2018 ‘The pride displayed by tragic heroes and
tragic heroines elevates them rather than
diminishes them.ʼ
2018
‘The pride displayed by tragic heroes and tragic heroines elevates them rather than diminishes
them.ʼ To what extent do you agree with this view in relation to two texts you have studied?
Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on the ways the writers have shaped
meanings. [25 marks]
Willyʼs pride cause him to lie.
Tessʼs pride causing her to reject her motherʼs offer of asking a young man to take the
beehives to market. This causing the death of Prince and the tragedy. Tessʼs pride and
shame due to her assault.
In Aristotleʼs Poetics, Aristotle stated that the tragic hero must have a “fatal flaw” expressed in
the term hamartia which interacts with fate to bring about the tragic reversal of fortune leading
to the tragedy. An example of this hamartia is ‘hubrisʼ, an intense pride, which causes the tragic
heroes demise however it can also be argued that the heroes pride may ‘elevate them rather
than diminish themʼ. In this essay I will argue to what extent this is the case in ‘Death of a
Salesmanʼ and ‘Tess of DʼUrbervillesʼ.
In Arthur Millerʼs essay ‘Tragedy and the Common Manʼ he stated that the ‘tragic feeling is
evoked when we are in the presence of a character who is willing to lay down his life in order to
secure one thing – his sense of personal dignityʼ. It can therefore be argued to what extent this
personal dignity stems from a deep feeling of pride within Willy Loman which results in his
tragedy. From the beginning of the play Willy presents the audience with a character of duality
who is both self-aware of his condition and disillusioned. His is both proud and confident
stating “Iʼm vital” and making exaggerated claims such as “my funeral will be massive”, however
he also reveals deep psychological complexity as he confides to Linda that “people seem to
laugh at me” and “business is bad, its murderous”. For Willy, his pride appears to be an act, an
act to avoid accepting the truth which is that he did not achieve the “dream” and is
unsuccessful when viewing his life through a capitalist definition of success. Miller stated that
he set out to tell a story of when a “man does not have a firm grip on reality” with not a criticism
on society “but the truth as (he) saw it”. Through this it becomes clear that Willyʼs pride does
not elevate him but acts as a defence mechanism, so he does not need to accept reality. It is
what causes him to move from past to present through his flashbacks, so he protects himself
from the self-destructive realisation that he is not indeed “vital”.
However, an alternative perspective shows that his pride may also be what saves him and
means that the play begins with him “tired to death” instead of just dead. Many critics have
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