Tragedy and the common man

Tragedies’ throughout history have usually kept within the bounds of what is deemed conventional; this being a clear parameter set out by the philosopher Aristotle. He summarised in his poetics that tragedies had to contain certain key points to be seen as tragedies. These included things such as a fatal flaw of the hero, or his fall from initial high bearing and status. There was no clear move away from these parameters of tragedy until the Elizabethan times, and Shakespeare’s attempt at re-inventing the genre. Others have tried to reinvent the genre after Shakespeare, but have not strayed too far from the conventional form, but, Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Has been viewed as the critical reinvention of the tragic genre, pushing the boundaries of what we consider to be the norm, changing from what has always been the ‘ideals’ of tragedy. Miller used more modern approaches such as the ideas of alienation, modernisation, and themes such as capitalism. This is to fit with the modern frame of thought, and to make it more relevant to the modern audience. He uses these themes to tackle these main issues in the modern society, and he shows this through the protagonist Willy Loman, and his struggle to find him self, in a now alien world, and to secure for himself and his family, ‘the good life’.

The poetics; Aristotle’s works on the components of tragedy, are clear in defining what he believed key in making a tragedy what it is. The hero of the play must be of noble birth, as it was believed that a fall from noble birth was greater than any other, as they had so much more to lose than anyone else. The tragic hero must have a fatal flaw, which would bring about his eventual downfall, and it would also have to include a moment of insight by the hero where they realise their flaw, a purging of the emotions of the audience and the hero must have a reversal of fortune. Hamlet is a good example of this conventional tragic outlook as the Danish prince ends up dead, with his closest friends and family also dead, and a foreign ruler on the throne that should have been his. The play combines all of these factors and makes it in many peoples opinions, one of the greatest tragedies of all time. However, as the times change, the problems and moral issues introduced on the stage will also change to reflect this, and so these old conventions of tragedy had to be broken at some point.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a good example of how playwrights have attempted to change the genre before. He attempted to subtlety change the genre in Hamlet by tweaking the parameters set out in the poetics. Hamlet is not the nobility mentioned in the poetics, as he is not a King, or a Queen, but a Prince. Hamlet is also seen as not having the fatal flaw that is necessary of a tragic hero. His indecisiveness is generally seen as being this flaw, however, it is also argued that this isn’t a flaw, as it is Shakespeare trying to make Hamlet a morally reflective and very insightful character, showing his attempt at morphing the genre of tragedy to be more relevant to his era. This can be seen as in his time, the audience were more interested in seeing moral conflict on the stage then a simple fall from grace. However, Shakespeare still embraced the majority of the poetics, and there is still a moment of insight and a purging of the audiences emotions presented in the play. However, his change is nowhere near as advanced as Miller, and cannot really be called a re-invention of the genre.

It can be argued that Miller has re-invented the tragic genre to an extent that no other playwright had done before him, and yet, has. He instantly makes his aims clear, as the very name Loman signifies Willy’s low birth status, and the opening dialogue of the play is different from the norm. His new structure jump-started both the scenes and the stage language, and replaces the ’crabbed dramatic hints and pretexts of the natural’ #. This Makes it obvious to the audience that he is just an ordinary man from the offset, and instantly can be seen to dissuade any notion of a noble birth, and his change from the ‘natural‘ ways of opening a play, is a sign that even on the smallest level, Miller was determined to change the conventions of tragedy. Miller wanted also to portray to the audience that the common man is more, if not as apt a subject for tragedy as Kings are. He shows his need to show this, as he stated that the underlying form of tragedy is, ‘the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent with being torn away from our chosen image of what or who we are in this world…. In fact, it is the common man who knows this best’ # .Arthur Miller said in his own words that, ‘The play is written from the sidewalk instead of from a skyscraper’ #. He says this in regard to the plays first person urgency, and relation to the common man, rather than someone of a higher status, and uses these modern images to portray this image. This can be seen in the play as Willy starts and ends the play as a mere salesman, who in his age, is incapable of what he wants to do, which is merely provide a good life for his family. He addresses 20th century views and concerns within the play concerning this, such as the problems with capitalism, alienation, modernisation and the social impacts of these new ideologies. He shows alienation and modernisation clearly through the character of Willy, and how his older views of being well liked are now outdated. Willy remains true to what he was bought up to believe, that being well liked is they key to success, however, in the now alien, capitalist society, his views are so outdated that it leads to his, and his sons lives being wasted until the end of the play. He teaches them the wrong values of life, and as such the family as a whole suffers. It is not until his death that Biff realises the mistakes he and his father have made, and decides to finally set out and do something to right those wrongs. He also raises many questions to do with the morality of capitalism, and whether it is a thing to be feared, or to be embraced, as it is portrayed mostly in the play to be a thing which tears families and men’s dreams apart. His reinvention can be argued to be a massive success, and this is exemplified by the fact that grown men in the audience wept when the play was first shown, as they could all see something of themselves in Willy. This shows that his reinvention to show that ‘the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as kings are’, is a success as it has gotten into the hearts and minds of his audience, showing that the common man is as tragic as a King. Death of a Salesman has also sold nearing ‘11 million copies, making it probably the most successful modern play ever published ’ #. This further exemplifies its success with the modern audience.

Miller cannot however, be seen to have re-invented the genre in every aspect. It can be argued that he does not even truly re-invent the genre, as he does not really change anything, but, instead sticks to the parameters of conventional tragedy, if in a lesser format. He still uses catharsis, the purging of the audiences emotions in the requiem, which is shown clearly by the audience having cried on its first showing. Willy still has a fatal flaw; his coveting of a false dream, which still leads to his death, and it can even be argued that he is of a high status, if not that of a King, as he is the ‘King’ of his household. If this is true, then it can be argued that he has not really re-invented tragedy, but instead has merely made small changes to the setting of tragedy. Instead of being set in the courts of Kings and Queens, he has changed it to the home of a man with the problems of the modern audience he was appealing to. However, these aspects are portrayed on a very small scale, and cannot truly be seen to be a major part of the play.

In conclusion, it can be seen that Miller is successful in re-inventing the tragic genre in Death of a Salesman. The phrase, ‘The common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as Kings are’, sums up entirely what Miller set out to do with the play, and with his argument that, ‘ If the exaltation of tragic action were truly a property of the high-bred character alone, it is inconceivable that the mass of mankind would cherish tragedy’ #,it can arguably be seen that the common man, is as apt a subject for tragedy. He showed for the first time that the conventional forms of tragedy could be re-written, that for a tragedy to be a tragedy, the words of a man from centuries ago did not have to be followed. His use of Willy to portray modern issues to the modern audience was such a drastic change away from the norm that it is widely accepted he has changed the face of tragedies for good. He sticks to some of the older parameters set out in the poetics, such as catharsis, but these can be argued to be unavoidable in a play of the nature of Death of a Salesman.



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