Monday 14 February 2011

To what extent can All My Sons be regarded as a tragedy?

Overall i believe that with comparison to Greek tragedies it can be regarded as a tragic play since many of the included elements are quite similar. All my sons contains many tragic elements throughout the play.... starting with the death of Larry and ending with the death of Joe. Most tragedies include at least one death as death is a universal tragic element, which anyone can relate to making it a world wide interpretation of tragedy. This is proven in Homer's Odyssey as throughout the play Odysseus's crew are killed by the many beasts that they come across in their journey home.

Tragedy can be interpreted by many different factors as long as there is a sad element whether its the loss of a loved one or the break up between a couple. All My Sons includes deaths, conflicts, the forbidding of a marriage, betrayal etc which are all key factors of tragedy, and although it includes many incidents like this there are still moments of happiness that are incorporated into the play. This is also again the The Odyssey as the main story is about a man ; Odysseus who has been kept away from home for 10 years and eventually returning after experiencing many hardships..... although the basis of these plays are tragic they both have elements of some moment of joy.

Although All My Sons isn't a traditional tragic play it incorporates all of the key factors needed so is therefore a tragedy in its own right. It also includes a tragic hero (Joe? in All My Sons and Odyseus in The |Odyssey)and many characters that are effected by the main characters behaviour i.e Chris, Ann, Kate..... which can lead to more tragedy.

1 comment:

  1. Inteersting ideas but remember that 'The Odyssey' is an epic poem and not a tragedy. However, it does contain tragic elements.

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