Another key theme throughout the play is the idea of a tragic hero. Arthur Miller demonstrates that it should be possible for everyone to be able to relate to the tragic hero. Miller redefines tragedy as more common occurrence than what might happen in such tragedies as portrayed by Shakespeare. In Shakespearean works, a tragic hero has a fatal character flaw. For example in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo falls in love too quickly. The tragic hero dies as a result of this character flaw. In Shakespeare a tragic hero was of some sort of nobility, usually an aristocrat. Whereas Willy Loman is a common man and is of no such aristocracy. Does a tragic hero have to be a noble man? What is meant by the word noble? There are several arguments that can be put forward based on the idea of a tragic hero.
The play is divided into three main parts, Act I, Act II, and the Requiem. Within Act I and Act II, the story is presented through the use of Willy's flashbacks. It can be argued that the flashbacks are the most useful sections of the play for the director to convey his image of Willy Loman. This use of flashback is fundamental to the structure and understanding of the play. The story starts at present-day and Willy then lapses in and out of the past. Each flashback is somehow related the present. These flashbacks are very skilfully staged during the play. The use of lighting and music is integral. The opening stage direction is "a melody is heard, played upon a flute. It is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon.” The flute is an instrument associated with nostalgia can be heard playing when Willy begins to imagine a happier life in the past. Blue lighting is on during Willy’s idealistic dreams, giving the stage a cold and gloomy feel. The orange lighting and the “gay and bright” music of reality, which conveys an image of angry surroundings, oppose this. This contrasting lighting is symbolic of the contrast between the American dream and reality. Life in the city is a struggle, and the city itself is a place of conflict.
Very often, the contents of the flashback offer essential background knowledge for understanding why the present-day problems in the Loman family are occurring. For example, when Willy is thinking about Biff's problems, Willy is transported to the summer of Biff's penultimate high school year, which can be seen as the root of all Willy’s problems. The events that took place in the past expose for the reader the situations that have led up to the present-day boiling point in the Loman household. Events of Willy’s past are set on the same stage at the same time as his current life, meaning that the past is not something that is behind us. This is an important message that is conveyed by Arthur Miller as well as the director of the play. During one of Willy’s flashbacks, Ben’s remarks, the flute music, and the voice of the Woman can be heard all at the same time. This illustrates Miller's concept that everything exists at the same time - at least within the human mind.
However it can also be argued that the flashbacks are useful, but there are scenes during the play that are set in the present that are more useful for the director to convey Willy Loman as a tragic hero. A prime example of this is in the restaurant after Biff has gone to meet Bill Oliver to seek assistance in his quest for a job in the business world to satisfy his father. Willy and Happy are also present, and Biff is trying to emphasise to Willy the fact that he is never going to be a businessman. He believes that he would be better off in the countryside somewhere being a labourer. Willy is very stubborn and refuses to believe what Biff is saying. Willy leaves the room and Biff states that Willy is a “fine, troubled prince” who would do anything for his boys. This brings in the idea of a tragic hero being noble; in this case he is described as a Prince, describing nobility as royalty. However this is ironic, as Willy Loman is not a prince, he is a common man. The word ‘noble’ can also be seen as a way of stating that someone is a dignified, honest, hard working human being. This is what noble means in the case of Willy Loman.
This leads me onto my next point, which is debating whether Willy Loman is a tragic hero at all. Willy is from no aristocratic background, however he is a nobleman in the way that he is a man who works hard for his honest living. Miller argues that being a tragic hero is not restricted to Kings and Queens. The common man can be seen as a tragic hero. It can also be argued that Willy is not noble in his behaviour because he cheated on his ever-supportive wife Linda. Willy Loman can be seen as a tragic hero. Willy wants to be accepted as a well-liked, decent human being. These may be important values in everyday society but they are of no significance in the business world. Willy doesn't have just one fatal character flaw, he has many as he is disloyal, stubborn, short tempered, has false pride and so forth which eventually lead to his downfall. He has been treated cruelly by the world and is part of an ongoing struggle to live the American dream.
Willy realises his failures in life, from his failure to raise his sons to be a success in the business world to the fact that he has betrayed his wife with another woman. The common man, indeed, can relate to Willy Loman. He is struggling with the pressures of twentieth century life: of money, of the city, of the family, of the job, while his weaknesses are those which ordinary humans share. Miller’s idea of tragedy is ‘The result of an individual's quest for personal dignity which occurs when an individual attempts to evaluate existence justly.’ According to this statement, Willy Loman is in fact a tragic hero. The truth is that being well liked will not earn you money and assist you in acquiring material goods in the corporate world. Willy thrives on this, as he believes that a man can be assessed on his possessions. Corporate America is not ideal, it is a ruthless environment, and one in which Willy Loman cannot succeed.
Willy is somewhat misguided on his quest to be a great businessman. His brother Ben is Willy’s idealistic view of himself. Ben is a top businessman, and so is his son Bernard. The difference is, Ben and Bernard were willing to work hard, and realised what it takes to be a success in corporate America. Whereas the Loman family, especially Happy and Biff talk about going out there and getting a job just to fulfil their fathers dream of having successful sons. However Biff and Happy know that they are not going to get jobs as businessmen. This is summed up when Willy is talking to Ben. Ben talks about all the great things that his son is accomplishing, and Willy is astonished. Willy states, “Why didn’t he tell me?” Ben goes on to say that his son does not need to talk about it; he just goes out there and does it. That is the cutting edge that the Loman family is missing, after all actions speak louder than words.
In another conversation with Ben, Ben states, “A diamond is hard and rough to the touch.” Diamonds represent concrete wealth and, for that reason, they are both justification of a man’s work, and a man’s ability to pass wealth and inheritance onto his children, two things that Willy desperately craves. Diamonds, the unearthing of which made Ben a fortune, are symbolic Willy’s failure as a salesman. Despite Willy’s belief in the American Dream, a belief steadfast to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben to Alaska, the Dream’s promise of financial security has eluded Willy. At the end of the play, Ben encourages Willy to enter the “jungle” finally and retrieve this elusive diamond. By this he means for Willy to kill himself for insurance money in order to make his life meaningful.
Which brings me to my conclusion that Willy Loman is in fact a tragic hero. He is not the idealistic, romanticised, Shakespearean view of a tragic hero, but his life and his death are tragic nonetheless. He is a hard workingman, who is too naive to see that his way of life will not lead him to success. To see a man effectively wasting his life and going senile because of it is tragic in itself. His death is not as tragic as his reason for dying. He died for his boys, hoping that the money they receive would set them a strong foundation to build themselves a business empire. The tragedy in this is that he never learned the truth that his sons were never going to be ‘big shots’. He was stubborn in life, and just as stubborn in death. The tragedy is summed up by the fact that nobody attends Willy’s funeral, despite his claims to have been so well like and respected by his peers and colleagues. Effectively, his life was a lie.
