Willy Loman Tragic Hero

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A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to their own destruction. In Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Death of a Salesman”, Miller redefined the tragic hero as a man whose dreams are at once insupportably vast and dangerously insubstantial. A man whose struggle is that of an individual attempting to gain his rightful position in society. A man whose tragic flaw is a crack in him and his unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he thinks challenges his dignity. A man named Willy Loman.
Willy Loman fits the description of being a tragic hero in almost every way. One of those ways being his inability to face the facts of any situation he is presented with. That is the “tragic flaw” that he possessed. Willy subconsciously avoids every issue that confronts him by having imaginary conversations with people and having them say what he would like to hear, or having flashbacks to better times. This makes Willy believe that he is someone he is not: Beyond average. Another defining trait for a tragic hero …show more content…
He retreats into his own subconscious to block out what is really happening and also to consult “others” when he has no one else to talk to. Willy also suffers his tragic downfall privately and in public, as a tragic hero does as well, as a tragic hero also does, involving sexual transgressions. This happened when willy left Biff and Happy in the restaurant to go in the bathroom to have another flashback. This time, it was revealed unto the audience that he had an affair. “Biff: Dad… Willy: She’s nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely. Biff: You- you gave her mama’s stockings!... Don’t touch me, you- liar!” (Miller 95). It was at this point that Willy, whether or not it was justifiable on Biff’s part, started Biff down the path of

Willy Loman Tragic Hero

his character Willy Loman. Willy is a man that is trapped within his own delusions with no escape. He faces trials and tribulations created by his own hand repeatedly. Miller uses Willy as a way to challenge tradition, specifically the tradition of the tragic hero. Willy Loman portrays the perfect example of a tragic hero but not in the traditional sense. Willy is Miller’s version of a hero within his own tragedy; he is a “modern” tragic hero. In the traditional sense a tragic hero is a man of noble…

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Arthur Miller's Willy Loman As A Tragic Hero

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Willy Loman: the Tragic Hero Essay examples

Arthur Miller made the comment that a tragic hero “has the inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity.” Nowhere is this more evident than in Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, where salesman Willy Loman desperately struggles to regain a sense of dignity after experiencing a number of setbacks in his life. Despite not being able to provide for his family, Willy Loman continues the futile struggle to earn a living, which shows the despair…

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“Attention must be paid”. Consider Miller’s dramatic presentation of Willy Loman: to what extent do you respond sympathetically to Willy as a tragic hero? Death of a Salesman is a modern domestic tragedy, where the struggles of one man are a reflection of the struggles of a whole nation. Willy Loman, the tragic hero of this play is portrayed as a worn out man who is holding on to old dreams. The quote “attention must be paid” is a rather accurate way in which other characters, such as Biff, Happy…

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Modern Tragedy Lit Argument Arthur Miller’s modern play, Death of a Salesman, examines the life of salesman Willy Loman and his family. The story of Willy Loman is considered to be one of the great modern tragedies. The play directly correlates with Aristotle’s Poetics, in how a play is or is not a tragedy. “According to Aristotle, a play must have four elements to be a tragedy. It needs a character of nobility, this character must recognize the fatal flaw in the climax of the play, high language…

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The reader develops sympathy towards the main character Willy Loman because, he struggles with the ideals that American society has placed on everyone. The reader can relate to his since of failure because the American dream is really only a dream and is impossible to obtain if you measure your success by what American society has put forth. Willy is the protagonist of the play, he is unable to face the truth about himself and how others view him. He falls into the commonly conceived idea that…

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