An ordinary protagonist man between capitalism and his tragic end in

"Death of A Salesman"
Ali Hammodi
Modern English Drama
odd.virtue@gmail.com

Arthur Miller in his play "Death of A Salesman" shows up the problems of capitalism. He
appears the reality of the modern social system. It is, of course, a multi-dimensional play that
describes the American family, the American Dream, and the notion success however, the issue
of capitalism lies in its gist. The play seems to focus on the thought of the American Dream, but
more importantly, it is a criticism of capitalism. It motivates the readers to change their view
about capitalism. The tragedy of the Lomans is a result of the weakness of the economic
structure at that time in America. The play is a photograph of the social and economic situation
of an American family. Miller, in his play, attacks capitalism as being organized for the few
citizens rather than for the majority of people. Consequently, this harmfully influences the
working of the American Dream. That is to say, the individuals cannot achieve prosperity by
their hard-work. This means that the economic system is not organized by the society. Miller
represents the reality of American society in the period after the Second World War by building
fictional characters that stand for society against capitalism. He smartly links two major things in
the human life economy and society.
As a result. Arthur Miller emphasizes the character of Willy Loman not as a tragic hero
in classical tragedy, but as a modern tragic hero and a pathetic tragic hero in America who search
for his identity because of the harsh result of the trading world. Arthur Miller creates a
protagonist of modernism with an influence from the social movements in his era. He touches
both the classical tragedy and tragic hero to present his important purpose of the modern tragedy.
The modern hero does not have to be of a high class but rather an ordinary person. The ordinary
people are mostly affected by materialist and capitalist values as Willy Loman in Death of a
Salesman. Through this play, Willy became a modern tragic hero crying out the social injustice
in a shattered dream. Miller presents his modern hero Willy Loman not as an individual but a
type, referring to the millions of hardworking American men who start with big hopes and good
dreams when they are young but their end like Willy Loman. Thus, Arthur Miller intends Willy
to symbolize workers under capitalism. So we can observe that Willy reflects the majority of
common people who work to improve their lives, which makes him a hero for ordinary people.
Miller uses Willy's character as a protagonist to stand under capitalism which represents the
antagonist side that forces Willy Loman to get his tragic end by getting suicide and even his
tragic end comes to advance his family by the insurance money of twenty-five thousand dollars
will benefit them. The end of Miller's play confirms all Loman's sufferings during his life into
the society which takes men's abilities and youth to give them nothing or less than they deserve.
The modern hero's story does not necessarily require the protagonist to have the traditional
catharsis to bring the story to an end. Willy Loman may suffer without the ability to change
events that are happening to him. The story may end without closure.