Willy Tragic Hero

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Tragic heroes climb to the pinnacle of success and then experience a dramatic fall to their doom. “Death of a Salesman,” written by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman, a sympathetic salesman and despicable father who’s “life is a casting off” has some traits that match a tragic hero. Willy depicts a common American in search of the American Dream. His troubled personality, the financial woes, and his inability to support his families’ needs are the substantial flaws that lead to his tragic demise. Willy is an aging salesman who can’t sell anything. He is mistreated by his customers, and needs to borrow money from his successful neighbor, Charley, in order to put food on the table for his family. He is angered by the way his boss, Howard, fired him…show more content…
And this is precisely the morality of tragedy and its lesson. The discovery of the moral law, which is what the enlightenment of tragedy consists of, is not the discovery of some abstract or metaphysical quantity. (miller, common man) His problem is that he has so completely accepted the values of his society that he judges himself by standards rooted in social myths rather than human necessities. This lack of insight is strikingly similiar to traits of the tragic hero. As Aristotle’s writes, the tragic hero, “Lives for honor and fame”. The glaring point of his faulty personality of neglecting others includes those closest to him, his wife, Linda and his two sons, Biff and Happy. “You’ll retire me for life on seventy goddamn dollars a week?” (Miller, 28) is evidence of the cruelty Willy can show toward Happy as he does to Biff. Willy puts enormous pressure on his older son, Biff, to help him out in his time of need, “Hap, [Willy] got to understand that I’m not the man somebody lends that kind of money to,” (Miller, 81). In the past, Biff went unexpectly to Boston, to a hotel…show more content…
My god, if business don’t pick up I don’t know what I’m going to do!”, (Miller, 23). He works very hard he has nothing to show for it. He decides that it was hard for him to travel to places of business and asks his boss, Howard, if he can work closer to home in New York. He gets fired for asking. His financial struggles continue with late bills, and no payment for his premium insurance; he is going deep into debt. He ignores the problems and thinks that everything is going to be all right. Because of the booming economy, he is left behind in the dust; everybody competes for positions in their respective professions, in the world of America’s business. For, if it is true to say that in essence the tragic hero is intent upon claiming his whole due as a personality, and if this struggle must be total and without reservation, then it automatically demonstrates the indestructible will of man to achieve his humanity. (miller, common man) He worries for his family so he decidesl himself by getting in his vehicle and crashing into an object so his family could get money from insurance. Ironically, this trait matchs Aristotle’s views of a tragic hero; “His heroic qualities contribute to his downfall.” Willy, at times, is a despicable character who complains about the bad luck that has befallen him. He is also, at times, a sympathetic character who has no control over certain things in his life that
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