Discuss Willy Loman as a Tragic Hero.
Death of A Salesman is a notable literary work by Arthur Miller. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, to various questions of Death of A Salesman.
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Discuss Willy Loman as a tragic hero.
Willy Loman is a tragic character in the play “Death of a Salesman” (1949) by Arthur Miller (1915-2005). A tragic hero is a character who represents consequences that contain one or more personal faults or are doomed by a certain fate. Theoretically, as a literary device, the purpose of a tragic protagonist is to arouse sympathy and fear in the audience through the protagonist’s flaws and consequent fall.
Not So Good Nor Bad: According to Aristotle, the tragic hero’s character will not be much good or worse. Willy Loman is not so good or bad. He is a sixty-plus traveling salesman. He has been serving in a company as a traveling salesman for nearly 36 years. He is responsible for the family, so he is doing the job. He wants to be a successful businessman like Ben. He wants to see his sons’ high-principled positions. These are normally good sides of Willy. On the other hand, he has to conceal relations with a woman to preserve his social prestige, so we can say that Willy Loman is not fully good or bad. Linda Loman Says:
A man is not a bird, to come and go with the springtime.
Tragic flaw: The tragic fault causes the downfall of the hero. It indicates the three facts: ignorance of circumstances, the error of judgment, and voluntary commitment to error. Willy Loman has a tragic flaw, which is his high ambition. He wants to be a successful man in America. He wants to see his sons in great positions. He cannot face reality. He has an American dream, which symbolizes name, fame, and money, which are the main tragic flaws of his life.
Hubris or excessive pride: Hubris is a Greek word for excessive pride and disrespect for the natural order of things. In the play, Willy Loman has the American Dream, which stands for excessive pride. We have seen that Willy teaches his sons in such a way that the present business world does not need educational knowledge but only smartness. Such worse teaching is nothing but disrespect for the natural order of things.
It’s not what you do … It’s who you know and the smile on your face!
Nemesis: Nemesis prescribes the punishment and suffering for the tragic characters. The tragic character must suffer the utmost because of his hamartia and hubris. Willy Loman has suffered punishment before death.
At the beginning of the play, we see that Willy Loman is a salesman but does not get a fixed salary from the company. He gets only a commission from the company on product selling and suffers from an economic crisis.
Willy never introduces his children to reality; because of this, they are doomed. To establish his sons, he sacrifices his life since Biff and Happy want to start a business, but they have no money. After his death, the Insurance Company will be paid 20000 dollars. This money will help them to start the business. Thus, death is both the terms of punishment and sacrifice for Willy Loman.
After all the highways … and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.
Catharsis: Catharsis refers to pity and fear roused within the audience. In the play, we have seen that Willy Loman is a salesman. He is a complete failure. On the other hand, Biff and Happy want to start a business. They have no money to start the business. Willy Loman has sacrificed his life. Because, after his death, the Insurance Company will be paid 20000 dollars. It is a very great work, and that is why the audience has been forced to feel pity and fear.
From the above discussion, we can assert that Willy Loman is the tragic character of the drama since all the characteristics of a tragic character are well-matched with him.