John Proctor Tragic, Or Pathet

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a cycle of suffering, to enlightenment" (Merle 4). But what exactly does that mean and who would fit this bill of tragedy? Arthur Miller was quoted by the essayist Koon as saying "The common man is apt a subject for tragedy as kings" (Koon 5) And the same idea was reaffirmed by George Lillo who said "that tragedy need not concern itself soley with kings" (as quoted by Siegel 92). These statements seem to hold true to the measure, no one is more common then Willy Lowman and he obviously starts out ignorant about how he is viewed by others and through a path of rejection and other such suffering does find enlightenment, yet his response to such enlightenment may not have been the same as one would expect the path of an enlightened one to take, still it does hold true. To contradict this though if you look at another example of a classic American tragic figure like Blanche Dubois, you see that enlightenment is not achieved. Though she does go through terrible suffering it seems all ...

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when placed in the context of Cool Hand Luke. So Then what can be said to be tragic? Aarnes writes that "tragedy is an imitation, not of men but of action and life, of happiness and misfortune" (99). The answer probably lies in a combination of all possible definitions, somewhere in the middle between absurdity and enlightenment and pain and misfortune we find tragedy. Tragedy in essence is a trap and once one steps inside there is no possible way of getting out alive.
John Proctor is not a tragic figure, though he definitely is confined in a trap; he has a way out, he just chooses not to exercise that out and ends up dead. Can a trap in which one can escape truly be considered a ...

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