Death of a Salesman

             The Tragedy of Death Of A Salesman

             In the first B.C dramatist known as Aristotle started to write a series
of plays called the tragedies. They were as follows: the play revolved
around a great man, such as a king or war hero, who had a tragic flaw. This
flaw would eventually become his downfall and he would fall from his glory.
In the case of obvious it was his hubris; and Oedipus, his pride and
curiosity. Through out the play the hero has many opportunities to
overcome his mistakes. On the other side, the reason that his nature he
sarcomas to it and deals with a sever punishment. 
             These types of plays are still written today, an example is Author
Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller attempts to illustrate the misfortune in
the common man. According to Arthur Miller, "the tragic feeling is evoked in
us when we are in the presence of a character who ready to put his life
aside, if necessary, to secure one thing - his sense of personal dignity."
(Tragedy and the Common Man p.1) He is saying in this quotation is that
even that the common man can even be tragic because occasionally the
one thing that she prizes the most, his sense of self-dignity, can be so
jaded that he will sacrifice his own life to secure this dignity. In “Death to a
Salesman”, Arthur Miller successfully shows that you do not have to be a
king or someone important to be tragic. 
             The classical model of a tragedy is that of someone of a high
position contains superior qualities such as leadership for instance a king.
However the hero always has a flaw, which may be an excess of one of
these qualities such as hubris. This hero while trying to accomplish a goal
such as a quest will eventually be dealt punishment, which is usually death.
One could argue that not only Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is true but that
there can be many different kinds of tragedies. From the tragedy of a
common man to that of a family or group of people. In opposition to
Aristotle's view one could argue that any type of man could show tragic
qualities, no matter what social environment the man comes from. The hero
could range from a highly intellectual and educated man with great
potential but whose flaw is lack of motivation, to a crack addict living on the
street who refuses to enter rehab. The fate of people such as this might not
be as appalling as death; however may be economic failure or social
rejection. 
             Willy Loman is in the low social position but it seems to act like he
is king of the world. His family believes that he is the hero in their world and
they would be nothing without him. But he is only an agitated sales man. “In
the greatest country of the world a young man with such attractiveness,
gets lost.” (Page 16 Death to a Salesman) He also shows qualities of a
tragic hero. 
             Arthur Miller’s tragic man would rather die than to face losing his
dignity. “I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the
presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life.” (Para. 4, Arthur
Miller) Willy was ready to throw his life away to be a well-liked man and
successful being. His weakness was he was not able to be as successful
as he wanted to so he faked it. He mad him self-out to be top dog but in the
end his fate was that he was a nobody or an average Joe. He pictures as
he prepares for suicide that lots of salesman are coming to his funeral but
it’s false. Willy may be a common man who is nothing more than a
visionary and a liar, but he is still pictured a tragic hero. He even thought
manual labor manual labor wasn’t civilized enough for people yet he was
proud of the ceiling he put in the dinning room, which was manual labor. He
shows there that he is a hypocrite. He makes his family believe that if you
are well liked in life you will go far with out working hard. “They look at him
through his own eyes because he has blinded their own.” (B.K.M) 
             He wants to be a well-known man at home around the world in
other countries, which is impossible. Because of Willy's view and action he
could be used as the perfect tragic hero. “But there among is today, as
there always have been, those who act against the scheme of things that
degrades them, and in the process of action everything we have excepted
out of fear or intensity or ignorance is shaken before us and examined…”
(1st paragraph Arthur Miller) Many people may put “Death to a Salesman”
as a boring and non-tragic piece, but Arthur Miller disagrees and says it is
one of the best tragic examples written. It is about the common man who in
his own eyes and his family’s is the one of the greatest being in the world.
Yet the great Aristotle disagrees and says that tragic pieces most conclude
of a serious story with a great man. In the story Willy was serious in his
own ways with his on ways. So according to both these men Aristotle and
Arthur Miller the play “Death to a Salesman” was a tragedy.