The Roots Of Pride In Oedipus And Willy Lowman

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”.

Oedipus’ pride and a heightened sense of confidence is very conspicuous throughout the play Oedipus Rex. From the beginning of the play, Oedipus accepts the idea that he can avoid the prophecy given to him by the gods. Oedipus is also seen interrogating Creon and attempting to banish him with Tiresias towards the end of the play because they are saying facts corresponding to the prophecy. He tries to become like a god himself by thinking he could control his own fate. Although Oedipus’ pride can be justified by his accomplishments of being king; the tragedy of Oedipus is the pure result of his overwhelming pride because he killed his father, mocked Tiresias, and blinded himself.

From birth, Oedipus, the Tragic Hero of Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex has been destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Although by the opening act of the play, Oedipus has already earned the throne of Thebes for solving the riddle of the sphinx, the greek hero is unaware that he has already fulfilled the prophy. Meanwhile, the people of Thebes are dying of a plague that will only end when the murderer of Laius, the previous Theban King, is punished. Through retrospection, Oedipus believes that he might be responsible for Laius death and is told that the King and Queen of Corinth who raised him were not his biological parents. In this passage, Jocasta, having already discovered the truth that she is both Oedipus’ mother and wife, warns Oedipus to go no further in his path for self knowledge. But Oedipus ignores her warning and calls for the Shepherd, to learn more about his mysterious lineage. This passage suggests that Oedipus’ downfall is not the product of fate but of his own free will. Sophocles employs characterization, word choice, and irony to reveal how free will has led to tragedy.

Willy Loman had accomplished the historical American Dream but because of his ambition he did not realize it. When Willy was deciding to go with his brother to look for his father he met Dave Singleman. Dave was an ¨eighty four year old salesman who had drummed merchandise in thirty-one states and who could now simply go into his hotel room, call the buyers, and make his living in his green velvet slippers¨ (Stanton 131).This view of a tranquil and successful career made him reconsider his decision and instead of going to Alaska he chose to be a salesman. It seems that Willy saw a “father figure” in Dave, so he followed the same path, hoping he would have the same future and the same success in the field (Stanton 133). After thirty five years of his career he saw he hasn’t accomplished the success that he wanted. He devoted his life into a career as a salesman knowing that he was good with his hands, but ¨he possessed too much snobbery to admit that his own destiny was in a simple career as a carpenter¨ (“Death of a Salesman”). For Willy the difference between a white collar job and a blue collar job meant a lot, but he didn’t do much to gain a white collar one and he stayed with his old job. His career as a salesman did give him and his family the normal success people would want. Willy wanted more, and since he saw he didn’t accomplished it, he taught his kids into his

In the climax of Oedipus the King, Jocasta hangs herself in shame at marrying her own son and Oedipus follows by gouging out his own eyeballs, rendering him sightless once he finally saw the truth. He is so despaired that he claims “If there is any ill worse than ill, that is the lot of Oedipus” (179). He is then banished from his kingdom of Thebes, “now hated by the gods” (185). Alone, sightless, and devoid of the respect and honor he once had, it seems apparent that Oedipus’ life has been permanently ruined all due to his hubris. Considering that Sophocles was making one of the most impactful warnings against hubris in literature, he probably hoped that this was the exact message his audience would receive. However, one would be incorrect to simply assume that hubris robbed Oedipus of any peace he could ever achieve. In the second play of the trilogy, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus begins in the sordid state he was left in at the end of Oedipus the King, but “by the end, we see him protected and honored by Athens, triumphant over his enemies, and apparently rewarded by the gods with everlasting well-being after death” (Ahrensdorf 167). Oedipus has clearly experienced quite the transformation, from ignoble outcast to revered figure blessed by the gods he once disrespected. Quite a different message can be taken from the ending of this play as compared to the previous one. Hubris may have caused immense pain and loss, but it was not the end of Oedipus’ happiness, no matter how dire circumstances may have seemed for years of his life. Instead, Oedipus was able to find honor and peace in death. Once again, this ancient text indicates that hubris is a tragic flaw that people can rise above in the

In Death of a Salesman, Willy often ruminated on his past and attempted to relive certain situations and experiences. This later developed into delusion, as Willy often talked to himself and experienced hallucinations. Willy also enjoyed bragging, and frequently edited parts of reality when recounting the past. This was in favor of portraying a certain image of himself. In doing so, Willy created a facade of the perfect and well-liked man. Willy’s stories become so convincing that his family, as well as himself, believe that this representation is, in fact a true depiction. The ideology that charisma is the driving force to success is derived from Willy; he teaches this to his sons Biff and Happy. Miller writes in Willy’s conversation to his sons, “Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. “Willy Loman is here!” That’s all they have to know, and I go right through.” (Death of a Salesman 21). This ideology demonstrates that Willy fits

To begin, Willy could be described as having a case of misguided life goals paired with self-deception. Willy was unable to admit to his faults. His pride was so boisterous that he would lie to his own family, borrowing money every week from his neighbor, Charley, and claiming that it was his salary. Due to extreme insecurities, Willy compulsively lied to himself and his family in effort of making himself feel better about who he really is, disguising his self doubt and inner anxiety with profound arrogance. Willy raised his sons to believe that in order to be successful, one must be well liked. “Be liked and you will never want.” (1.3) He often lied to them and exaggerated his success, which led them to believe that everything was as good as he claimed them to be. Willy even encouraged deceit in his oldest son by urging him to steal things and cheat on tests. In Willy’s own delusional world, he is a largely successful and well liked salesman with sons destined for greatness, taking every opportunity to brag about these false perceptions. He lied about almost everything, even the quality of

In Sophocles’, “Oedipus Rex,” Oedipus shows his true colors by exuding hubris a number of times. Hubris means “excessive pride” and is most often used in the history of mythology. Oedipus manages to make the gods angry many times with his expression of hubris. Oedipus believes that he is able to change his fate by running from Corinth. He is basically telling the gods that the life they chose for him is not good enough. Another example of this would be when he kills his biological father. The gods hate when relatives kill each other, that is why Laius had a servant get rid of Oedipus instead of killing him himself. Oedipus also makes false accusations towards some of his friends to cover up his part of the blame. Oedipus shows excessive pride by fleeing Corinth, killing out of rage, and making false accusations towards innocent people.

In Death of a Salesman and Oedipus Rex, pride plays an integral part to the development of the plot. In each play, the hamartia for both Willy and Oedipus is pride, along with other minor things. Willy’s and Oedipus’ sense of self-worth seems to come from their pride, however misguided it may seem. Pride is the hamarita which connects Willy and Oedipus, in which case pride causes them to live in their past and prevents them from seeing the present, resulting in their tragic ending. For Oedipus, pride causes him to search for the truth in his hidden past, inadvertently causing him to be the instrument of his own downfall. Willy’s pride causes him to live in an unrealistic past, preventing him from seeing what he currently has instead of

This triggered his frustrating, inequitable fate to arise, which made him fit Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Oedipus’ only problem wasn’t just that he couldn’t control his temper; he also was full of himself, in other words, Hubris. Hubris is a tragic flaw in which he or she has excessive pride. When Oedipus believed he could overcome fate, he showed excessive pride when he commented, “Ah! Why should a man respect the Pythian hearth, or give heed to the birds that jangle above his head?” (50). He thought he overcame his fate when Polybos died, so he said there is no reason to follow or believe any of it. Greeks, like Aristotle, believe fate is unavoidable and it can’t be changed; so, when Oedipus truly believed he could defy his prophecy, that was highly frowned upon. Oedipus’ fate consisted of killing his father and marrying his mother subsequently having kids with her. On his way to Thebes, he killed King Laius out of rage at the crossroads and all of the witnesses except for one, who got away. Not thinking anything of it, he takes over the throne after defeating the Sphinx and marries Jocasta, who bore his four children. If Oedipus was smart, to avoid his fate, he could have just never wed or kill anyone; his fate couldn’t have been avoided because of his temper and just plain stupidity. Hamartia is the tragic flaw which causes the downfall. Oedipus showed no control when

Throughout the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is faced with many problems. From the start of the play we are aware that Oedipus comes from a very messed up family line. As Lauren Silberman says, “Oedipus suffers the most grotesquely perverted family relationships imaginable”(Silberman 2). Oedipus has married his own mother after killing his father. Making Oedipus a husband and a son to Jocasta. Not only that, Oedipus also had four kids with his mother, making him a father and and a brother. When Oedipus found out what his prophecy was in the beginning of the play, he tried to avoid his fate by leaving Corinth and never returning because, he thought his parents were the king and queen. Ironically when he was leaving Corinth for good he

Willy Loman, the lead character in Miller’s play, had dreams which consisted entirely of being important, well known, and most importantly, well-liked. He would spend his entire adult life trying to become exactly like the man that ignited his hopes and dreams of becoming a salesman; however, it becomes apparent that Willy is incapable of accepting

Willy Loman spent his entire life working towards “the dream he fostered of being well liked, well-known, and well-to-do” (Klimchak 18). Unfortunately, as Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman demonstrates, these three dreams cannot be combined. While Willy tries his hardest to be both well-liked and prosperous, he ends up with neither. Death of a Salesman presents a protagonist that has a naively optimistic view on success and its relationship to being liked. Willy’s stubborn belief that being well-liked can give him and his sons success is disproven throughout the play in a variety of ways.

Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves. This is exemplified by Oedipus in the novel Oedipus the King by Sophocles in that it is Oedipus’s pride in his knowledge that makes his downfall at the end of the story when he realizes that he knows so little remarkably worse as he is so unable to bear the thought of being blind to the truth for so long that he literally makes himself blind out of rage and agony. Oedipus begins the story as the king of Thebes and is the pinnacle of success and nobility at the beginning. He is the one who the people come to in their time of need with the priest in the beginning of the story saying, “Oedipus, king, we bend to you, your power---we implore you, all of us on our knees: find us strength, rescue!” It

Oedipus’s world revolves around the realms of power, truth, and ego. Throughout the play the astounding sense of pride is apparent, Oedipus’s crucial belief that he can overcome his fate through the play shows his pride and ego. “I thought it wrong, my children, to hear the truth from others, messengers, Here I am myself- you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus” (Oedipus the king p.159) Oedipus calls his people “My children” this suggests his sense of condescending control. Oedipus refers himself as “I, Oedipus, a name that all men know” this shows the audiences that he is aware of his power and reputation. All of Oedipus’s pride may have come from the belief that he has escaped his fate.