All My Sons by Arthur Miller has been argued by many to be a modern tragedy while others claim that his play, All My Sons, cannot be considered a tragedy. However, to truly debate if Miller was able to created a modern tragedy, one must first know what a tragedy is. “Tragedy”, as first coined by Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, is defined as a play that portrays the fall of a good character because of a catastrophic mistake by the protagonist. A true tragedy must also evoke pity and fear in the audience which is called catharsis. A tragedy incorporates a tragic hero which must be the protagonist who is neither entirely good nor pure evil and this tragic hero or protagonist must be consistent and realistic as to relate to the audience.
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Keller goes through enlightenment and openly realizes that what he has done is wrong and truly feels he must repent for his mistakes. In the play, All My Sons, Keller says, “But I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were” (Miller, All My Sons, 83). Here, Keller realizes that he committed a crime that is unforgivable and acknowledge the mistake he made. This enlightenment phase Keller goes through is followed by the punishement he must receive for what he has done. This is shown by the following quote, “A shot is heard in the house...”(Miller, All My Sons, 84). Keller kills himself, eliciting pity from the audience, and shows that he is willingly giving up his life for what he did, successfull establishing himself as a true tragic hero. Thus, Miller’s play must be a successful attempt at a tragedy as it incorporates a protagonist who follows all the necessary components of a tragic hero as characterized by …show more content…
In Whitley’s article, titled, “Arthur Miller: An Attempt at Modern Tragedy, Whitley argues that All My Sons is a successful attempt at creating a modern version of a tragedy in Aristotle’s terms. He explains the characteristics of a tragic hero in which he mentions, “The hero of such a piece [Tragedy] must neither be perfectly virtuous...yet humanly fallible...” (Whitley 257). He points out that a tragic hero must NOT be perfect and righteous and must be capable of making human mistakes. Keller fits somewhat of an exact description Whitley gives as Keller is not righteous, blaming Deever for everything. He also makes a fatal error in judgement or a mistake in which he decides to send out the defective parts, becoming responsible for 21 deaths. This can be considered a human mistake, albeit, a very serious one. In addition, Miller writes in his own article that, “...the common man is as apt a subject to tragedy...as kings were” (Miller, “Tragedy”, 1). While Aristotle’s version of tragedy includes a person of noble status such as a king, in modern times this cannot be possible. To match this, Miller creates a situation in which this closely matches what Aristole believed; a man who has, seemingly, achieved the American Dream, making him ideal and in a higher position than others at the
Keller goes through enlightenment and openly realizes that what he has done is wrong and truly feels he must repent for his mistakes. In the play, All My Sons, Keller says, “But I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were” (Miller, All My Sons, 83). Here, Keller realizes that he committed a crime that is unforgivable and acknowledge the mistake he made. This enlightenment phase Keller goes through is followed by the punishement he must receive for what he has done. This is shown by the following quote, “A shot is heard in the house...”(Miller, All My Sons, 84). Keller kills himself, eliciting pity from the audience, and shows that he is willingly giving up his life for what he did, successfull establishing himself as a true tragic hero. Thus, Miller’s play must be a successful attempt at a tragedy as it incorporates a protagonist who follows all the necessary components of a tragic hero as characterized by …show more content…
In Whitley’s article, titled, “Arthur Miller: An Attempt at Modern Tragedy, Whitley argues that All My Sons is a successful attempt at creating a modern version of a tragedy in Aristotle’s terms. He explains the characteristics of a tragic hero in which he mentions, “The hero of such a piece [Tragedy] must neither be perfectly virtuous...yet humanly fallible...” (Whitley 257). He points out that a tragic hero must NOT be perfect and righteous and must be capable of making human mistakes. Keller fits somewhat of an exact description Whitley gives as Keller is not righteous, blaming Deever for everything. He also makes a fatal error in judgement or a mistake in which he decides to send out the defective parts, becoming responsible for 21 deaths. This can be considered a human mistake, albeit, a very serious one. In addition, Miller writes in his own article that, “...the common man is as apt a subject to tragedy...as kings were” (Miller, “Tragedy”, 1). While Aristotle’s version of tragedy includes a person of noble status such as a king, in modern times this cannot be possible. To match this, Miller creates a situation in which this closely matches what Aristole believed; a man who has, seemingly, achieved the American Dream, making him ideal and in a higher position than others at the