ENDINGS IN RENAISSANCE TRAGEDY Among the various definitions of tragedy the one most commonly proffered is a play that treats at the most uncompromising level human suffering or pathos with death being the usual conclusion According to Aristotles Poetics the purpose of tragedy is to show how humans are at the mercy of fate and to cleanse the audience by provoking extreme emotions of pity and terror The tragic actions on the dramatic stage cause the audience to experience these extreme feelings
Death of a Salesman is a play that has come to redefine the concept of modern tragedy The Greeks first defined dramatic tragedy it is evident that the Greek tragedies were a profound influence on Arthur Miller He was drawn to the Greek tragedies for their magnificent form the symmetry Aristotle wrote a significant thesis on tragedy in his Poetics His analogy was that there are four crucial elements that must be present in order to define a play as a classical tragedy Namely the play must incorp