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As soon as Death of a Salesman opened, critics began

writing about its relation to Greek tragedy, usually pointing

out that Willy doesn't qualify as a tragic hero. Without

mentioning his critics, Miller replied with an essay titled

"Tragedy and the Common Man." Death of a Salesman does

have a shattering emotional impact that corresponds to that

of a Greek tragedy. There are some other similarities- the

inevitable movement toward death of the protagonist (or

central character) with growing self-awareness, the single

story without subplots. Critics have hotly debated the

questions of whether Willy is a tragic hero or whether Death

of a Salesman is a tragedy. Dramatic tragedy was invented

and defined by the Greeks. Aristotle said a play has to have

four elements to qualify as a tragedy: 1) noble or impressive

characters; 2) the main character's discovery or recognition

of a truth about himself; 3) poetic language; and 4) the ability

to arouse and then soothe the......

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Approximate Word Count: 397
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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