Death Of A Salesman Tragic Hero Essay

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Recommended: Symbolism in the novel death of a salesman

In the Death of a Salesman, the man who wrote this play, Arthur Miller, challenges the idea of a modern American Dream, and how Willy Loman, the main character, is the perfect candidate for this day’s Tragic Hero. A Tragic Hero, originally defined by Aristotle, must be centered around five main characteristics: hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, hubris, and the character's fate must be greater than deserved. After a life of pursuing a successful-enough salesman career, Willy finds himself in a new world: the modern day. Now, jobs are looking for people with degrees behind their name, and Willy has nothing to show for himself, unacceptingly. Another splinter in Willy’s leg is Willy struggles to keep a job at his old age, and his sons aren’t …show more content…

This is seen in his desperation to find any possibility to find income. His house appliances are breaking down, bills are becoming overdue, and he has been fired from his job. Willy sees that he has lost everything he has built and earned, but he refuses to believe that it is his fault for not being good enough for the world. Willy’s lack of reality causes him to talk to himself and hallucinate moments from the past, often speaking his past words in real time with the same emotion he portrayed before. The play flashbacks to Biff’s senior year, and the next-door neighbor, Bernard, was tugging at Biff’s mother to let her (somebody, anybody) know that Biff had flunked his math class, and that He went to Boston to find Willy. The following lines show how Willy had lost control of his train of thought, and refuses to see …show more content…

That’s just what I’ve been explaining to you! It is clear that Willy gets lost in his thoughts, trying to remember what could have caused Biff to flunk while dodging his own actions. Willy has lost it, and is now lashing out at of the only hope he has left for retainment: Biff. One characteristic of the tragic hero that Willy lacks is nobility. After Willy is fired, he is offered a job by a friend that runs a bank. Willy declines the offer saying, “How could I work for you?” Willy fills his thoughts with denial in his veins, and this results in him as a person not able to benefit any other character in this play. Willy’s actions are to benefit himself and to leave something behind that will leave his legacy honorable, but that will not happen if the sole purpose of taking action is to stand out; this is not

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