Death of a Salesman: Is Willy Loman a tragic hero or a tragic victim?
Lara Jackman 2AA. Mr. Roberts Is Willy Loman a tragic hero or a tragic victim? Centre No:49005 Candidate No:7244 The "quintessential American tragic hero"1 or "a passive victim of corrupted propagandist society"2; this is just one example of the conflicting views surrounding Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman". Consumed with a flawed vision of the American Dream, this character is certainly a contemporary figure and his life remains symbolic and relevant to this day with regards to the pitfalls of capitalist values, as it was fifty years ago. Indeed, Willy Loman is unique in the sense that it is difficult to categorise him as one particular character stereotype; it depends on the individual's point of view. Some critics argue that he is neither a tragic hero or victim, but rather a "victimizer of himself and others"3 and "a coward"4. Certainly, there are numerous interpretations that have been explored over the years and it is due to the wide scope for analysis Willy offers that "Death of a Salesman" remains a favourite to discuss amongst critics to the present day. The idea of Willy Loman as a "tragic hero" has been the subject of heated debate for decades. Some of the classic features of a tragic hero, as determined by Aristotle, can undoubtedly be applied to Willy Loman and therefore support the idea of a heroic
To what extent is Willy Loman a tragic hero?
To What Extent Is Willy Loman A Tragic Hero? The play, "Death of a Salesman", written by Arthur Miller, is about the 'American Dream' and a man so disillusioned by it that he becomes a modern day 'tragic hero'. Tragic heroes derive from the Greeks, but Shakespeare adapted his own genre for tragedy. Most Shakespearean tragedies all fit the same pattern, which is that the protagonist is of noble birth and have a fatal character flaw which usually leads to their demise. Arthur Miller took Shakespeare's ideas for what a tragic hero should be and made them relevant to this time period. One particular critic thought, "a contemporary audience can no longer accept that a tragic hero is punished by comic force...A tragedy must be brought about by... recognisable social factors." 1This means that the factors of Shakespearean and Aristotelian tragedies are outdated for a modern day audience, audiences cannot accept that the protagonist falls due to a higher power, it must be something they can relate to or understand. Willy Loman is a struggling salesman around the age of sixty. He lives with his wife Linda and two sons Biff and Happy. Willy does not fit the usual criteria established by Shakespearean or Aristotelian tragedies. Firstly, he is not of noble birth, although in the play Miller makes a link known to the audience because Willy is made to appear of noble birth as he is in
How does the Requiem reflect the elements of tragedy explored within Death of a Salesman?
How does the Requiem reflect the elements of tragedy explored within Death of a Salesman? In 1949; whilst America saw the culmination of anti-communist feelings, fear of the unknown and the general hysteria which stemmed from the Cold War against Russia; playwright Arthur Miller published what was seen to be a personal criticism of the American way of life, his play, "Death of A Salesman". Death of A Salesman tells the story of Willy Loman, a lowly salesman slowly being estranged from society and increasingly led into confusion by his attempts to escape his own failure brought about by the great American Dream he has served so loyally. It was for this play Miller was brought in front of HUAC (house un-American activities committee) and charged with undermining American Values. Miller defended himself by claiming he simply aspired to "show the truth as [he] saw it". It is because Miller insisted on adhering to realism, that he chose a normal, "Loman", or literally, low man, to be his Tragic Hero. In doing so, Miller broke one rule- that of Aristotelian tragedy, which demands a "noble" hero, of high birth; and simultaneously abided by another, the rule of a Modern Domestic Tragedy which requires an ordinary person's story to be told. Whilst Milton would have deplored this "introducing of trivial and vulgar persons [into tragedy]", Miller dismissed all criticism of his choice
"Linda: I don't say he's a great man... He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being... Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.
"Linda: I don't say he's a great man... He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being... Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person. Using two or three critical views as a starting point, write an analytical response to the character of Willy Loman in the play. Towards the end of act one, Linda says that Willy is 'just' a common man, but that he still deserves sympathy when something terrible occurs in his life. Simultaneously Arthur Miller speaks through this character to persuade his audience that Willy's fate is vitally important, in spite of his humble status. The implication that Miller is making is that if a person doesn't receive the human dignity they deserve, they can be viewed as fundamentally tragic. Critics have asserted a range of interpretation's of Willy's character, from Gassner's positive assessment that Willy's "battle for self-respect... [,his] refusal to surrender... [and his] agony... gives him tragic status", to the more negative views of, say, Driver, who believes "It is in the lack of penetration that Miller fails us... we must settle for no more enlightenment... than pathetic Willy has." Miller clearly wanted the audience to feel sympathetic towards Willy. To achieve this he advances three main criteria for tragedy: That Willy is a common man, that he loses dignity and that society is to blame for his
"A Reader privy to Miller's Commentary would view 'The Crucible'very differently to a Theatregoer".
"A Reader privy to Miller's Commentary would view 'The Crucible' very differently to a Theatregoer" In 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller the commentary and stage directions are very important and they tell the reader a lot of information that they would not know if they had only seen a production of the play at the theatre. This fact, however, does not stop people from going to see the play and also does not stop people producing new versions of it. 'The Crucible' was first performed in America in 1953, then in England in 1954 and since then there have been countless productions of it in theatres worldwide as well as at least two films made of it. One possible explanation as to why the play is so popular is because it is such a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance and hysteria can tear a whole community apart, and people can still relate to this. At the beginning of Act 1 there is a very long commentary followed by some stage directions. These portions of text give us a full introduction to the play itself and the setting, and through them the reader learns that Salem is a relatively newly established town (even though the book tells us also that by today's standards the town would "hardly be called a village"). It was also very sombre place with a strict Puritan society and religion played a major part in their lives. Also in the commentary there is a
"Death of a Salesman is a play about love". Arthur Miller.
"Death of a Salesman is a play about love" "It's all relationships. I wanted plenty of space in the play for people to confront each other with their feelings..." [Conversations with Arthur Miller, edited by Matthew C Roudine]. Love in the Loman family either brings them together or tears them apart. During the play we see the different ways in which they express their love for each other. There's the love between Willy and Linda, Willy and 'the woman', Willy and Biff and the lack of love between Willy and Happy and even the love and admiration that Willy has for Charlie. The love between Willy and Biff is the most controversial of all, a love so powerful that it does more harm than good. Biff and Willy have different ways of expressing their love; they both detest confrontation and rarely express their feelings for each other. If we go back to when Biff is in high school we can see why. The relationship between Willy and Biff was at an all time high for the play. The fatherly-son activities such as rooting for Biff at football games, praising his accomplishments and defending him from the critical comments of Bernard shows us the father Willy could be. Once Biff finds out about Willy's affair with the woman we see the side of Biff that is expressed throughout the rest of the play. Part of Biff still loves and admires his father, but the other half (the half that
How does Arthur Miller show that Salem society has the capacity for what started with just 'dancin' to end with the deaths of innocent people?
How does Arthur Miller show that Salem society has the capacity for what started with just 'dancin' to end with the deaths of innocent people? During the 17th century in Salem, the church and government were very closely intertwined and the government was based on a rule of religion. At the beginning of the play, the community is still relatively new and many fears and tensions abound. This however, is unusual in a puritan society such as this one. The girls' stories are believed because of the inherent fears present in Salem society. Arthur Miller incorporates different types of fear into the play; these show how the society has the capacity for the events which unfold. As the community has been established in a 'new' land, there is a fear of isolation as they are in a new land. This fear of isolation leads to insecurities. There was also a fear of God and the unexplained. The people's knowledge of the world at that period in time would have been very limited. Therefore, certain phenomenon that could be explained by scientific theories today, would have remained an enigma back in the 17th century. Arthur Miller uses this fear of the unknown to create uneasiness within Salem's community. Furthermore, he used the witch trials to give residents something to blame the unexplained fears on. Tituba led the girls to the woods and performed a ritualistic ceremony. The Puritans
How important is the character Alfieri in the play "A View from the Bridge"? Consider his role in the action and how miller uses him as a dramatic device.
How important is the character Alfieri in the play "A View from the Bridge"? Consider his role in the action and how miller uses him as a dramatic device. In the play "A View from the Bridge" the character Alfieri has two important roles, the narrator and the character. As a narrator he gives us information on what will happen and what has happened in Red Hook and the lives of its occupiers. The idea of the narrator originated from the Greeks, and Alfieri refers to the Greek in his conversation with us "...since the Greeks were beaten." As a character he is an advisor to Eddie and later Marco. He acts like a prologue and an epilogue to the play, creating suspense. Alfieri plays an important role as a narrator; he introduces the theme of justice. In the beginning, for example, Alfieri tells us, to meet a lawyer on the streets of Red Hook is unlucky an that "In Sicily, from where their farthers came, the law has not been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten." This tells us that the people of Red Hook do not abide by the law. This could be because of the way they were brought up, having there own view there own justice, which wasn't as Marco later says "in a book." The theme of law and justice recurs through the play, it is important to the conflict and the tragedy later on because what Eddie done is approved in the law but in the minds of the people it is not, and
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, produced and published in 1949, still has a lasting effect today in the year 2001.
Eric Lindquist THE 1114 April 16, 2001 Dr. Kindelan Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, produced and published in 1949, still has a lasting effect today in the year 2001. The play which has won several awards and the Pulitzer prize, centers itself around a salesman and his family as they fight and sometimes struggle to "make it big" in this world. The play has been performed all over the world since its introduction in 1949, and it is still being performed and read in different languages and societies. The purpose of this paper is to show how Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman makes his American audience question their own lives and the society that they live in and why Miller would want the audience to question such ideas. Death of a Salesman is centered on Willy Loman who is a 63 years old salesman and has a wife named Linda and two sons, Biff and Happy. Arthur Miller creates the Loman family so that everyone in a way could relate to someone in the family in one-way or another. Many people in the late 1940's and the 1950's had lived through a very miserable depression, and it was during this time that the American Society and economy was changing as it was becoming more and more advanced technologically. Times were changing and the "good old days" such as the traveling salesman and other pastime occupations were being
Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman - A detailed critical appreciation of Act I Sequence 9
Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman A detailed critical appreciation of Act I Sequence 9 From: p.37 "You're such a boy!" To: p.40 "He's dying, Biff" Death of a Salesman is "a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way between both of them and America". -Arthur Miller Linda is faced with a mother's dilemma: Does she love her husband more than she loves her sons? This is where the tension, which is apparent throughout the sequence, generates itself. However, she does not offer her love to the boys in competition with Willy's. Linda finds many of Willy's qualities to be admirable, whereas this is not true for the boys. She keeps a watchful eye on the family's expenses, therefore takes up the role of businesswoman of the house. She is, unlike Willy, quite in touch with reality: "One day you'll knock on this door and there'll be strange people here--" (p.37). This sequence is the first opportunity that Linda has to speak frankly to the boys about their father. She is worried, anxious, stereotypical and loyal, and seizes this particular moment to plead Willy's case as a father. She copes, but has no one to speak to about her troubles- this is the missing part of the relationship with Biff, Willy and Happy. Linda does not cry or use emotional blackmail to plead her case because it is not part of her character: "A threat, but only a threat, of tears"