Willy Tragic Hero

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

In the play The Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman is a very troubled and distraught character. He is an ordinary man with nothing to show for himself. This leads him to a constant internal battle. A tragedy, being defined as, “a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending concerning the downfall of the main character.” The Death of A Salesman can be thought of as a tragic play because the main character sets out to achieve something that will inevitably lead to his downfall. While trying to live out a perfect version of the American dream but falling very short. Often, Willy Loman is debated as a tragic hero, “a character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to their own destruction.” When people think of a hero, they automatically turn to kings or people of high nobility. The author, Arthur Miller, believed that the common man makes the best tragic hero. In his essay, “Tragedy and The Common Man”, Miller argues for Willy Loman by stating, “a tragic hero does not need to be of high nobility, it can be in an average person who possesses a tragic flaw”. Arthur believed that there were many heroes in the world, and tragedy can affect even the lowest of the classes. A tragic hero often makes the decision to end his life due to his tragic flaw. Willy Loman can be defined as a tragic hero because he exhibits excessive pride, is noble in nature, but imperfect so that the audience can relate to him, and is faced with a very big decision that he has to make.

The first major standard of tragedy set forth is:  “...if the exaltation of tragic action were truly a property of the high-bred character alone, it is inconceivable that the mass of mankind should cherish tragedy above all other forms.” All persons regardless of background, nobility stature, rank, or pretended or actual social division can innately empathize with the tragic hero. In the case of Willy Loman there

In The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, it is argued weather that Willy Loman is a tragic hero. There are cases for both classifications of Willy. By definition, a tragic hero is a person born into nobility, is responsible for their own fate, endowed with a tragic flaw, and doomed to make a serious error in judgment. The tragic hero eventually falls from great esteem. They realize they have made an irreversible mistake, faces death with honor, and dies tragically. The audience also has to be affected by pity or fear for the tragic hero. In order for Willy Loman to be a tragic hero, he has to fulfill all of these descriptions. Willy Loman fits into some of

In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy is both sympathized with and looked down upon throughout the story. Willy is a very complex character with problems and faults that gain both sympathy and also turn the reader off to him. Willy Loman is both the protagonist and the antagonist, gaining sympathy from the reader only to lose it moments later.

Reality conflicts with Willy’s hopes. Throughout his life, Willy has held himself to such high standards that he refuses to accept denial and or failure. By the time the play opens, Willy is suffering from crippling self-pity. He is so focused on succeeding that he can’t maintain a constant fantasy. At one point Willy calls Biff (Willy’s son) a lazy bum and just days later proceeds to tell him that he’s anything but lazy. In another instance, he calls the family car a piece of trash one day and “It’s the finest car every Built.” Denying Biff’s laziness allows Willy to hold on to the notion that someday Biff will eventually exceed his fathers expectations. Willy is constantly changing his interpretation of reality based on his psychological needs at the moment. When Willy was much younger

I believe that Willy’s tragic flaw is his inability to gain satisfaction from his life. Willy chases fantasy’s instead of accepting what his life is. He is so delighted in his fantasy that he would do anything to keep it. He is blinded to reality and cause his sons to be too. I see Willy’s tragic flaw on Act II. Biff realizes Willy’s rejection to reality and says, “I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been.” (Miller 1510). Willy has not only himself living in his fantasy world, but his family too. The Catastrophe that befalls Willy is his decision to take his own life. Before he commits suicide, he has an obsession with his seeds. “I've got to get some seeds. I've got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing's planted. I don't

In the play Death of a Salesman Willy believes that a popular and well liked salesman that has attractive qualities about himself like his appearance is meant to be successful. Willy valued more the exterior qualities and was consumed by wanting to look good for other people. Due to looking at the exterior and physical qualities he failed in achieving what he wanted and needed to achieve. One part that Willy failed at was relying too much on his character and his personality instead of doing the work that was assigned and actually working hard to make a sale. Willy thought that by having a great personality it would help make the sale for him, he cared more about what people thought about him than about making an actual sale. Willy is chasing

That man was a genius, that man was success incarnate!” (Miller) He wishes he could provide the ideal american life and his obsession with it paired with his demanding job as a traveling salesman causes his mind to deteriorate, leading to his death. A very interesting aspect of Willy’s character is that he meets the requirements for the role of tragic hero. Willy’s tragic flaw is his pride, after his boss died he lost his recognition at work he is unable to gain the amount of respect, this is mentioned on page “If old man Wagner was alive I’d been in charge of New York now! That man was a prince, he was a masterful man. But that boy of his, Howard, he don’t appreciate.”(Miller) this is the reversal of fate. Willy recognizes that he will never actually be able to succeed in business which is his realization and finally, Willy committed suicide which is his tragic

Another example of Willy’s sufferings was when he lost his job. For instance, Willy is dissatisfied with his career and decides to ask his boss Howard to work in the town instead of traveling for work from New York to New England every two weeks. Howard ends up saying “there just is no spot here for you” (Miller 56) and ends up firing him. Although Willy had a long career with the company and was very productive, Howard let him go. Willy defends himself by saying “I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance!” (Miller 57). Howard fires Willy at a time when he was most desperate. This shows the “change in the hero’s fortunes” (Nardo 73). Regardless being fired from his job, Willy still had hopes for his sons Biff and Happy to start a new business. Things did not go according to the plan and the business ends up not happening which causes Willy to suffer even more. Willy goes through financial troubles which prevent him to achieve the American Dream, keep his job, and provide for his family. These are all signs of disappointment and

            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

On the contrary, we are not immediately introduced to this delusional, flaky character. At the beginning of scene one, we see the more assertive side of Willy as he discusses business possibilities with his wife Willy. Miller balances out the audience's perception of Willy towards the end of the act where the more vulnerable side of Willy is illustrated, with the use of his behaviour and the response of others to his attitude. An example of this would be Linda diligently agreeing with Willy's strange statements. One of Willy's traits which qualify him as a hero is his eternal sacrifice, and the way that he throws everything into the balance in order to secure his rightful place in society, and to live the American Dream.

Willy’s obsession with success leads to the start of him living in his own fantasy world. He lives in the past, for there was hope for him then, but now he is completely subject to failure. Willy’s demise could have been avoided had he changed his dream, and had he not conformed to society. In the end his dream did not pay off, and he ultimately fell victim to the American Dream, and the deceitful ideals of freedom that factored into the

Sadly, his overzealous attempts serve only to reinforce his son's inadequacy and lack of identity. Willy realizes toward the end of the play that he doesn't need to sell himself to his family, who loves him despite his failings. His suicide, an act of defiance of the system, which until now has defeated him, is also a tragic attempt to salvage something of his dream. Willys readiness to lay down his life to secure his dream that makes Willy a tragic yet heroic figure and one to whom in Linda's words, "attention must be paid finally." According to Miller, "the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready t put his life aside, if necessary, to secure one thing, his sense of personal dignity" (Para 3, Miller). He is saying in this quotation that even the common man can even be tragic because occasionally the one thing that he prizes the most, his sense of self dignity can be so jaded that he would rather die than except his failure. "I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life" (Para 4, Miller). Perhaps Miller is correct, the reader sympathisizes with Willy because he is so passionate about his self preservation and pride. Willy was ready to throw his life away to be a well -liked man and successful being. He did not want to accept the fact that he failed in his occupation, so he refused to ever acknowledge his dying career. In the end his fate was that

In the Death of the Salesman play which is about a dysfunctional, american family, including Biff,Happy,Willy,and Linda.The author of The Death of the Salesman is Arthur Miller. So in this Play there is a tragedy which is define to be a imitation of an action that is serious and has significance in the situation. The two reasons that I think this play is a tragedy is the way the suicide was done with Willy and how he was taking the situation light-hearted than the normal deserved darken way and tragedy around it.Willy believes that Biff is all the blame to what happen to him but he has a big part with building a false dream for Biff and Happy especially by having an affair. A tragic hero is a dramatic character who make a choice that results in his downfall or collapse of that character.Miller believes that a common man is the best tragic hero by saying in the text,“I believe that every common man is a hero of their own story and struggles”. Willy Loman is a tragic hero based on him having excessive pride, especially in his son’s,Therefore he believes that he deserves more than has been given to him,and has been faced with a serious decision he has to make.