Death of a Salesman-Is Willy a Modern Tragic Hero?
"Attention, attention must be paid to such a man". In which parts of the play can Willy Loman be considered "great", and where does he seem a "low man". Do you agree that he is truly a modern tragic figure?
Death of a Salesman is a play that has come to redefine the concept of modern tragedy. A challenge to Philip Sydney's judgement that "tragedy concerneth the high fellow" Death of a Salesman is the tragedy of the common man of the low-man. Many critics charge that Death of a Salesman falls short of tragedy and is therefore disqualified as a "great" play. Tragedy is developed as a form of drama that incorporates incidents arousing pity and fear, to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions. The ancient philosopher, Aristotle, wrote the first, and in many ways the most significant, thesis on tragedy in his Poetics. He argued that the protagonist of a tragedy must be a man of noble birth, who due to some predestined flaw, or hamartia, in his character, suffers greatly. Aristotle argues that many tragic representations of suffering and defeat can leave an audience feeling not depressed, but relieved and perhaps even exalted. He also argues that a tragic hero will most effectively evoke both our pity and terror if he is of higher than ordinary moral worth. For Willy to be a tragic hero in the Aristotelian sense, he would have to be a man of obvious virtue who has a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. This would place the blame for the events of the play firmly on Willy's shoulders, even though the punishment is extreme. Willy Loman does not fit the criteria of a traditional tragic hero in one telling way he is not of noble birth. Miller believed that "the common man is as apt for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were" and that it mattered not whether he "falls from a great height or a small one." People who are atop the social hierarchy can still hold a high place in other peoples' hearts we can see that Linda adores Willy, and until
Death of a Salesman is a play that has come to redefine the concept of modern tragedy. A challenge to Philip Sydney's judgement that "tragedy concerneth the high fellow" Death of a Salesman is the tragedy of the common man of the low-man. Many critics charge that Death of a Salesman falls short of tragedy and is therefore disqualified as a "great" play. Tragedy is developed as a form of drama that incorporates incidents arousing pity and fear, to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions. The ancient philosopher, Aristotle, wrote the first, and in many ways the most significant, thesis on tragedy in his Poetics. He argued that the protagonist of a tragedy must be a man of noble birth, who due to some predestined flaw, or hamartia, in his character, suffers greatly. Aristotle argues that many tragic representations of suffering and defeat can leave an audience feeling not depressed, but relieved and perhaps even exalted. He also argues that a tragic hero will most effectively evoke both our pity and terror if he is of higher than ordinary moral worth. For Willy to be a tragic hero in the Aristotelian sense, he would have to be a man of obvious virtue who has a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. This would place the blame for the events of the play firmly on Willy's shoulders, even though the punishment is extreme. Willy Loman does not fit the criteria of a traditional tragic hero in one telling way he is not of noble birth. Miller believed that "the common man is as apt for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were" and that it mattered not whether he "falls from a great height or a small one." People who are atop the social hierarchy can still hold a high place in other peoples' hearts we can see that Linda adores Willy, and until
Bibliography: Arthur Miller - Timebends Arthur Miller –Tragedy and the Common Man, the New York Times, 1949 Susan Harris Smith – Conceptualising Death of a Salesman as an American Play Dennis Welland - Death of A Salesman Philip Sydney quoted in Arthur Miller and Company edited by Christopher Bigsby