The Tragic Heroism of Willy Loman: Death of a Salesman Analysis

This essay analyzes Willy Loman as a modern tragic hero in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. It explores how Loman, unlike classical tragic heroes, embodies the struggles of the common man in American society. The essay examines his pursuit of the American Dream, his tragic flaws, and his disillusionment with materialistic values and societal expectations. It delves into the themes of alienation, capitalism, and the impact of a post-war society on individuals. The analysis also considers Loman's relationships with his sons, Biff and Happy, and his wife, Linda, highlighting the family dynamics and the tragic consequences of his actions. Furthermore, the essay discusses Miller's redefinition of tragedy, arguing that Loman's story reflects the modern tragic experience, where ordinary people are affected by societal forces. The conclusion emphasizes Loman's role as a modern tragic hero, a product of his society, who miscarried his dream. The essay uses critical sources to support its analysis of Loman's character and the play's themes.

Running Head: WILLY LOMAN AS A MODERN TRAGIC HERO IN DEATH OF A
SALESMAN
Willy Loman as a modern tragic hero in Death of a Salesman
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Running Head: WILLY LOMAN AS A MODERN TRAGIC HERO AND HIS TRAGIC
FLAWS IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Produced in 1949, Death of a Salesman is known as a classic of modern American
theatre. The plot revolves around the story of a salesman named Willy Loman, and the
audience comes to a mixed combination of his past and the present and present with the help
of expressionistic scenes. However, critics have debated over the true nature of Willy Loman
is a tragic hero as they have criticised him for moving away from the Aristotelian definition
of a tragic hero. As Allan Lewis states the importance and dire need in the present times for
redefining the term tragedy for the betterment and clarity of the contemporary theatre. At this
juncture, Miller makes a staggering contribution to the emergence of freshness in the
dramatic form as well as the structure in his drama Death of a Salesman by making Willy
Loman belong to the ordinary world unlike that of the classical tragedy. Hence, to understand
the traits of Willy Loman as a tragic hero of the American bourgeois society, the concept of
tragedy and the tragic hero needs to be established. The paper establishes Willy Loman as a
tragic hero which fits perfectly to the definition of Arthur Miller’s essay Tragedy and the
Common Man.
Aristotle defines tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of
a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several
kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through
pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions (Myers 115).” Thus, as per this
definition, a tragic hero is “… neither superior in virtue and justice, nor undergoes a change
in misfortune because of vice and wickedness, but because of some error, and who is one of
those people with a great reputation and a good fortune (Myers 115).” However, Miller’s
Loman does not fit into the classical definition of a tragic hero. Instead, he becomes the tragic
hero of contemporary modern society. Willy Loman and his family is the representation of
everyman with an American Dream that soon transforms into a nightmare. In the drama, it is
very evident to the audience that Loman makes several attempts to survive and get “noticed”,

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Running Head: WILLY LOMAN AS A MODERN TRAGIC HERO AND HIS TRAGIC
FLAWS IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN
just like the fellow men in society. In his attempt to become someone, he pursues Uncle Ben,
who represents his ideals and fantasy and the optimization of the American Dream –“… like
a young god… and the sun all around him… A star like that, magnificent can never really
fade away! (Bloom)” It is essential to highlight that the post-war era for the vast majority of
Americans were times when the traditional form of life ceased to exist, and people were
“boxed” and left without “a breath of fresh air”. Miller attempts to bring the focus of his
audience to the process of materialism, capitalism, and a false sense of success that ultimately
leads to the downfall, disillusionment, isolation as well as a sense of alienation. According to
Bigsby, the theme of twentieth-century American drama is based on “alienation” that man
faces from God, the environment around him, as well as those who are around him. Hence,
alienation brings with itself, a sense of loss that is formed due to a feeling of social injustice.
The theme of alienation is also explored by many other writers such as Eugene O’Neill,
Lillian Hellman, Edward Albee, etc.
One of the aspects that are repeated in simultaneous occasions is the fact that being
“liked” was a matter of prime importance for Loman (Bloom). This formed in him a sense of
security as he took the validation as a token of acceptance in the society. He thus becomes a
victim of the society, as well as a victim of himself. He is in complete acceptance of the
vulgarity, debasement, a false system of values. This makes Death of a Salesman a tragedy in
the post-war American society. It is evident that Miller here is concerned with the process of
redefining tragedy in the contemporary era of theatre. Although Willy Loman does not
experience a fall from a great height, it is his pride that destroys him and establishes him as a
modern tragic hero. In Tragedy and the Common Man, Miller redefines the classical
definition of tragedy and puts the same essay in the preface of Death of a Salesman. In his
essay, he describes that the common man is the best subject for portraying tragedy in its best
sense that is similar to kings. In his drama, Death of a Salesman, Willy’s pride and dignity is

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Running Head: WILLY LOMAN AS A MODERN TRAGIC HERO AND HIS TRAGIC
FLAWS IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN
rooted in his family, more specifically his son, Biff. But he fails to live up to the expectations
of his father and is tagged as a failure. In order to regain this lost sense of dignity, Willy
proceeds to end his own life as the insurance money that Biff was supposed to receive on the
death of his father would make him magnificent, and he shall become “somebody” who is
“liked”, unlike his father (Bloom). However, there is no sense of achievement in his family
on his death. It only becomes a part of the family drama. Willy is highly obsessed with his
sense of greatness, and his downfall comes from a sense of misconception that he build of
himself by imagining his fictitious greatness. Loman’s tragic flaw lies in the fact that it does
not remain true to himself. Instead, he chases the wrong dream. He fails to gain a perspective
that allows him to think in a more realistic perspective. Miller, informs his audience through
Biff that Willy believed that the only way to be rich is to have an attractive personality, or to
be “liked”, but he himself is never “well liked”. The Requiem, Biff talks about how Loman
always had the wrong dream and “He never knew who he was (Bloom)”.
However, the suicide of Willy baffles the audience as the Loman family is free from
any form of debt as Linda, Willy’s wife exclaims that she could not fathom the reason behind
her husband’s act, “at this time especially (Bloom).” Miller hints at the sense of peculiarity in
terms of Billy’s psychological state as he speaks in thin air; Willy seems to have a
conversation with himself in the past and the future. But upon the realisation that none of
them exists, he becomes greatly disillusioned.
Loman’s cause of death is in his pursuit of the American Dream and the American
Ideal that made him forget who he truly was and what he wanted to be. In the similar light,
Leech argues that the things are concern most is more about the sociological factors rather
than his plight being universal- “he is the victim of the American dream rather than of the
human condition”. Happy, younger son of Willy was probably the only person who could
understand the tragedy of his father’s life as he drew attention to the unfulfilled dreams of

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Running Head: WILLY LOMAN AS A MODERN TRAGIC HERO AND HIS TRAGIC
FLAWS IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Willy- “…I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He
had a good dream. It’s only dream you can have – to come out number-one man. He fought it
out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him (Bloom).” Similarly, Miller puts stress on
“the concept of the ‘Tragic victory’, and “although a man’s death is a terrifying thing, it can
be an assertion of bravery”. Bigsby describes Loman’s act of ending his own life as
“designed to liberate the next generation”. Miller draws the attention of his audience to a man
whose self-sacrifice was for a cause that was intended to invoke a sense of “some kind of
elation”. “Where pathos rules, where pathos is finally derived, a character has fought a battle
he could not possibly have won”. The tragic hero is thus the one who has “the indestructible
will of man to achieve his humanity” and has been beautifully demonstrated by the character
of Willy Loman.
In conclusion, it can be said that Arthur Miller puts great emphasis on his character
Willy Loman who is meant to be a tragic hero not in a classical tragedy, but in modern-day
American society where the tragic hero, in his quest for identity succumbs to the notion of
becoming somebody from nobody. Miller’s creation of the hero of the contemporary
American society immense influence from the social movements in his era. This is one of the
major reason that he revised the definition of tragedy and tragic hero in terms of the profound
changes that have permanently altered the modern society, and hence the nature of man.
(Myers 117) states that “Aristotelian concepts weigh heavily on an altered world”. In the
modernist era that began with the industrial revolution in the late 19th century and early 20th
century, needed a new definition of a tragic hero. Miller, in his essay, Tragedy and the
Common Man creates him as a reaction to the English Renaissance, the Age of
Enlightenment, and Romanticism. Miller’s modern hero is not of high birth; neither does he
have a high estate – he is just an “ordinary person”. It is these ordinary people who turn out to
be the most affected by materialistic and capitalistic society and its values; this ordinary man

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Running Head: WILLY LOMAN AS A MODERN TRAGIC HERO AND HIS TRAGIC
FLAWS IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN
is Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. The catharsis of a modern hero’s story does not
necessarily require the protagonist to have the grandeur of fall such as Macbeth or Hamlet,
instead- “This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but with a whimper (Eliot).” Our
modern tragic hero suffers without any agency and ability to change events that map out his
life. There are no prophecies or sense of closure. This is one of the most important reasons
for Miller to revise the classical Aristotelian tragedy as he states, “it is time that we who are
without kings, took up this bright thread of our history and followed it to the only place it can
possibly lead in our time – heart and spirit of the average man (Miller)”. Through this
revision and ‘re-vision’, he is capable of redefining the tragic hero: Willy Loman, a product
of society, a puny man who had conceived a dream and later miscarried it.

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Running Head: WILLY LOMAN AS A MODERN TRAGIC HERO AND HIS TRAGIC
FLAWS IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Work Cited
Bloom, Harold, ed. Arthur Miller's Death of a salesman. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
Eliot, Thomas Stearns. "The hollow men." PUB DATE 85 NOTE 281p.; Developed by
participants of the 1985 Summer Humanities Institute in Literary Criticism and the Teaching
of Literature. For other volumes, see CS 213 (1925): 52.
Miller, Arthur. Tragedy and the common man. Department of English [University of
California at Berkeley], 1949.
Myers, Henry Alonzo. “Aristotle's Study of Tragedy.” Educational Theatre Journal, vol. 1,
no. 2, 1949, pp. 115–127. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3203554. Accessed 4 Apr. 2020.
YouTube. Death Of A Salesman (Final Scene). 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_eWjRjhq-a8. Accessed 1 Mar 2020.
YouTube. Death Of A Salesman Hoffman. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=a1lazBK1Pec. Accessed 1 Mar 2020.