In the essay "Tragedy and the Common Man" by Arthur Miller, he provides an insightful look at tragedy and how it applies to the common man. His main argument (that I saw as interesting) was how there is a common pattern within tragedy. Miller discusses his definition of tragedy, and it really altered my perspective on tragedy as a whole. He believes that the “tragic feeling is evoked” when a character is prepared to “lay down their life to secure his personal dignity.” He goes on to explain how the “underlying struggle in works such as, Medea and MacBeth, is that the individual is attempting to gain his rightful position in society.” These quotes in particular, were the driving factor in my perspective change when it comes to tragedy. I’ve never thought of there being a pattern or theme within tragedy. I’ve always thought of it as a sad event that happened to people, I’ve never looked deep enough into it, to notice the fact that there is an obvious pattern. But while reading Oedipus, I noticed how accurate Miller’s argument was. The whole reason Oedipus was looking for the murderer was to show what a great king and leader he was. He does this over and over again, until the end, when he figures out that he was the one who killed Laius. And even after that, he kept his word and punished himself (quite severely) for it. He did this to prove to everyone that he was good on his word, he had promised a punishment for the killer, and he fulfilled it. Overall, Arthur Miller’s essay on tragedy was extremely insightful and helped me look into tragedy on a deeper level.
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