In Fences and Death of a Salesman, two main characters are presented, Troy Maxson and Willy Loman. These main characters cannot be portrayed as tragic characters because they are not men of noble stature. These characters cannot be considered tragic characters because they do not fit Aristotle's criteria of being a tragic hero. Aristotle's criteria gives a set of guidelines for deciphering whether a character can be considered a tragic hero or tragic character. First, Aristotle's guide states that in order for a character to be considered a tragic character, they must be of noble stature. It can be inferred from the dramas that neither of these characters are men of noble stature. From the guidelines, it can be inferred that Willy Loman and …show more content…
Troy Maxson are not tragic characters. Although they may share some differences, Willy Loman and Troy Maxson share similarities in that they are not men of noble stature, they both have secret lives, and they both have family problems. In Fences, Troy Maxson is a garbage man who complains about his job constantly.
A man of noble stature would be content and grateful for having a job. Instead, Troy Maxson complains about the company not hiring any black drivers for the garbage trucks. Troy is offered a promotion as a garbage truck driver, but when he starts the job he is not happy with it. A noble man would be happy with the graces life has given him. Because of this, Troy cannot be considered a tragic character. Similarly, Willy Loman resembles Troy's business life. Willy lies about his social status in the business community. Another thing that makes these two characters similar would be that they disregard the feelings of others. For example, Willy and Biff's relationship when they were younger was stronger. Later in life, Willy starts to have his own ideals on what he wants for Biff. Biff would try to explain to his father how he feels, but his father would not pay attention. In a similar way, Troy wanted to live his life through his son Cory. When Troy found out that Cory lied to him about his job, Troy made him quit the football team. This angered Cory and made their bond deteriorate. All this information supports the claim that these characters are not tragic characters because these actions are not noble. By leading separate lives, Willy and Troy show that they are not tragic
characters Willy and Troy both have lives outside of work and family that they hide from others. For example, Willy was caught with another woman by Biff. When Biff caught his father, he was astonished and practically heartbroken. When Biff informed his mother, things changed almost as much as they did with Troy and Rose. Troy had an affair with a woman. The only difference is that Troy's affair was discovered by his wife as opposed to learning it from her son. Willy is an old businessman that is not very liked, but he makes himself seem as one of the best businessmen in his hometown to his friends and family. By doing this, Willy is lying and, thus, is not being a man of noble stature. Troy and Willy are similar when it comes to not being tragic characters. They're actions and thoughts depict them as pathetic characters as opposed to tragic characters. The affairs these men have with other women destroy the family bond. The wives in both stories both are shocked and change their outlook on their husbands. In a sense, the wives, as well as the readers, do not see the characters as respectful people. Along with being a man of noble stature, a tragic character must have a downfall. In the stories, both men do not start out “above the world” so to speak. These men are not really affected from the unraveling of their true lives. Willy and Troy both have mediocre jobs and normal lives. By this standard, the characters cannot be considered tragic because they do not have a downfall. Aside from the double lives, and lack of noble stature, these men also share another reason that does not make them tragic characters: family troubles. These men neglect their families by not appreciating them. For example, Troy Maxson's son, Cory, is a football star and his father does not appreciate how well his son does in the school's football program. Cory could have been an exceptional football player, but because his father did not want his son to have the opportunities that he did not have, he neglects the way his son feels towards the sport. Another example of neglect is the way Willy Loman treated his wife. Willy's wife loved him despite the way he neglected her. All this neglect and negative feelings led to the dispute between father and son in both stories. In conclusion, all these similarities do not mean that the characters are completely identical. The characters do share some differences. The characters differ in the sense that they do not have the same viewpoints when it comes to how people view them. Willy wants people to like him more than they should, and Troy does not care what people think of him. These characters are not tragic characters because of one main reason: they are not men of noble stature. These men show personality traits which can be compared to that of sleazy men who do not deserve the things they have.
In the play Fences by August Wilson, Troy is shown as a man who has hurt the people who are closest to him without even realizing it. He has acted in an insensitive and uncaring manner towards his wife, Rose, his brother, Gabriel and his son, Cory. At the beginning of the story, Troy feels he has done right by them. He feels this throughout the story. He doesn’t realize how much he has hurt them.
Ancient Greece tragedy has been evolved from festivals that has been honored for Zeus. It was derived from wine and fertility that evolved into tragedy. A tragic hero is somebody that has catharsis, suffering, and nobility. A character that has catharsis is somebody that feels sympathy for another character or for themselves. When somebody is suffering they are going through rough times and blame people for the mental and physical feeling they have. When somebody is noble they play an important role and has a special talent. In fences, the time period is the late 1950s which could give the illusion that certain things are still happening. August Wilson portrays the main character Rose Maxson to be a tragic hero. Rose Maxson is a woman who
In the Plays Fences and Death of a Salesman we see the protagonists Willy Loman and Troy Maxson dealing with the consequences of their actions. Troy and Willy, aside from living completely different lives in completely different situations shared several similarities. Both characters made decisions in their life that came back to them with consequences more severe than they could have imagined. They both betrayed their families. A main consequence that Troy and Willy had to face was the love they lost from their families. All our actions have consequences Realizing
Comparing Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson have similar themes of conflicts between fathers and sons, conflicts between husbands and wives, and the need to focus on a small unit of space in order to achieve success. In the process of developing these themes throughout the two plays, three similar symbolic elements are used including the insecure father figure, the "other woman," and the garden. The fathers in the two plays are comparable because they both have conflicts with their sons as a result of living in the past, and they die in the end. Willy, in Death of a Salesman, is never respected for his occupational status, so he places very high expectations on his son, Biff. Willy lives in the memory of past events to such a large extent that he cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, and he passes this trait onto Biff.
In the play Fences, August Wilson uses symbolism throughout the story to emphasis the physical and emotional barrier between the protagonist, Troy Maxon, and everyone around him. Troy loses his career as a professional baseball player because of his race. This causes him to be a bitter man and he eventually loses his friends and family because of it. Wilson uses both literal and figurative symbolism to express the themes in this play.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. – Martin Luther King Jr.” In the plays Death of a Salesman and Fences the setting takes place in the post-World War Two era of the United States. The main character in Death of a Salesman is a 63-year-old white man named Willy Loman, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He has worked as a traveling salesman for thirty-four years to provide for his wife, Linda, and his two sons, Biff and Happy. The main character of Fences is Troy Maxson a fifty-three-year-old African American man, who lives in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He works as a garbage collector to support his wife, Rose, and his son, Cory,
The characters Willy and Troy, from the plays “Death of a Salesman” and Fences,” share several qualities of personality and achievements. They are both fathers nearly at the twilight of their lives, suffering the consequences of decisions they made when they were younger. These men have worked for their whole lives to make money, as opposed to doing something for which they have passion. Willy and Troy spent their lives trying to achieve stability with money, only to come up with lives that constantly strive for payday, and families that begin to emulate their behaviors.
...s the more sympathetic of the two. The struggles that Willie experienced got the better of him. Willie overworked himself and could not offer much because of his low income. In addition, Willie received no help from his two sons, and even lost his job. Willie’s constant hardship in maintaining his home caused him to end his life. On the other hand, Troy did not have it as difficult as Willie did. Troy received help in paying for his home, and unlike Willie, Troy received a promotion that further made him more financially successful. The relationship between father and son could be difficult. The struggles that both Willy and Troy experienced is what caused them to have expectations. Undoubtedly, Willie had to endure more hardships because of the lack of help.
Willy Loman’s character is capable of making errors. He believes he is a very successful salesman and well liked. He also thinks that the company likes what he is doing. He once said, “I’m the New England man. I am vital in New England” (Miller pg. 32) Because of his false belief about his success Howard fired him. After he got fired charley offered him a job, but he refuses to accept, because he is too proud and jealous to work for Charley. His actions were wrong because at no time was a successful salesman. He is not a powerful character. Willy lives in his fantasies where he is the man. Who goes out to another place and comes out rich, he is love by everyone and admired by his family. In real life, he is lazy and does not live up to his own ideals. “As Aristotle explains, a tragic hero must be one of noble character and must fall from power and happiness.”(Www.ccd.rightchoice.org/lit115/poetics.html) but Willy neither has a noble characteristic nor does he fall from power because he does not have a position of power.
Death Of A Salesman Vs. Hamlet & nbsp; & nbsp; Willy Loman and Hamlet, two characters so alike, though different. Both are perfect examples of tragedy in literature, though for separate reasons. reasons and by distinct methods. The definition of a tragedy, in a nutshell, states that for a character to be considered tragic, he/she must. be of high moral estate, fall to a level of catastrophe, induce sympathy.
While both Oedipus Rex and Death of a Salesman can be described as tragedies, Willy Loman is not an example of a traditional tragic hero like Oedipus. To be labeled as a tragic hero, the character must experience an anagnorisis, a peripeteia, and must have hubris and a hamartia. Oedipus has all of these qualities, which is what makes him a prime example of tragedy. Oedipus’ tragic flaw, his discovery of what he has done, and his consequential destruction because of his discovery are all necessary to be termed a hero of tragedy. Although Willy Loman has a tragic flaw that is even comparable to Oedipus’ in that it results in his blindness from reality, he, however, does not experience a revelation as to why his demise is inevitable. Without such an experience, Willy is not a hero of tragedy.
The theme of August Wilson’s play “Fences” is the coming of age in the life of a broken black man. Wilson wrote about the black experience in different decades and the struggle that many blacks faced, and that is seen in “Fences” because there are two different generations portrayed in Troy and Cory. Troy plays the part of the protagonist who has been disillusioned throughout his life by everyone he has been close to. He was forced to leave home at an early age because his father beat him so dramatically. Troy never learned how to treat people close to him and he never gave any one a chance to prove themselves because he was selfish. This makes Troy the antagonist in the story because he is not only hitting up against everyone in the play, but he is also hitting up against himself and ultimately making his life more complicated. The discrimination that Troy faced while playing baseball and the torment he endures as a child shape him into one of the most dynamic characters in literary history.The central conflict is the relationship between Troy and Cory. The two of them have conflicting views about Cory’s future and, as the play goes on, this rocky relationship crumbles because Troy will not let Cory play collegiate football. The relationship becomes even more destructive when Troy admits to his relationship with Alberta and he admits Gabriel to a mental institution by accident. The complication begins in Troy’s youth, when his father beat him unconscious. At that moment, Troy leaves home and begins a troubled life on his own, and gaining a self-destructive outlook on life. “Fences” has many instances that can be considered the climax, but the one point in the story where the highest point of tension occurs, insight is gained and a situation is resolved is when Rose tells Troy that Alberta died having his baby, Raynell.
A tragic hero is a character who makes a judgment error that automatically leads to his/her own destruction. In the play Fences by August Wilson’s Troy Maxson, is a noble man with a tragic flaw that leads him down a path ending in ruin. Troy is a garbage collector, a husband to Rose who he cheated on with Alberta, who was an escape to his real problems, father to Lyons, Cory, and Raynell, and brother to Gabriel. Troy's flaw is his stubbornness and self-centeredness. Troys mistakes and failures greatly influence his perspective on his relationship with his son.
... morals and personality towards his goals and at the same time trying to pass those values onto his sons, making him lose their respect, which is one of the many reasons that ended up taking his life. For the most part one can see that issues like Willys cannot only be seen or heard of in a play but also in the real world. Everybody in general wants to conform and be liked in today's competitive society, which is one of the reasons why many people don't get to accomplish the things they want to accomplish because they are either to scared or don't have the courage to step out of the social norms and achieve what they what to achieve. If anyone learns anything from this tragic character, one can say that truly knowing ones-self can really help in the long run because if one doesn't know who they are, they can end up leading a miserable life, in a miserable world.
The play and movie Fences was set in 1957. Characters Troy Maxson and Jim Bono start off by telling each other personal stories. Later we find out Troy has many conflicts with his family in the play as we read. Troy does not allow his younger son, Cory, to play on the football team. He does not like to give his older son, Lyons, money when he needs it. We do see that Troy takes care of his brain damaged bother Gabriel. Then Troy going to prison for murder, he tries to keep his family going away from his pathway to help his children have a better future. The play ends with Troy dying and seeing that he goes to Heaven. The version of the film Fences altered, confused, or enhanced the text of play by scenes added or changed, the sets, costumes,