn out disastrously for the main character. Aristotle defined tragedy as ‘the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having multitude, complete in itself.’ Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is still the first tuning point today. His idea of defining the form by referring to its effects on the audience is controversial – especially his idea of catharsis – the ‘purification’ of the emotions of those in the audience. This is the effect that leaves the audience feeling not depressed at the hero’s suffering and defeat, but relieved and even inspired at the end of the play. A major feature of tragedy is the use of a tragic hero.

Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.” I believe the similarities have proved, through the test of time, that Aristotle’s definition of tragedy to be both enduring and accurate. Works Cited Aristotle. “Concept of Tragedy": An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.

this is, first of all, a play about a man's death. And tragedy has from the beginning dealt with this awesome experience, regarding it as significant and moving.? (Nourse). The first defining point of a tragedy is the hero. The traits for a tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle in Poetics, are social rank, hamartia, ability to arouse pity, peripeteia, hubris, and anagnorisis.

In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus embodies the traits that a tragic hero should have, including being greater than the average man and possessing an ultimately benevolent character, while also following the plot line that a tragic hero must by coming to a great fall through external circumstances and internal character traits and accepting responsibility for his fall. Many explanations of Greek tragedies and the tragic hero expound that the hero must be “extraordinary rather than typical” in order to make his or her fall more distressing to the audience (“Tragedy” 1221). The creation of the tragic hero has also been described as “an imitation of persons who are better than the average” (Aristotle). The placement of the tragic hero above the rest of mankind creates feelings of fear associated with the impending and unavoidable fall by reminding the audience of the vulnerabilities to which all men are susceptible (“Tragedy” 1223). If the greatest men can come to a bitter end, any normal person would be defenseless against that fate.

In Poetics' by Aristotle, the author talks about what he feels are the conventions of any successful tragic play. With that in mind perhaps the greatest tragedy from his time period if not ever is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. It fits almost perfectly the majority of the criteria Aristotle sets and so has been considered by some scholars as the perfect tragedy. The main criteria set by Aristotle involves the plot and the plays main character. According to Aristotle, for a tragedy to be both successful and effective there must be a reversal, a "change from one state of affairs to its exact opposite", and there must be recognition, "a change from ignorance to knowledge" on the part of the main character.