Tragic Character Journal: the Crucible

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Juanita Umana English 1 – C 4/5 Tragic Character Journal 9 October 2012 Essential Question What is a tragic character, and is John Proctor one? Quote Bank: * “The man who on the one hand is not pre-eminent in virtue and justice, and yet on the other hand does not fall into misfortune through vice or depravity, but falls because of some mistake; one among the number of the highly renowned and prosperous”(Aristotle on Tragic Character 1202) * “Evoked in the common man when a character is ready to lay down his life-his sense of personal dignity… [the common man] is trying to gain his “rightful” place in society” (Arthur Miller Tragedy and the Common Man 1982) * “The common man knows fear best”(Arthur Miller Tragedy and the Common Man 1983) * “ Tragedy consist of the belief-optimistic, in the perfectibility of man” (Arthur Miller Tragedy and the Common Man 1984) * “God in Heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor?”(Miller 127) * “I think it is honest…I am no saint” (Miller 127) * “You have made your magic now…I do see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs” (Miller 133). Response: A tragic character is almost always the protagonist of the story. This character has specific characteristics such as nobility or aristocracy, tragic flaws, some kind of reversal in fortune and the realization of the characters own flaws working against him. Such a character can be described as “the man who on (the) one hand is not pre-eminent in virtue and justice, and (yet) on the other hand does not fall into misfortune through vice or depravity… [He] falls because of some mistake; one among the number of the highly renowned and prosperous” (1202). The feeling of tragedy as its self lives in the ordinary modern man of today. The feeling is “evoked in the common man when

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