Willy Loman |
Another character who is made out to be a tragic hero is Willy Loman from Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman”. Willy was also very delusional, but he also acted as the typical American tragic hero for his family, his personal dignity, and his self-image. Willy Loman saw himself as the best and most successful salesman and a very well-liked man. He portrays this image this sons, when in reality Willy is struggling to get enough money to put dinner on the table and pay the bills. His solution to this problem was to kill himself, so his family could receive the insurance check, but this was because of his delusion. Three writers who analyzed this play and wrote essays which prove Willy Loman is the definition of a tragic hero are L. M. Domina who wrote “Failure and Delusion in Miller’s Death of a Salesman”, M. Bettina who wrote “Willy Loman’s Brother Ben: Tragic Insight in Death of a Salesman”, and Joyce Carol Oates who wrote “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: A Celebration”.
L. M. Domina extends Miller’s claim in “Tragedy and the Common Man” which says tragic heroes are constantly trying to prove themselves and they feel their personal image is at risk. Domina says “When [Willy] does finally succeed in killing himself, his act can be interpreted as a culmination of secrets . . . they also include his failure as a salesman and the subsequent failures of his sons” (Domina 3). Domina claims Willy’s death is a result of his secrets and his self-image as a failure and his belief that his son’s failures were his fault. By killing himself, Willy believes this will prove to his sons his success and how liked he was by all the people who will attend his funeral, but he’s just delusional. By evaluating Willy’s reasons for ending his life, Domina proves Miller’s thesis applies to Willy Loman. M. Bettina also extends Miller’s claim in “Tragedy and the Common Man”. In his essay, Miller claimed the tragic hero “fears being displaced, the disaster inherent from being torn away from our chosen image” (Miller 2). Bettina supports this claim by writing “Willy . . . [gave] up his life rather than his chosen image of himself . . By that very fact, he must go the way of the tragic hero” (Bettina 3). Willy is a true tragic hero because he possesses the desire to die for his dignity and for preserving his image. Bettina also extends Miller’s claim that the tragic hero fears misperception from society of his chosen self-image from “Tragedy and the Common Man”. Bettina notes that Willy had a strong sense of individuality by quoting “Death of a Salesman” when Willy said, “I am not a dime a dozen . . . I am Willy Loman” (Bettina 1). Willy embodies the tragic hero in the sense that he is unwilling to believe his self-image is coming into question. Lastly, Joyce Carol Oates also extends Miller’s claim that a tragic hero is “a character who is ready to lay down his life . . . to secure one thing - his sense of personal dignity” from “Tragedy and the Common Man” (Miller 1). Carol Oates claims “Willy Loman has become our quintessential American tragic hero . . . spiraling towards suicide as toward an act of selfless grace” (Carol Oates 2). Carol Oates categorizes Willy Loman as the American tragic hero just as Arthur Miller did. |
Another character who appears to have some characteristics of a tragic hero is Walter Lee: