I think that All My Sons can be classed as a tragedy however it doesn't have the typical tragedy. However because I am not a fan of many tragedy plays and have only read this one and Hamlet.
I have thought about the ending of Hamlet and the ending of All My Sons, and they are completely different, in Hamlet the good person is made clear and then they sadly die due to bravery, however in all my sons it isn't clear to the reader who the actual tragic hero is, throughout the play it is sometimes clear that Joe is the tragic hero, as he has survived not going to jail for a crime that he done also because he is the main character and in most tragedy's the main character is usually the tragic hero.
However the way Arthur Miller has written this tragedy and the way he has represented the characters he personally made me confused on who to think who the main character actually is, because I would of said the main character is either, Ann or Kate because they have such a huge dram tic role on the way the play is told. In my opinion I think that Kate keeps the tragedy going, if it wasn't for Kate reminding her family that Larry isn't dead and he is alive and he is coming home then the play wouldn't be as interesting as it is, because if Kate wasn't still mourning over her loss of her son, then the Kellers would just go back to being an average family in that time.
Ann also has a major impact on the way this tragedy flows, because she waited a long time until proving to Kate and family that Larry actually did die, maybe Miller done this on purpose to make this play more tragic? However the reason why Ann didn't show them the letter sooner was because she didn't need to however if she wanted Kate to accept her and Chris to get married she had to prove to Kate that Larry actually is dead, which kind of is spiteful.
In my opinion I think that I cannot say much to back up the idea of whether or not All My Son's is a proper tragedy, because yes the main character suffered a lot of extreme sorrow over his son Larry due to the fact that he was to blame, however the ending was tragic yes but the way Joe Keller ended the play was a very coward way out, instead of facing what he done was wrong and paying the consequences he committed suicide which was a very selfish act.
According to dictionary the definition of tragedy is a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffer extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavourable circumstances.
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