Death Off A Salesman Shame

‘At the heart of the tragic experience is an overwhelming sense of shame’

To what extent do you agree with this view in relation to two texts you have studied?

There are many aspects that can lead to tragedy in texts, shame can be a strong aspect however there are others that can be just as dramatic as an aspect for a tragedy to take place. In this essay I will be looking at the effects of shame and other aspects of tragedies.

In ‘Death off a Salesman’, it is clear from the start of Act 1 that Willie is ashamed of the way his life turned out and ultimately how he ends up treating his family poorly from his own shame. The shame that Willie experiences is ultimately the cause of his death, he is ashamed of himself for not being as successful

This could be why Wille only likes to succeed by himself and could be the reason he refuses to take a job from Charley and refuses any help from people that he wouldn't be able to repay (such as the loans off Charley for the rent) but even with this help; Willie is still so ashamed that he cant support his family himself that he doesn't tell his wife that he's getting financial help. This shame becomes so apparent when Linda tells Biff that his father has been setting up a way for him to commit suicide and then blames Biff for it; she is so willing to put her husband before her son’s she tells Biff ‘Biff, dear, if you don't have ay feeling for him, then you don't

The main factor towards the tragedy in this poem is the death of those who were encouraging the relationship between Porphyro and Madeline, with the death of Angela and the Beadsman it could be seen that Keats was saving them from the punishment of those who do not believe in the love they had, suggesting that as a Romantic who believed that the idea of true love was fading away in society, Keats used ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ as social commentary on what he saw as a true tragedy in the society he lived within. By looking at the poem in this way it is clear that shame isn't the ‘heart’ of the tragedy and more the death of imagination and the introduction of a more scientific way of looking at life being the heart of tragedy. there is a constant emphasis within the poem on the weather and how before the lovers are together it is a very cold and unforgiving place to be; ‘the owl for all its feathers, was a-cold’. This is then contacted to a very warm feeling within the poem once the lovers are together, however once the beadsman has died for their love and Porphyro and Madeline escape, it goes cold again due to the lack of that romance, Keats writes ‘For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold’. Again this is just preserving the idea of the Romantics that love is sacred and to be encouraged and that the loss of love