Tragedy and the Common Man

1. In Tragedy and the common man, Miller says that the tragedy has lost its true meaning, and that it is actually affecting common everyday people. "For one reason or another, we are often held to be below tragedy—or tragedy above us. The inevitable conclusion is, of course, that the tragic mode is archaic…"

2. According to Arthur Miller, one quality that causes every tragic hero to fall is the failure to remain passive through his or her tragic flaws. Miller says, "the flaw, or crack in the character, is really nothing—and need be nothing—but his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity, his image of his rightful status.

3. Based on Miller's point about that quality, the common man fit so perfectly into the role of a tragic hero. It is because, common people tend to get away and avoid problems. Also people don't like to accept the fear or insensitivity or ignorance. Miller said, "But there are among us today, as there always have been, those who act against scheme of things that degrades them, and in the process of action, everything we have accepted out of fear or insensitivity or ignorance is shaken before us and examed…"

4. The one thing that separates the traditional tragic hero from a common everyman tragic hero is the fear. Traditional tragic hero and everyman tragic hero have totally different types of fears. Since most of the tragedies were written in noble's perspectives, they always feared of losing their positions. Unlike them, common everyman tragic heroes fear of being torn away from the world. One thing that is important in his view is that, Miller tries to show how the characteristics of tragedies changed over time.

5. What Miller says about tragedies being viewed as being "pessimistic" is that it is misunderstood. People think tragedy is always related to something pessimistic. But Miller argues that this is not necessarily true. He says that tragedies, in facts, are more optimistic than comedies are. The reason why he thinks tragedies are "optimistic," is that it's the result of the author's brightest opinion on the human.

6. Willy, indeed, is a tragic hero, who is also a victim of the society. The major cause of the downfall was his excessive pride. Even though he actually needed help from others, he couldn't ruin his pride from the world, and tried to be strong in front of everyone. However, inside his deep down heart, it was not the same.