Willy Loman Tragic Hero Essay

Throughout Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is characterized as an Aristotelian tragic hero. He is also portrayed as coming from a high, prosperous place when Ben describes his father at the beginning of the play as a man who “made more in a week than a man like [Willy] could make in a lifetime” (Act 1 page 34). Since Willy’s father is “a great inventor [and] … a great salesman,” (Act 1 page 34) he has expectations to be successful also. He admires the success of his father and wants to raise his sons the same. His sons, Biff and Happy, are ultimately already set up for failure because he follows his ideology of expecting to succeed. Although he is popular, this is not enough for him to gain the success he thinks he deserves. By raising his children to be successful, Willy wants others to view him as a successful father since others see

When Willy is fired from his job, his society around him notices that his pride is the factor that is contributing to his failure. Willy is blindsided and still thinks he is succeeding. When he strives to get a job near his home, he gets fired. As a middle-class man, Willy can be replaced at any moment in the business world. He says, “a man is not a piece of fruit,” (Act 2 page 62) but in reality, men are metaphorically fruit. At any moment, they can be tampered with and then replaced. When he is offered another job, he does not take it because he believes he is a value to their company. He starts to lose the materialistic items that mean the most to him including his job and car. Without any of his materialistic items, he is seen once again in the society as a lower-class man. His self-confidence starts to decline leading to his suicidal thoughts and actions. By portraying Willy’s fall due to his flaw, pride, Miller is able to portray Willy as a tragic