To what extent can Miller's play 'A View From the Bridge' be considered a modern tragedy?

The first 200 words of this essay...

To what extent can Miller's play 'A View From the Bridge' be considered a modern tragedy?

In his essay 'The Nature of Tragedy' Arthur Miller wrote "Tragedy brings us not only sadness, sympathy, identification and even fear; it also, unlike pathos, brings us knowledge or enlightenment." He describes tragedy as being, "inseparable from a certain modest hope regarding the human animal. And it is the glimpse of this brighter possibility that raises sadness out of the pathetic toward the tragic."? In 'A View from the Bridge', Miller's protagonist, Eddie, gains neither knowledge nor enlightenment. The audience, on the other hand, experiences not only the catharsis of watching the hero destroyed by a fatal and human flaw, but is also able to contrast what happened with what might have been - "a glimpse of this brighter possibility". This is reinforced at the end of the play by the hope of a better future for Catherine and Rodolfo. The commentary by Alfieri and the realistic portrayal of the lives of the characters causes the audience to reflect on contemporary social and political issues. In this sense, the play is a modern tragedy.

In 'A View from the Bridge', Arthur