Willy loman vs Oedipus The King
Willy loman vs. Oedipus The KingWilly Vs. The King
Although they were composed around 2,500 years apart from one another, Oedipus The King by Sophocles, and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller are known as two of the best tragedy plays ever written. Both of these plays twist and turn with tragedy, and irony. Oedipus was bore to the king and queen of Thebes. At a very young age, they disowned Oedipus and drove metal pins through his ankles and gave them to a shepherd. The shepherd’s job was to put Oedipus on top of Cithaeron and leave him there to die. The shepherd gave the baby to a fellow shepherd he met on the mountain from the city-state of Corinth. Soon enough the child ended up in the household of the childless king and queen of Corinth. As a young man he learned of his fate to kill his father and marry his mother. Fleeing his family and seeking refuge from his terrible future in a distant city-state of Thebes only brought the actualization of the forecast. Unbeknownst to Oedipus, he had killed his father on his journey and entered the bed of his mother. He lived in his relationship and as King of Thebes for many years until at last he painfully revealed the blinding truth over the course of one shocking day. Realizing what he had done, he blinds himself with the golden pins of his wardrobe and has himself banished to a far away land where he will cause nobody harm. Death of a Salesman is a modern day tragedy based on the life of Willy Loman, a New England traveling salesman in the mid 1900’s. Willy, the average American Joe is married to Linda Loman, a deep and caring woman, who he had two sons Biff and Happy with. The play starts out when Biff and Happy are in their twenties, and Willy’s sales career is on a downward spiral, with his whole family there to watch it. Willy has never had a great relationship with either of his sons, especially Biff. Willy feels he is failing his family. Willy lives his life in a series of illusions of the past. All of these illusions are of great family, and career memories. Willy stays in these illusions because I feel he is too afraid to live in reality where he would be forced to examine his affair in Boston, his philosophy and all of his family and financial debts. Willy loses his job and is on the brink of suicide and forever failing his attempts to make his family better than average. Willy commits suicide so his family can receive the insurance check and so Biff can live a successful life without worries. I feel that both these characters life came crashing down on them, and I feel for each man and play, but more for Willy and Death of a...
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