Death of a salesman 2
Death of a salesman 2Willy Loman as a Tragic Hero
Willy Loman, the troubled father and husband in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," can be classified as a tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle in his works, "Poetics." In Aristotle's text, a tragic hero was defined as one who falls from grace into a state of extreme unhappiness. Willy, as we are introduced to him, becomes increasingly miserable as he progresses from a dedicated, loving father, though not without flaws, into a suicidal, delusional man. The definition of a tragic hero, as stated in "Poetics," also describes a person who is influential and is of significance to others. Though, in actuality, Willy Loman may not possess these characteristics, he perceives himself as having them as he cares for himself, his children and his wife. A final distinction noted by Aristotle was that a tragic hero is not a bad person deserving of his impending misfortune, but instead, has made a series of mistakes leading to his downfall. We can see that Willy does not purposely create this harmful situation for himself, he is only ignorant that certain actions of his are wrong, which contribute to his self-ruin. Willy Loman thusly personifies the attributes of a tragic hero as proposed by Aristotle.
Willy, with a house, a car, a job, two sons whom he adores, and a supportive, caring wife, seems to have everything that any man could ever want. He manages, however, to alienate himself from these things that he loves near the end of the play as he slips into a self-induced state of altered reality. Willy, being "…lonely…terribly lonely" (1850) has an affair with a woman during his marriage to Linda. Even though she is not aware of this, or makes no mention of it, he is destroying his greatest source of support. Linda is the only one in the Loman family who seems to never give up on Willy, be it that she does not realize his shortcomings or chooses to ignore them, she remains faithful in every sense to her husband. His relationship with Biff and Happy also becomes strained throughout their lives. Because Biff was the older son and football star he made his father proud, and Happy was left without the praise that he needed and deserved, as he was always second best. Biff also was the one who caught his father having an affair with the woman, causing friction between himself and Willy. More importantly, Biff is extremely disturbed by his father's later behavior, including talking to himself, imagining conversations with various people and reacting to his memories of his children as though they were happening at that particular moment. Willy's job also falls apart from the beginning of the play towards the end. He had been making enough money to support his family, but through his philandering and lackluster sales, he ends up losing his job, eventually. Willy and his family...
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