Theme of Tragedy in Death of a Salesman and The Tragedy of King Oedipus

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES
Introduction to Literary Studies
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES1
The term tragedy in the context of English literature refers to a dramatic or literary
situation in which the primary character, or chief protagonist of the story is a person who is
brought to the verge of destruction or ruin or to a predicament that is characterized by extreme
sorrow, and which more often than not is a cause of his own actions (Putra et al., 2017). This
essay will undertake an analysis of the theme of tragedy as witnessed in the play, “Death of a
Salesman” by Arthur Miller and will compare this notion of tragedy with the elements of tragedy
that can be detected in “The Tragedy of King Oedipus” by Sophocles.
Traditionally, the concept of tragedy as a form of literature is something that is associated
with the downfall or ruin of an individual who is great, who is magnificent and who appears to
have little that is critical about him apart from that one tragic flaw which brings about his
destruction in the end (Lucas, 2018). By contrast, the main character of Arthur’s Miller’s,
“Death of a Salesman”, Willy Loman, is not a man who is great, but who is instead, delusional
and superficial, and who is well past his prime as far as the profession of being a salesman is
concerned. The play is one where one gets to see some occasional flashbacks of the life and
career of Willy Loman, a time when he had considered himself to be a great person, a marvelous
individual who was meant to be looked up to and respected, but who in reality appeared to be
quite ordinary (Lucas, 2018). What accounts for this superficial sense of greatness is largely the
fact that this sense of greatness has been created and built by Willy on the basis of the limited
success that he experienced as a salesman (Zhao, 2016). He is also a person who is seen to be
taking pride is the fact that he has two sons, both of who are very attractive in terms of their
appearance, he takes pride in believing that his connections and not his hard work are getting
him the respect that he is accorded in his society and that he is a person who is quite liked by the
people that he is working with, whereas in reality this does not appear to be the case. It is all in