The emphasis should always be on the word ‘tragedy’: Loman’s death is a tragedy brought about partly by his own actions, but also by the desperate straits that he is plunged into through the harsh and unforgiving world of sales, where once he is unable to earn money, he needs some other means of acquiring it so he can put food on the table for his family.īut contrary to what we might expect, there is something positive and even affirmative about tragedy, as Arthur Miller views the art form.įor Miller, in ‘Tragedy and the Common Man’, theatrical tragedy is driven by ‘Man’s total compunction to evaluate himself justly’. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Miller is somehow endorsing the hero’s final and decisive act.
