Arthur Miller tried to argue about Willy Loman’s tragic hero or is he pathetic human being? Well, for me reading this whole play. It became clear to me that Willy could be a modern day tragic hero with tragic flaws in his life. Since Aristotle had explained the true definition of Tragedy in the about the Greek mythology of a tragic hero; How a man could be fortune, then became horrible at the end with some mistakes but will always be remembered by the audience. Aristotle’s quote; “A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” The tragic hero is that a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice, nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake. The hero is neither a villain nor a model of perfection, but is basically good and decent. (Aristotle’s & The Elements of Tragedy)
Willy Loman from "Death of a Salesman" immediately has his life changed in the story. Willy had worked so hard as a travelling salesman; he really wanted to become very successful. He believed in himself that he is capable to succeeding the business. He kept on having such a huge high hope for his first son Biff to follow his footstep, but that didn’t occur at the end. Biff didn’t become the person Willy thought his son would be. Even though, he devotedly remembers Biff as a teenager, he is unable to feel the connection with Biff for the time being. At other times, Willy would recall his memories of Biff's last football game because it was more delightful to refresh the memories of the past in which Biff adored him and wanted to score a touchdown for his him, rather than face the existent where he is at quarrels with his own son. Then later at the end, he would co...
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...thout Kings, took up this bright thread of our history and followed it to the only place it can possibly lead in our time, the heart and spirit of the average man.” (Miller 1692).
Willy Loman is a generous and a tragic character. Also he was able to combine most of the Aristotle’s philosophy about tragedy such as hamartia, the tragic flaw that will eventually lead to his downfall, secondly, peripeteia ; a reversal of prosperity brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw. The audience must feel the fear of this and the pity for this character.
Despite all of Willy's secrets, lies, deception, and lack of self-realization; In Willy’s own thought, he honestly believes that his committing suicide will help his wife lead a better life in spite of her suffering; as it makes sense that Willy is a tragic hero, whether or not you agree with his feelings, thoughts, or habits.
Northrop Frye states in his book Anatomy of Criticism that the tragic hero is “on top of the wheel of fortune, halfway between human society on the ground and the something greater in the sky”. The book also declares that tragic heroes are “inevitable conductors of the power around them”, and conductors may be victims as well as instruments of destruction (website). Willy Loman, the epitome of a tragic hero, brings suffering upon not only himself, but others, including his wife and sons. Willy establishes Northrop Frye's definition of a tragic hero through the suffering of both himself and his friends and family, and this suffering contributes to the great tragic vision of the play as a whole.
According to Miller, a tragic hero is someone who dies for personal dignity. Willy does die for his dignity. “Those who act against the scheme of things that degrades them.”(Miller. Tragedy of the Common Man) Willy, in his ideas and action of committing suicide, fits in that category. In act 2, Willy reveals his desires to win back Biff’s respect by committing suicide.
In "Death of a Salesman," Willy Loman is the opposite of the classic tragic hero. Unlike Oedipus, Willy is a ordinary man. His name implies he is a "lowman" whose dreams and expectations have been shattered by the false values of thesociety he has put his faith into. This simple characteristic makes him a tragic hero like "Oedipus Rex."
Like countless characters in a play, Willy struggles to find who he is. Willy’s expectations for his sons and The Woman become too high for him to handle. Under the pressure to succeed in business, the appearance of things is always more important than the reality, including Willy’s death. The internal and external conflicts aid in developing the character Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
A tragic hero is defined as a person of high social rank, who has a tragic flaw or flaws that lead to their downfall. These heroes’ downfalls are usually either complete ruin or death. Tragic heroes face their downfall with courage and dignity. While many characters in Julius Caesar could fit these conditions, the person who fits the role of a tragic hero the best is Marcus Brutus. Brutus develops into a tragic hero throughout the play, and this is shown though his qualifications of a tragic hero, his high status, his tragic flaws, and his courage in the face of his death.
Willy Loman, one of the few tragic heroes in the modern era, is not very different from other tragic heroes which precede him. Willy, similarly to other protagonists in Aristotle’s tragedies, has a tragic flaw which leads to his eventual downfall. However, Willy’s demise in the 1940s play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, cannot be contributed purely to Willy’s own faults, but also to the actions of surrounding characters. These characters will go on to push Willy into a corner, making it even harder for him to overcome his circumstances, eventually playing a part in the tragic end of Willy Loman. By the end of the play, it is Ben, Biff, and Charley who contributes the greatest to the ultimate demise of Willy Loman.
My initial reaction to the play was that Willy Loman is a horrible man, overly pre-occupied with his own perceived masculinity and self-worth; a man who damages
In Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman’s warped view of the American Dream caused tragedy in his family because he stressed the importance of popularity over hard work and risk-taking over perserverence. *Willy grew up believing that being "well-liked" was important to becoming a success. He believed that being well-liked could help you charm teachers and open doors in business. *He is proud that the neighborhood boys flock around Biff and respond to Biff’s athletic abilities, and in the same breath scoffs at the nerdy Bernard, who is too focused on school and his studies to be popular. Even though Biff turns out to be a failure as an adult, Willy holds on to the hopes that a business man who Biff met years ago will offer him a terrific job if Biff can be his old likeable self and recapture the confidence and grace he had as a teenager.
Willy’s death was ironic due to all the of consequences that he faced each point of his life; however, he wanted to leave money behind by his $20,000 insurance policy for his family to prove he finally made success in life. After Willy death, Biff realized his true beliefs and changes his life’s path to the right direction. Happy on other hand, followed his father’s footsteps and aimed to become successful as a businessman. I believed that Willy’s character lead himself to his failures and miseries with his wife, his two sons, and his career. What Willy pictured in his mind of himself was not completed by his wrong ambition of being successful. “We’re free and clear. We’re free…. We’re free” (Death of the Salesman, Requiem. lines 66-67). Willy’s wife and sons were not a bit disappointed or saddened by the news of their father. Willy’s death defined a symbol of a new beginning for his family. Throughout my research I discovered all Willy wanted to be was a devoted husband, a father that his sons can be proud of, and a successful salesman; however Willy was unsuccessful in not completely to fulfill his dreams so his death brought him and his family a break from the
In short, Willy Loman's unrealistic dreams caused his downfall. By trying to be successful with material desires and being "well-liked" he failed. By the play's end he had to lose his own life just to provide funding for that of his family. He put his family through endless torture because of his search for a successful life. He should have settled with what he had, for his true happiness included a loving family. Willy's example shows that one must follow their own dreams to be truly accomplished.
Willy’s failures and lies have been a result in his constant faith and will to achieve his dreams, the dreams which society has implanted within him. His flaws have come from society, but also himself, and Miller has used this to create the conflict and tragedy in the play. It is then that writer then makes the impact of Willy’s failures greater, incorporating his death into the play, crushing his dreams and the dreams of the characters around him, creating his tragedy.
Willy’s hubris makes him feel extremely proud of what he has, when in reality he has no satisfaction with anything in his life. Willy Loman’s sons did not reach his expectations, as a father, but he still continued to brag about Biff and Happy in front of Bernard. Willy Loman caused the reader to empathize with him because before his tragic death he did everything he could for his family. Empathy, Hubris, and Willy Loman’s tragic flow all lead him to his death that distends from the beginning. He is unable to face reality and realize that he’s not successful in life or at his job; he remains living in a world where he thinks he’s greater than everybody else because he’s a salesman.
The tragic hero is defined by Aristotle as "a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake” (Aristotle n. pag.). There are a few principles that Aristotle believes to form a tragic hero: the protagonist should be a person of power and nobility, who makes a major error in judgment and eventually comes to realization of his or her actions (Aristotle n. pag.). In Arthur Millers’ play, Death of a Salesman, he has twisted Aristotle’s belief of a tragic hero, and has created his own. Although Miller has twisted Aristotle’s belief, Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex, has a tragic hero (Oedipus) that follows the flaws, dignity, and acknowledgment of the truth that Aristotle believes in to make a tragic hero. It is essential for them to recognize their position and role in the play. Due to the fact that Willy Loman and Oedipus experience tragic flaws throughout their respected plays, they both have nobility, and they both realize the fact (anagnorisis) that they made an error in their life (hamartia). Through their fatal mis-steps, their pride and ego, predominately affect their familial lives, which in turn causes them to realize the truth that they are tragic heroes.
Willy Loman, the main character in Death of a Salesman is a complex tragic character. He is a man struggling to hold onto the little dignity he has left in a changing society. While society may have caused some of his misfortune, Willy must be held responsible for his poor judgment, disloyalty and foolish pride.
While this change, as well as the changes in play production and the culture in the audience that views these plays, has had a great impact on the evolution of the tragedy, the basic ideas laid down by Aristotle remain adhered to, if not always in the way he wrote them. The tragic hero, Willy Loman, is of little virtue, being in financial trouble and growing more and more reminiscent in his old age. His fall is aided by his tragic flaw, that his pride in “selling yourself” will get one anywhere hey need to be in life, slowly tears his life apart, as well as creating unrealistic expectations of his son, thus bringing his demise. The play arouses fear and pity just as well as any classical work, possibly even more effectively due to the reatability of the “common man.” Just as in The Hairy Ape, the tragic hero dies, forcing the underlying evil on to the audience. This evolution to the common man can be explained through the evolution of society alongside tragedy. In the time of Aristotle, the best way to make a commentary on both societal and familial issues was through the eyes of nobility, which dealt with both. As time went on, however, the emergence of new societal and social issues such and women’s or worker’s rights led to the more effective tragic hero to be that of the “common man,” for they saw these issues in a was the aristocracy never could. These societal changes combined with the readability of the common man led to a shift in the tragic hero, yet never changed the underlying meaning of tragedy laid down in Aristotle’s