Tragedy In Death Of A Salesman

American Tragedy Aristotle defines tragedy in his respected piece Poetics and many other forms of literature. Many tragic heroes such as Oedipus Rex and Romeo and Juliet fit well into this mold of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. For example, they were flawed but well intentioned and their lives ended in a catastrophic death. Those plays, and many others in the genre, had all the elements of a tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. They were fantastic displays of misery that aroused pity and fear in the audience. In Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller, the character Willy Loman is an average modern American man with a superficial American Dream: to be liked, to succeed over everyone else, to be a great salesman. Willy has a misguided love for his family and a yearning for success. As his life takes its course, it peaks in his son’s high school years when he was a football star, and then sadly concludes in his suicide. A life full of

They argue that the character Willy Loman fits the mold of a tragic hero, a misguided man unaware of his flaws who comes to discover them through his journey but ends up dying in a tragic way in the end in grand release of tension. However, Willy Loman doesn’t reach the standard of a high status that is required to be a tragic hero. He is simply a typical man, a simple salesman. Willy is not even great at being a salesman or even a husband and father, the only roles he plays in his simple life. He never comes to discover his many flaws, he is deluded until the very end. The only consistency Willy has with a tragic hero is the tragic end. But the audience does not experience a catharsis of emotions, the audience can anticipate the miserable way Willy goes out but when it happens there is still a lingering air of unresolved misery and , especially for his