Willy Loman A Tragic Hero

Spencer Winkle
Professor Davis
Eng 002
22 July 2016
Essay 3: An Analysis of Death of a Salesmen

Willy Loman father, businessman, hero? Throughout the course of Arthur Miller’s Americana play Death of a Salesman we observe the laborious life of Wily Loman. After observing Willy throughout the play we can infer Loman is a tragic hero. In Arthur Miller’s essay Tragedy and the Common Man Miller redefines Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. According to Miller a tragic hero is an individual who aims to better his situation but is faced to struggle from forces of oppression to question his or her pride. According to Miller there is four main elements of the modern tragic hero: 1. Fatal flaw, 2. A downward spiral in life events, 3. Arrogance,
It is apparent Willy is a hardworking man and does not let his age hinder him. When the play opens Loman is seen arriving home from a business trip in Florida and reminisces to his wife Linda. When Loman lays in bed and is at the point of mental exhaustion, his wife Linda voices her concern that he is 60 years old and need to slow down. To Linda’s dismay her hope for her husband to slow down and stay in New York is impossible because Willy is stuck with his existing sales territory. He recollects that if the original owner of his company was still alive Lowman would control New York but now that the owner’s son is in charge it will make convincing him even more of a challenge. Willy also states the son is so inept he did not even know where New England was. Willy may appear as gruff man who is rough around the edges but Linda states there is goodness him. Willy’s goodness may be unorthodox and not always apparent but his wish is always betterment and success for his
It is remarkable that the way Lowman masks and modifies his faults to better the life of his family. Towards the middle of act one Willy goes on a walk to gather his thoughts then Linda comes downstairs and the boys follow. She gives the boys a lecture on their father’s situation. Willy’s work life has been deteriorating but he does not want the family to be exposed to this harsh reality He borrows money from Charley and presents this faux money as his income but Linda sees through but remains silent because she knows that if the truth gets revealed Willy would be devastated and he would be filled with feelings of being a failure. This dissatisfaction is definitely Loman’s predominant flaw as it ultimately petrifies him throughout the play and eventually seals his fate. Another instance of Willy’s dissatisfaction is that he is so displeased with his current situation he constantly urges his son Biff to become a salesman so he can live vicariously through his son and has hope he becomes more successful than he ever has. As Willy’s dissatisfaction escalates so does his delusions. Willy uses his delusions to find comfort from a world that he perceives is against him. These delusions tend to put him in harms way, for example in act one when Loman tells Linda about him getting distracted by the beauty of the scenery on his way home I have reason to suspect that was an excuse to minimize his wife’s reaction. I believe in reality Loman was daydreaming and