Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller: Willy Loman is NOT a Tragic Hero

In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman’s life seems to be slowly deteriorating. It is clear that Willy’s predicament is of his own doing, and that his own foolish pride and ignorance lead to his downfall. Willy’s self-destruction involved the uniting of several aspects of his life and his lack of grasping reality in each, consisting of, his relationship with his wife, his relationship and manner in which he brought up his children, Biff and Happy, and lastly his inability to productively earn a living and in doing so, failure to achieve his “American Dream”.

    In Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, a major theme and source of conflict is the Loman family's lack of morality.  This is particularly evident in the father, Willy Loman.  Willy has created a world of questionable morality for himself and his family.  In this world, he and his sons are men of greatness that "have what it takes" to make it in the competitive world of business.  In reality, Willy’s son Biff is a drifter and a thief, his son Hap is continually seducing women with lies, while Willy does not treat his wife with respect and lies to everyone.

Willy Loman, the central character in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, is a man whose fall from the top of the capitalistic totem pole results in a resounding crash, both literally and metaphorically. As a man immersed in the memories of the past and controlled by his fears of the future, Willy Loman views himself as a victim of bad luck, bearing little blame for his interminable pitfalls. However, it was not an ill-fated destiny that drove Willy to devastate his own life as well as the lives of those he loved; it was his distorted set of values.

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a play of multiple tragedies. The word tragedy is defined as “a dreadful, or fatal event or affair; disaster”. The main character, Willy Loman, shows how one dream can become a disaster through his impractical dreams and failing at achieving these goals. Not only does he fail at his dreams, he participates in an affair that is against morals. The idea of a tragic hero is defined as “a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat”. Miller believes that the common man is the best tragic hero because it shows that the average, everyday man struggles to achieve goals in life. He thinks the common man fights to maintain self-worth and dignity. Willy

      Arthur Miller succeeds in demonstrating incredibly well in Death of a Salesman that not only is tragic heroism still possible in the modern world, but that it is also an affliction to which both king and commoner are equally susceptible.  However, Wily Loman is not a tragic hero because he is pathetic, not heroic, in his personal "tragedy" that comes from his inability to admit his mistakes and learn from them.  Instead, he fits Miller's description of pathos and the pathetic character, one who "by virtue of his witlessness, his insensitivity, or the very air he gives off, [is] incapable of grappling with a much superior force," (Miller  1728).

In all four pieces they all by definition are tragic heros, but in Death Of a Salesman, Willy Loman portrait´s more characteristics of a tragic hero, unlike the others. Therefore, Willy Loman is a truest tragic hero. During the book, Willy decided to give

   "In his early sixties he knows his business as well as he ever did. But the unsubstantial things have become decisive; the spring has gone from his step, the smile from his face and the heartiness from his personality. He is through. The phantom of his life has caught up with him. As literally as Mr. Miller can say it, dust turns to dust. Suddenly, there is nothing" (Internet 1). The New York Times has expressed the tragedy in the ‘Death of a Salesman’ with no inaccuracy. The phantom of his life has been the American Dream that he has longed for and has not successfully achieved. Willy has terminated his life as an act of cowardice because of the failure of his

However, the hero is not always the best person in the world. At times, the hero is simply the person audiences can understand and relate to. Willy Loman is one of these characters. He is not necessarily the best father or husband, but he is the person in the novel, Death of a Salesman, that has the most difficulty in his life and his personal story. Willy Loman is the type of character that audiences can feel pity for because his life has consisted of only bad luck.

Although Arthur Miller states that Willy Loman is a tragic hero, he failed his relationships with his family and himself. An excessive amount of pride can be an ultimate downfall if you let it get in the way of you and your relationships with others. Many people know that us humans are not perfect but for some others, it is hard to accept. Accepting things for what they really are can be a life changer. Willy Loman has always thought of himself as being a successful business man, wonderful father and excellent husband.

Willy Loman is a tragic hero based on what Arthur Miller has described as the “Tragedy of the Common Man”. Not a hero of hierarchy, but one who understands and knows the fear of being displaced and “torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are” (Miller, 1949). During “Death of a Salesman”, Loman lives the tale of a tragic hero with many tragic flaws that leave him ready sacrifice everything in order to secure his dignity. Based on the definition that Miller has given, he has created Willy, a perfect example of a common tragic hero.

His need to be well-liked by society and appealing to the eyes is a goal that he cannot achieve and is only a set up for his eventual failure. He struggled against his own fate constantly by creating delusions in order to escape the harsh reality he had to endure. His path of self-destruction was similar to that of traditional tragic heroes. The final similarity that Willy shares with a traditional tragic hero is the evocation of empathy from the audience. The tale of Willy Loman appeals to the lower class because it portrays a common man struggling through life due to the harsh hand dealt by reality.

A tragic hero according to Aristotle is “a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.” Characteristics of a tragic hero are that he is respectable in the beginning, he must have a tragic flaw, the downfall is caused by his own flaw and actions, he is often blind to reality, and he realizes what his actions led to. These characteristics can easily be related to the protagonists of Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Hamlet and Willy Loman are both tragic heroes and their flaws lead to their death. In the beginning, Hamlet is introduced as an intelligent man who is hurting due to his father’s death. Hamlet is adored and respected by the people of Denmark.

In conclusion, Willy is the main character of the play Death of a Salesman, and cannot be classified as a tragic hero according to the aforementioned definition. He is not a man of great nobility and honor. He is not highly ranked, but is 'somewhat' loved by his dysfunctional family. Yet, he makes his own mistakes that cause his downfall, but not because of an outside force. In addition, he does not face his destiny with courage and dignity rather self-pitying whimpers because he committed suicide, as he realized the truth about his life and all the miseries and failures that his life has resulted in. He made a few fatal decisions and was condemned to profound suffering because of them. This play was a great story of the aging, failing salesman

Willy often rambles on when he is talking to his wife Linda or talking to himself. “The street is lined with cars. There’s not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. The grass don’t grow any more, you can’t raise a carrot in the back yard. They should’ve had a law against apartment houses. Remember those two beautiful elm trees out there? When I and Biff hung the swing between them?” He is basically talking about the street then his thoughts will trail off to happier times when everything was right in the world. “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. The competition is mad- dening! Smell the stink from that apartment house! And an- other one on the other side... How can they whip

Willy Loman does not fit into the original definition of a tragic hero, but he does fit Miller’s modern definition of a tragic hero. Miller defines a tragic hero as “one who