Is Death of a Salesman a tragedy?

Free Articles

Is Death of a Salesman a tragedy?

We Will Write a Custom Essay Specifically
For You For Only $13.90/page!


order now

            A word tragedy in English literature has many shades that cannot be defined in one common statement. Several writers and poets have come up with their own version of tragedy. For an American critic, tragedy is courage and inescapable defeat, it also means unhappy ending. But for Aristotle, a literary man of high esteem would attain the classification of a tragic hero if he falls from most enduring position of his life into the condition of sadness. He is a man of influence and lays a very important role in other people’s lives, and moreover he is not a bad man who deserves such a tragic end but there are certain flaws in his character that leads him to this state of miserable end. (McManus, 1999) But Willy Loman, a main protagonist of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is most appropriate example of Aristotle’s concept of tragic hero.

He had fallen from disgrace and into a state of extreme disillusionment and unhappiness. Though he did not possess of any traits that we could call as a flaw yet he became a miserable man as he moved in his life from a dedicated father and a loving husband. Though in reality he did not have any of these attributes yet he perceived himself as having the quality of best father, best husband and best person. Willy never intentionally created any situation that would lead to his downfall but he did commit certain mistakes about which he was ignorant of and that led to his downfall. Situations he created could label him as a personification of Aristotle as a tragic hero. He had everything that a man could aspire for, a house, a car and a job, two adoring sons and a caring wife yet he managed himself to remain detached from these activities as he entered into the state of self -inflicted distorted reality.

Willy even though having a dutiful wife had an affair with another woman and during the period of his illicit affair, he was not aware of the fact that he was losing a great emotional support that he could only get from his wife. Linda was the most dutiful and a virtuous wife and remained faithful to him. Due to this behavior, he also strained his relationship with his sons. His eldest son Biff caught his father indulging in extra martial affair with another woman and this distorted the relationship between the two. He was making enough money to support his family but due to his philandering and lackluster nature, he had to lose his job. This was not the end of their nightmare as without job number of other problems too began to show their ugly face in front of them. They were living in the house which for certain unknown reasons was mortgaged and the family was not even secure in their own home and was always scared of being thrown out. In the end when Willy killed himself, their family car, which was a symbol of pride for their family was also destroyed. This car was the most significant aspect of the Willy’s family and with this destruction everything of Willy was destroyed.

Willy’s tragic end was the tragedy not because of any chance or fate but because of his own errors in judgment. He was having an affair with the other woman only due to the fact that many times he felt lonely and only wanted to have an attention away from home. The woman was not aware of the fact that Willy was failing in his life and so he kept himself contended while spending time with her at the time when he should have been working. This affected his work too as he was not able to make good number of sales. This proved that Willy was just a disturbed man and this disturbance in his life was a sufficient reason for his downfall.

Willy was a true role model as he provided everything to his family what was expected of him but his life ended in misery. He always felt that he was exercising good image and impression of himself on the other people though every time he might not succeed. His life began with prosperity but he led it with the serious tragic flaw in his character and ended as a miserable man. As regards Aristotle’s definition, he is neither an immoral nor an inculpable man but a man who can be placed in between these two extremes.

            According to Aristotle, the plot of the play is the soul of a tragedy and for Aristotle; play has beginning, middle and end and is not episodic. The same plot flows in the Death of a Salesman. It has a beginning, middle and an end and the Willy’s life moves in a sequence and is a part of the play. But the most crucial aspect of the play is having the feeling of the experience of catharsis in other words it is the arousal of emotions of pity and fear among the audience. The events and the sequences in the play Willy arouses within us the mixed emotions of sadness, sorrow and fear. It is a story of a common man of the world today who is struggling with the world and within him. It is his struggle of maintaining the balance with his own happiness and duty he has for himself and for his family. In this struggle, Willy was a failure because he deviated himself from the dictates of the society and listened more to his whims. He died as a tragic man therefore Death of a Salesman is a true tragedy. It is not just the tragic end of a Willy but it’s the tragedy of a man in this world of industrialization.

Reference List
McManus, B. F. (1999). Outline of Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy in the POETICS. Retrieved on November 20, 2008 from W.W.W: http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html

Miller, A. (1996). Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

x

Hi!
I'm Katy

Would you like to get such a paper? How about receiving a customized one?

Check it out