Willy Loman - A Tragic Hero Is dying a way to become a tragic hero? According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is defined as a literary character who makes a judgement error that leads to his/her own destruction. Most tragic heroes hold a position that is of a noble stature. Willy Loman is the main character in the play, Death of a Salesman and displays the rise and fall of a tragic hero. Many people may not consider Willy a tragic hero because he is not of high social class and he is like the millions of other Americans trying to living the American dream. However, because he portrayed the characteristics of being a failure and making mistakes, by the end of the play the audience witnesses what Aristotle called “Hamartia” Death of a Salesman can be considered a tragedy. In the play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, we learn about the main character, Willy Loman, the pity that Willy should receive, and the thought of the main character.
Aristotle discusses the idea of hamartia, which he defines as a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero of heroin. Willy’s stubbornness and excess pride could be considered as such. Often, Willy had to borrow money to pay their bills. Linda told Biff, “When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it’s pay?”(633). Guilt and feeling like a failure not supporting his family led to Willy’s daydreaming. Willy’s inability to admit that he needs help creates worry and tension in his family and eventually leads to his death. We see this during the entire play when Willy would rather borrow money and pay the bills instead of working for Charley and seem weak.
Aristotle believed that the plot held a great amount of weight in a play. We see in the plot of Death of a Salesman, Willy is struck throughout with abandonment from everyone that loved him. Perfection is nearly impossible, but during the strive for this perfection conflicts occur. Everyone makes mistakes and Willy proved this to be true, because he was unable to succeed in raising the perfect son. In this quote by Linda talking to Biff and Happy, “You’re a pair of animals! Not one, not another living soul would have had the cruelty to walk out on that man in the restaurant!”(781). This is the scene where Biff and Happy meet two girls and leave Willy in the bathroom where he has another day dream. This is where we really start to feel bad for Willy. As his fears of abandonment grow deeper, so does his control that he tries to maintain. Willy has been left behind several times by people that loved him throughout his lifetime. In the end, it is Willy who abandons his family in the form suicidal death. We the readers are affected with the pity from the sad life of Willy Loman.
Jealousy and poor decision making can overcome life aspirations. Willy Loman wanted to live the life of the American Dream. Willy always wanted to live a life similar to his brother, Ben with the good fortune. This led to jealousy which began daydreams about Ben, unfortunately they were the wrong hopes and dreams. In Willy’s daydreams, Ben speaks to Willy about his $20,000.00 life insurance policy and how the family could use it. Ben quotes, “It’s dark there, but full of diamonds.” (917) To achieve this life insurance money, Ben in his daydreams talk to Willy about finding his own diamonds, meaning suicide. Unfortunately, suicide was Willy’s decision. Unfortunately, Willy represents the millions of men that work their lives away and feeling not worthy to the work force. Willy wanted the best for his family, he wanted them to have the newest in technology. He always knew what to say during this play and made the play more interesting to the reader. For Willy, life was irregular with his brother who has receded to Africa and struck riches, while Willy is working hard every day to barely make ends meet.
It is true that Arthur Miller effectively portrays Willy Loman as a tragic hero in this story. Certainly, Willy can be portrayed as a tragic hero through the points given on his failures and jealousy throughout the story. In Willy’s thoughts, leaving his family with his life insurance money could leave them happy, on the other hand, seeing this as a heroic action is what I will have to disagree on. As a result, Willy Loman is a tragic hero in this story because he had potential heroic qualities but he may have made the wrong decision for his life aspirations. Arthur Miller showed the reader the life Willy Loman lives, he also shows how sad of a life he lives just to make his family happy, and finally how Willy lives and functions through the hard days. Family is important, even though Willy wanted the perfect life, he should have relied on his family to help overcome his struggles. Suicide, in my opinion, is not a way to become a hero and escape your problems. Unfortunately, Willy became a tragic hero from his bad judgement errors