'All my sons' by Arthur Miller

Q - An exploration of the fatal flaws of the characters in the play 'All my sons'?

By Lewis Hole

In 'All my sons' all of the main characters have fatal flaws that change the story usually for the worse. A few of these characters are Joe Keller, Kate Keller and Ann Deever and with their fatal flaws all giving tragic elements to the play.

Joe is a very ordinary man, decent, hard-working and charitable, a man no-one could dislike. But, like a protagonist of ancient drama, he has a fatal flaw or weakness. The fatal flaw of Joe Keller is by far the most tragic in the play and causes the most impact on all of the characters and is also a main part of the storyline. This fatal flaw is that he will do anything for his family, to make sure they do not go without anything they need to get by in life. This flaw came into play when Joe sold 21 faulty airplane cylinders because he wanted to keep his business running and to not lose money. He did this and when it came to him getting charged for it he said that he was ill on the day and his partner in the business (Annie's dad) took the blame and got sentenced to prison because Joe had denied Annie's dad's version of events. This fatal flaw took place before the play just like most conventional greek tragedies and this also tie's in later in the play.

The consequence of this flaw is a lot worse that the action as it goes on to kill 21 pilots and drove his own son Larry into taking his own life. Another minor flaw of Joe's is that he try's to joke around rather than face certain facts shown by him playing a game with a child named Bert instead of telling his wife that Larry's memorial tree got blown down in a storm. I think by joking around more he forgets his own burden of knowing that he killed 21 people, inadvertently killed his own son and basically sent his partner and friend to prison. Due to him realising his own burden at the end of the play he finally understands that what he has done was wrong and that in his own mind to correct it was to commit suicide and complete the greek tragic cycle of the protagonist dying. I think this shows exactly when he realises that he must kill himself 'Sure, he was my son. But I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were'.

Kate also has a large flaw that seems to consume everything in her life, this flaw comes from the fact that she doesn't want to allow herself to come to terms with Larry's death. This flaw seems to effect everything kate does as she doesnt like Anne coming back as she reminds her too much of Larry. She also doesnt like Anne coming back because she will be forced to accept Larry's death because Anne wants to marry Chris. When the memorial tree meant for Larry gets knocked down in the storm at the very start of act one, Kate gets a sort of reinforcement to her flaw as she thinks that its a sign showing that Larry is still alive and that it was too early to make a memorial for him. Another point of kate's flaw is that if she accepts Larry's death she has to accept that Joe accidently killed the 21 pilots and is also the reason for Larry's death.

Anne's fatal flaw is that she is extremely lonely with the death of Larry and needs someone to be with her for example she wants to marry Chris. This flaw drives Anne to come clean about Larry's death with Kate as she thinks its the only way she will be able to marry Chris and to not be lonely anymore. Anne also came at a bad time as she was forced into kate's flaw by having to tell her about the truth of Larry's death.

Everyone's flaws seems to coincide with each others as Joe's flaw relies on Kate's and visa versa, as if one is accepted it will affect the both of them. Also Anne's flaw relies on Kate's flaw as she will only be with Chris if Kate accepts Larry's death. Therefore flaws are a large part of 'All my sons' and this shows as flaws are a main aspect of greek tragdedy's which is what this play is influenced by.