Similarities Between Oedipus And Willy

Oedipus and Willy: The Consequences of Their Destiny Tragedy has created an impact on many peoples lives that can affect the common person and it doesn't have to be someone of a high social status. In the plays Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, they show that tragedy can occur to someone in a high or low status in society. No man in this world is free of having some type of tragedy throughout their lifetime. Although Oedipus and Willy were tragic heroes, Oedipus is a superior tragic hero compared to Willy because Willy had the chance to change his destiny but didn't take advantage of it. Oedipus’s life was cursed before he was born, therefore he couldn't do anything about it. However he tried

Tragic heroes were always considered kings and were always treated with respect because they were of high status. Hamartia was considered something that the tragic hero had to commit because it lead him to his downfall. Oedipus the King was a perfect example of what Aristotle was describing. Oedipus was a king with many tragic flaws but a prophecy changed his life. Oedipus lived back in the times of Greek Gods where tragedy came from their curses towards the people who did something wrong. While Arthur Miller’s theory of tragedy is that “the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were”. He knew that tragedy is also something that occurs in modern times just as in Greek times. The common man could be anyone that decides to create his own free will. Miller believed that “the flaw…is really nothing and be nothing, but his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity, his image of his rightful status” meaning that a flaw does not really exist but it is the will of a man to fail. Death of a Salesman was a good example to show that it was the fate of a common man to create its own tragedy. Willy, a common sales man that had many conflicts and regrets about his life, committed suicide in a tragic way leaving his family behind mourning his

Oedipus was cursed when he was a baby and found out his destiny when the god Apollo showed him a vision saying “You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see- you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!” (Sophocles 873-875) However, Oedipus did not know that the ones who found him and raised him as his son were not his parents. After the prophecy, Oedipus decided to run away to try to change his fate even though it was already set to kill his father and sleep with his mother, unfortunately he couldn’t do anything about it. “Its mine alone, my destiny-I am Oedipus!” (Sophocles 1497) This shows that Oedipus knew that even though he tried to run away from his “parents” believing that the prophecy would not come true. It turns out that he couldn’t do anything to change his