Tragic Heroes in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House

A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor, the protagonist, as a tragic hero who has a major flaw—lust for Abigail, his teenage house servant. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation is highly upheld, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but this affair triggers a major series of events in Salem, where unproven accusations lead to internal struggle and eventually to catastrophe.

He travels several miles for his job to support his family, and they still are not grateful for him. Willy is merely a saddened, forlorn, and misinterpreted man. He causes the “audience to sympathize” with him because before his tragic death, he “carried out” all that he was able to for his wife and kids (Heims 67). Despite everything from what is right from what is wrong, Willy Loman went after what he thought was best and “endeavored to contribute the foremost patrimony” not solely for himself, but for his family (Cardullo 586). The qualities that Willy show convinces the audience to feel compassion for him. When Willy Loman dies, this is why he can be seen as a tragic character. Given Polonius’ headstrong advise, awful tendency of spying on mostly everyone, and his brown-nosing ways with the King, it is not startling to the audience when he dies the way he

Tragedy, like comedy, is in the eyes of the beholder and what makes a particular fictional character more tragic than another can be argued until the end of time. However, despite this, it seems that an undeniable part of what makes a character tragic is their ability to save themselves from their predicament but, for whatever reason, refuse to do so, thus damning themselves to their wretched fate. Likewise, the more obvious this ability, the more control that a character has over their fate, the more tragic their eventual downfall. Moreover, coupled with the preventable nature of the character’s tragic fate, is this fate’s unpredictability, which causes the audience to, even until the very end, have hope that the tragic character will triumph over their predicament. Furthermore, this is all merged with the ultimate insignificance of the tragic character’s demise and how, despite all their struggles, they are eventually rendered wholly irrelevant and forgotten. Hence, the most tragic of the three protagonists studied is Jay Gatsby because his final fate, compared to that of Willy Loman’s or Macbeth’s is the most unpredictable, had the least impact on society, and, ultimately, was the most avoidable.

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

He is so terrified of not being what and who he thinks he is in society, that he cannot let go of his illusions and clings to them until his death.  However, this is not because he is a common man.  It is because he is a man who lacks the courage, conviction and strength to move past his illusions, grasp the truth and prevent himself from stifling his, or his sons, full flowering and whole development.  This is because his fears and insecurities, not to mention failures, have arisen from his adopting unquestioningly a set of values that have been irreconcilable with the natural outpouring of his love and creativity.  There is a "wrong" or an "evil" in Willy's environment that has prevented this because he has based his career choice, his method of parenting, and his lifestyle on a value system that is based on "appearances" not truth.  When he discovers these values are illusions he stubbornly refuses to admit his mistakes, and, instead, becomes pathetic instead of tragically heroic because he clings all the more to his illusions and imposes them on anyone around him-or becomes irate with those who point out the errors of his actions and/or logic.  The truth of modern society is that it represents one that thwarts man in his effort to achieve his "rightful dignity", but Willy never accepts the discovery of the moral law (which to Miller is the illumination of tragedy) which supports a man's right to achieve such dignity.  Instead, he tries to live by the

Throughout the story Willy makes important discoveries, which is important to be Anagnorisis; This is another example of why he is a tragic hero. A way Willy shows this trait is when he is talking to Bernard about how successful Bernard is, “I’m going to Washington… Oh, just a case I’ve got there, Willy” (91). Bernard is a lawyer and has a case to work up in Washington. Willy made an important discovery because earlier in the play when Bernard was younger, Willy thought he was not well liked by anyone due to the fact he studied too much; and would not be the successful man like he is today. Willy made a bigger discovery when he finally realized in himself, “I’m very –foolish to look at…. But they do laugh at me. I know that” (37). Willy knew he lost his touch in the game of selling. He discovered this about himself when he goes out to see clients and they don’t buy anything and make fun of

Arthur Miller’s play Death of A Salesman demonstrates the life of a man facing troubles within himself and society. A tragedy is the imitation of an action that arouses fear and pity. This play could be considered a tragedy because it depicts the downfall of a perfect family and outlines the deterioration of a man’s life. A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, is someone who exemplifies great importance or heroic qualities; however, Arthur Miller views the tragic hero as someone who struggles heroically with life. Using Arthur Miller’s definition, it can be determined that Willy Loman is a tragic hero. Even though Willy Loman does not fit the classical view of a tragic hero, he is in fact a modern day tragic hero because of his error in judgment, a reversal of fortune, and his excessive pride.

The “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, uses characters such as Willy Loman, Linda Loman, and Biff Loman to represent sacrifice, honor, and a sense of reality. Throughout the play, these concepts are developed through these characters and relationships, which have an impact on the outcome of the story. The interactions of these characters, promotes self-awareness and understanding of one’s limitations. The

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.

Why then might this play not evoke tragic emotion for Willy? It does follow the general practise of classical tragedy. Willy, like most tragic heroes seems to be essentially a good

Willy is also fired from his long time job. He feels abandoned by his boss and snubbed after all his long years of hard work. Perhaps the most damaging abandonment in Willy’s life is from that of his sons. All these factors combined attribute to Willy’s feelings that a he is worth more dead than alive. Consequently Willy makes many failed attempts at committing suicide. Ironically he does so many times by inhaling gas through a rubber tube. This is ironic being that gas is used to provide an essential element of comfort he struggles to provide his family. Willy is metaphorically and literally being killed by the gas particles. In the end Willy is successful in his last suicide attempt. He has reached bottom low and feels he is truly worth more to his family dead than alive. Throughout this play, Miller uses Willy’s failed goal of reaching the American Dream to show the effects of abandonment on the ability of Willy to decipher reality from fiction, the toll on his family, and his fragile emotional state.

What is the correct definition of tragedy anyways? Many people would define tragedy as a disaster, but according to the book The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre by Martin Banham, the word tragedy is “a word whose meaning changes with time and place” (1002). In Medieval times, “tragedy came to mean the downfall of a person of high degree” (Banham 1002), but in recent times, the meaning of the word tragedy has many definitions. According to Banham, “realists refused to limit tragedy to privileged protagonists” (1002). Two famous tragic plays that I found to have a genre of tragedy are Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. In both of these plays, the downfall was not of a person of high degree but there was a

            Pity for Willy is hardly avoidable when reading Death of a Salesman. His low rank, the lack of respect displayed by his sons, his misguided dreams, all lead to sympathy for a character on the verge of senility. ?Nobody dast blame this man,? (231) says Charley at the grave site, because, despite what Willy was lead to believe, they understood the position he was in, even though the means do not justify the end. His dream of success as a salesman failed. The sons whom he took so much

What makes this play tragic for me, though, is that Willy does not change. It is sadly his "tragic flaw" that brings about this failure. His unwillingness to submit passively to the established order and values is his demise. He has a set idea in his mind about how he wants to be and

The entire play is the story of Willys quest to gain his niche in society. Willy believes he deserves to be wealthy, well liked, and respected. Willy decides the only way he can 'preserve his dignity' and gain his 'societal niche' is by committing suicide; " It's twenty thousand dollars... guaranteed... Ben, the funeral will be massive!"( Death 126). A powerful feeling is felt in the audience when they see Willys only option is suicide. The society which he worked so hard to be a part of let him down, and this is why modern tragedy is so good at stirring an audiences feelings, because the downfall of the hero is so real a possibility. It is not some king with a fatal flaw,