In Arthur Miller's essay “Tragedy and the Ordinary Man”, the portrait of a man “full of faults” , known as the modern hero of tragedies, is painted . Miller describes the characteristics that the modern tragic hero possesses and how he differs from the heroes portrayed by classical Greek playwrights such as Sophocles and Aristotle. In order to understand how far the modern hero has evolved, one must first understand the fundamental characteristics encompassed by the heroes created by Sophocles and Aristotle. Greek tragic heroes, otherwise called protagonists, depicted by Greek tragic playwrights, were never normal people. All the heroes were high-class citizens, like princes. This was partly because plays were considered a luxury for refined citizens. Aristocratic citizens did not want to pay to watch plays about society's peasants. They wanted to identify with the characters; therefore, all the heroes of Greek tragedy were members of the elite of society. Another distinguishing factor of Greek heroes concerned their morality. A tragic hero of this era could not be someone morally detestable, because the audience would not be able to identify with the character. If the protagonist were morally detestable, the play's audience would applaud during the character's times of turmoil and be unhappy when the character was lucky. Instead, the hero should be someone who falls in the middle of the moral spectrum. Midrange was identified as a fairly decent and good person, but capable of making mistakes that would be considered bad. A character painted from this angle was easily identifiable; therefore, the audience would become attached to the character, allowing them to feel the hero's pain or joy. Most importantly...... middle of paper...... not to dream, my boy. It’s part of the territory. » Willy's heroism in the face of the mediocrity of his life illustrates his refusal to stand by as his life slowly crumbles before him. Willy's death may not have assured him his dignity or his eternal admiration, but he died the death of a salesman, and for that, what more could he have asked for? Works Cited: Gioia, Dana and XJ Kennedy. Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Print. Miller, Arthur. “Death of a Salesman.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York, NY: Pearson Longman, 2007. 1764-1832. Print.Miller, Arthur. “Tragedy and the Common Man.” Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York, New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 1833-1835. Print.