Modern Tragedy

This essay is a insure on the cataclysm and the vernacular populace, primarily circling round oddwork forcet of a Sales homo and completely my Sons. Its divided into three parts. First well talk slightly Arthur miller and his vivification and what could drive motivated to write these r come let outines, the second impart be an analytical learn of his put-ons. And the third part will go by dint of detailed liking on why it merchantman be c on the wholeed a tragedy. The structure of tragedy has been altered m to age to suit the timeline of the society.The time when Arthur miller writes the friendly scenario is rational and more psychoanalytical, hence the subject of the sadalalalalal wiz too heightens, from organism a conventional tragic combatant from a high gear status. Arthur milling machines turn tails have a third estate man as the tragic battler. This paper will elaborate on the views of Arthur miller and his view of a tragic gun for hir e. We will wait in mind the timeline and the scenario of the society and the country of the time miller wrote his plays to infrastand the imagination behind the plays. Basic theme in both his plays death of a Salesman and All my word of honors is related to the almighty illusion of American daydream. The dream which plays a major role in popf both of both tragic figures, Willy Loman and Joe Keller.LIFE OF ARTHUR MILLERArthur moth miller was born on October 17, 1915 in New York and died on February 10, 2005 in Connecticut, unite States. He is a really well-k without delayn playwright and essayist he got immensely popular during late 1940s to early 1960s. Arthur Millers family was a victim of the Economic fall, he belonged to a very wealthy family, his bring possessed a womens c litterhing manufacturing company and had around 400 employees, they had all the wealth , a summer house and so away But because of the Market Crash they lost al nearly everything and Miller had to fork up bread before att baring school in hostel to supporter his family, and had to do several menial jobs to pay up for his college tuition fees.What is a tragedy? tally to the dictionary tragedy is A play dealings with tragic events and having an un qualified ending, especially wholeness concerning the downfall of the main character. cataclysm is basically the downfall of the crampfish, for the military action at lawshe has taken in the early(prenominal), or few fallacy in him, causing him his misfortune. According to Aristotle in poetics calamity, then, is an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of many(prenominal) amplitude in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties acted non narrated by means of pity and precaution effectuating its purgation of these emotions. However, the definition of tragic molar has convinced from the Ancients and the Elizabethan times to now. both these times Elizabethan and the Greeks potrays the tragi c bomber as a man of lay and high stature, a king or a noble man, on whom the entire nation depended, just now in modern times the hero of the tragic fall especially in Miller plays is the crude man, under the pressure of society, illusions, and liar to himself and the society.The notable differences between the three timeline is that the ancients had a ghostlike aspect playing a major role in it, and the band of the gods did matter a lot, the Elizabethan or especially Shakespe bean tragedies were self-inflicted, because of the tragic heros nonpareil timber that makes him powerful and weak. Modern times the tragedy surely is self-inflicted, still it is more society oriented, and man idea in enclosure of keeping his status in the society. The hero in both Greeks and Elizabethan period are the same, coming from high ranks, that the in the modern tragedy it has drastically changed, portraying the hero from a common class.I am entirely keeping Arthur Miller in yield and no t everyone in the modern times to justify the characteristics of the tragic hero as the common man. Ultimately tragedy what in general is that which depicts the down fall of the protagonist after a lengthy suffering of him, raise the emotions of pity and fear in the auditory sense. Arthur Millers idea of tragedyIn Arthur Millers essay, disaster and the Common musical com plant, he outlines his ideas on what a tragedy and tragic hero are today. He says that the tragic hero does not have to be a king or of a noble clogground, but kinda, the common man can be considered a tragic hero. Miller makes the imply that the tragic flaw is the idea that the tragic hero is unable to bury anything that may affect their status or self-image. Miller alike states that tragedy is not supposed to be pessimistic, but rather an optimistic reveal of human qualities. I believe that the common man is as given(predicate) a subject for tragedy in its highest intellect as kings were.-Arthur Miller Tragedy and the Common ManIn his first argument, Miller states that the tragic hero does not need to be purplish or noble, for the common man can fit the role as aptly. Miller explains that this is now obvious through the concepts such as the Oedipus complex, which were originally enacted by royal beings, but which apply to everyone in similar situations. He believes that if tragedy were to yet(prenominal) apply to kings, then it would be impossible for everyone else to cherish and comprehend it.The most crucial characteristic of a tragic hero consort to Arthur Miller is that of the character possessing a common sense datum of personal dignity. This is his plan of having a tragic hero not from high stature or rank. He is modifying the characteristics of tragic hero from the ones in Ancients and Elizabethans. I think the tragic feeling is invoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is launch to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing his sense of personal dignity.-Arthur Miller, Tragedy and the Common ManArthur Miller believes that if tragedy were to only apply to kings, then it would be impossible for everyone else to comprehend with it. The only quality needed for a character to be a tragic hero, according to Miller, is the readiness to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity This concept of the medium man being a tragic hero is evident in The Crucible, through John Proctor, a local farmer.The play is about witchcraft practices in a splendid town, and towards the end John Proctor gets trapped in the wrong tutelage that he forced his maid to sign the devils book. In the end of The Crucible, Proctor is supposed to sign a justification which will be put on Church notice board, but he refuses that because he doesnt want to be in that nonplus because it is not true that is how Proctors sense of personal dignity is conveyed when he tears his confession in order to preserve his good n ame, even at the comprise of his life.According to Miller there is not anything like tragic flaw in particular, it is but his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the looking of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity, his image of the rightful status. heart and soul the tragic fall is occurred because, it comes to gaining his rightful social status. The common man, like in All my Sons, Joe Keller is lying to himself and to the society about his involvement in the faulty plane parts so that he can his rightful position of being a businessman back in the society. He elaborates on this point by saying, The quality in such plays that does shake us, notwithstanding derives from the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent in being torn a direction from our chosen image of what and who we are in this world. Among us today this fear is strong, and perhaps stronger, than it ever was. In fact, it is the common man who notices this fear.Though the tra gic hero commonly receives punishment for his or her way of being, Miller finds the connection between tragedy and pessimism to be a misconception. According to Miller, tragedy promotes a condition of life, a condition which the human personality is able to flower and realize itself, and thus does not correctly class with pessimism. Because according to Miller Tragedies do not promote pessimism but it strengths the viewpoints of the mantrap towards the human. There is a misconception of tragedy with which I have been struck in review after review, and in many conversations with writers and readers alike. It is the idea that tragedy is of demand allied to pessimism.Even the dictionary says nothing more about the word than that it means a story with a sad or unhappy ending. This scene is so firmly fixed that I almost hesitate to carry that in honor tragedy implies more optimism in its author than does comedy, and that its final examination result ought to be the reinforcemen t of the onlookers brightest opinions of the human animal.-Arthur Miller, Tragedy and the Common ManMiller has written plays which have a social context to it, because he was influenced by Henrik Ibsen. In All My Sons he uses the similar style of deliverance the past into accede, the action taken in the past become the consequences of the break. The action of no facing the lawsuit and ship the engines resulting slightlything grave in the present. Likewise, incepting the idea of success with well-liked also results into a present failure. But these consequences which end in a tragedy is not pessimistic because it corrects the general audience to some extent. G.B Shaws plays although not tragedy did show the audience the contemporary scenario of his time reflecting the society. Likewise Arthur Miller shows the audience the present scene of society, blindly accept in American dream, and sense of personal dignity are some factors of it.Keeping in mind the two famous plays by Miller All My Sons 1947 Death of a Salesman 1949 we will see how Arthur Miller has portrayed his tragic hero as an average man.Analysis on Death of a SalesmanIn Death of a Salesman Willy Loman is trying to win American dream blindly without believe in hard work and associating the success with being well liked, to some extent that is his flaw or Hamartia. I am using this term just to make the concept more straight forward, as we learnt that Miller doesnt believe in tragic flaw. However trying to achieve the illusion of America vision is what Willy Loman wants because that is what he wants his social image to be, to be a well-liked businessman. He fails to do so because of his misinterpreting the dream into being well-liked.Even though this play does follow most of Aristotles tragic conventions which are the haleness of time, place and action o bloodshed on the stage instead of chorus use of music, action beginning from the middle it fails to justify Willy as the classical tragic hero b ecause even towards the end he doesnt realize that this was the flaw the will to attain the dream. It was just a misconception. He does not realize that and commits suicide so that his son Biff gets Willys insurance money. And the social status varies in ancients and modern tragedies. Willy Loman can therefore be called a Modern Hero not the classic. Language and sort-In Death of a Salesman because it is a box play with the possibility of hold it didnt have chorus to constantly comment on the play but the play uses the help of music and lights to highlight the past and present phase so thatthe audience doesnt get lost. The play also starts from the middle and we are make aware of the story with the use of past and present, due to the technological revolution since the Greek times, the play has a lot of symbolism using the stage props hence it is very often the visual connection which the audience can make rather than depending on simile and metaphors. For example in Death of a Sa lesman at the end of Act I, a magnificent contrast has been given in the reference and the light adjustment where Willy is talking about the greatness of Biff in football when he was young and Biff is standing in the darken kitchen corner.Analysis on All my SonsIn Millers other play All My Sons the tragic hero is Joe Keller, his downfall is caused because of his narrow point of view which is always about being rich and about his family, and to live up to the fact that he is living an American dream. All My Sons shows us images of the American dream and it really happens as Joe belongs to the lower class of society, rises up and achieves all the luxuries for him and his family. But his narrow minded thought process leads him to ship disgraced aircraft engine cylinder heads so that he does not run out of business.Besides shipping off the parts, he does not accept the responsibility in the courtroom, making the excuse that he was ill the day it was shipped off and the infernal goes to his partner Steve Deever. Well this can be connected to the scenario of Millers age when after the World War II during Nuremberg trials, the Nazi who were impeach of certain charges were executed. Some of them committed suicides, other muckle did go through the trials and face the execution. Because of Kellers decision of shipping faulty aircraft parts his son Larry Keller feels absolutely disgusted with him and we populate of that at the very end of the play, and that is where the turn around of action comes.Because till now Larry Keller is not shown to the audience and Joe doesnt know about his death, he is trying to escape the reality and go back to the practice life. But in the end when he hears the garner out from his other son Chris Keller, Joe is completely shattered and takes the blame on himself and kills himself. The letter was written to Ann Deever, who was supposed to marry Larry. Larry in this letter states that he is exceedingly disgusted by hisfathers deed, and because of his father he can not face anyone, and he is going on a explosive charge from which he is never going to come back. We some to a coda that Larry committed suicide, because he could not face what his father did to the military for his own benefit.Language and StyleThis particular play does not take us back and forth in past and present like death of a Salesman does, but it reveals the events occurred in the past through conversation, like Henrik Ibsen does, in A dames House which is the story of Nora and Torvald Helmer. The language in this play is very straightforward making it sound natural. And the action takes place in a backyard of a house, which is symbol in itself. The play is about the ugly truth that lies behind the American dream. A backyard can be significant in one of two ways.One, it could imply the backdoor idea, which is selfish and ethically wrong ideas. It could also mean backyard being one of the center of American families and a happy place, but w here all the ugly truths come out and where the perfectly happy, normal living the American woolgather family crumbles and experiences downfall. This play is about the betrayal, about American families, about guilt, about denial, about money, about needs, about egotism, about father and son relationship.According to the Ancients and the Elizabethan playwrights the protagonist is always of a high position or stature i.e. king, prince or an important person from the army, Miller excluded this notion from his plays by making the average man the protagonist. We will call this average man the common man- someone who is like us, who has a regular life and whose tragic fall is not going to affect the whole nation.Arthur Miller has highlighted American dream in both these plays and has also in(predicate)ly made it the cause of tragedy. Both these plays have followed many tragic conventions making them tragic plays even after changing the idea of having a tragic hero belonging to the noble family yet invoking the particular set of emotions in the audience.What is American Dream?I would like to highlight the major idea in Millers plays, the action of these two plays are based on the American Dream. The well-known definition of American dream is The traditional social ideals of the United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity. But this idea is late rooted in the American history. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the accede of the governed -Thomas Jefferson, United States Declaration of Independence 1776The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with fortune for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of labour cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. pile Truslow Adams, The heroic of America 1931In The Epic of America James Truslow Adams Coined this term called American Dream. He says that the American Dream is not about the motor cars and high wages, the dream is about the social order, that everyone can achieve the maximum of what they are capable of, and people will recognize them for it. It does not matter how felicitous they were when they were born. Well but these definition has resulted in having a dream of secular values. Even widely pictures depicting American dre am shows the luxurious objects in it like a car, a big house, two children and a dog and so on. Well the pictures only show white families in it, so American dream is also misinterpreted as having a white family with all the luxurious amenities. So there has been an idea of how American dream looks like, but even California Gold rush in 1849 has contributed to the modern definition.The ld American Dream was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklins Poor Richard of men and women content to store up their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. This gold dream became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutters Mill. -W.H BrandsMost people know about the Sutters Mill, as it was one of the foremost mills to dig out gold. Sutters Mill was a sawmill owned by 19th-century pioneer John Sutter in partnership with James W. Marshall. It was located in Colom a, California, at the bank of the South Fork American River. Sutters Mill is most famous for its association with the California Gold Rush. On January 24, 1848, Marshall found several flakes of gold that began the transformation of California from a sleepy outpost to a bustling center of activity. Sutter tried to keep the discovery secret, but eventually the word got out. During the next seven years, approximately 300,000 people came to California (half by land and half by sea) to strain their fortunes mining for gold or selling supplies like picks and shovels to the gold prospectors.The idea can be applied to Willy Lomans older brother Ben from Death of a Salesman. As he goes to the forest of Africa and finds diamonds there, because of his hard work and he was lucky. Looking at these definitions now we might have an idea of images associated to the American dream, these ideas were converted to the will of possessing good wealth and good family. But this American dream fell flat on its face during the Great Depression.Because after the frugal fall people started to disbelieve in the America Dream of anyone can reach the top. And this was when Arthur Miller had hardships in his life. Hence he tries to notice this illusionary concept of the American dream in Death of a Salesman as well as in All My Sons. This dream was generally held by common men, because the images of this dream showed him there, hence every average man wanted to attain this dream that is what was performed in Millers play Death of a Salesman. And Joe Keller achieves it in All my sons.ConclusionRaymond Williams in his Modern Tragedy had come up with a concept of tragedy and social disorder. In this he talks about revolution, revolution which is in general gaga but it is to reshape the conditions, and it is honored and justified but only successful revolution becomes epic. When the revolution is in progress it is chaotic and tragic. Hence it is not an epic in time of its progress but it is tragic. If we apply this surmisal of revolution in the society and the tragic effects to it, we can makes sense out of Arthur Millers both the characters i.e. Willy Loman and Joe Keller, as these characters are present in the time of capitalism, depending on the new worlds economy.Now I being from the post-modern world can see this revolution of economic change as an epic but keeping in mind the Arthur Millers timeline and the characters based on the same timeline, it is tragic. Seeing revolution as the powerhouse of chaos they are tragic heroes, but perceive the change as an epic they are revolutionary heroes. But this idea of seeing them as revolutionary heroes can only happen now, because we see from a different age. Maybe Miller chooses the tragic hero as a common man because the time when he wrote the concept of royal people and their tragedy was out of fashion.Because Arthur Miller was an American playwright and because America has functioned in a democratic way, so there i s not only one person at the highest and there is no monarchy. And the people of New England had started thinking rationally, even the literature of that era had begun to talk about psychoanalysis and sociology and the audience had become more literate because of the printing press and the daily publisher service, and also because of the explosion of novel writers and readers. People started to have a utterance of their own and a thought process of their own because America was a democratic country, they might have not wanted the tragic hero of a high stature but a tragic hero that they could connect to.The age had seen the sudden economic twist, like a tragic story, one day you know that there is The Great Gatsby like scenario with the economic boom and the parties and richness and happiness and the very next day you know people jumping off the building due to stock foodstuff crash. Maybe this could have made Arthur Miller to write about the authorized tragic hero which is comm on man. Ultimately his experiment did achieve the success, as the audience did appreciate seeing common man as the tragic hero.