Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

In order to show the relationship between Death of a Salesman and Aristotelian theory of tragedy, it is useful to examine Aristotle's definition of tragedy, which he says is

the representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; in language enriched by a variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play; presented in the form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions (Aristotle 38-9).

Uncertainty or contingency of action is balanced by the fact that actions definitely have consequences, usually disastrous, but always resolved in a way that demonstrates the completeness of the action. The immediate emotional or sensory impact of tragedy speaks to its theatricality, although Aristotle points out that tragic power "is independent b

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Death of a Salesman is less a tragedy in the classical sense than a drama of modern social commentary. Leaving tragedy per se aside, the difference may owe something to a distinction between classical and modern, or "bourgeois," drama made by Hauser: Classical tragedy sees man isolated and describes him as an independent, autonomous intellectual entity, in merely external contact with the material world and never influenced by it in his innermost self. The bourgeois drama, on the other hand, thinks of him as a part and function of his environment and depicts him as a being who, instead of controlling concrete reality, as in classical tragedy, is himself controlled and absorbed by it. The milieu . . . takes an active part in the shaping of human destiny (Hauser 409) The literary critic-historian Lukacs (428f) makes a similar distinction. He explains that the aristocratic protagonists and antagonists of classical tragedy, whether Greek or Elizabethan, make class irrelevant to tragic rhythm (comic-relief episodes peopled with rude mechanicals are also irrelevant). The main thrust of action is whether or not the character acts according to a reliable moral and social code. But the competing ideologies, relativistic value judgments,
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Approximate Word count = 2501
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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