Is Willy Loman a tragic hero? Why or why not?

Is Willy Loman a tragic hero? Why or why not?

A tragic hero is defined as the protagonist in a tragedy.  In his book Poetics, Aristotle observes that a tragic hero is a character that is of noble birth and who has particular characteristics that makehim or her human.  This type of character is destined for suffering and eventually, a downfall.  In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, the main protagonist, portrays the characteristics of a tragic hero.  This is because of various instances and situations that the audience sees him become more and more inclined towards the direction of being a tragic hero.  He is of noblebirth, comes from a good family, day by day, he displays his deepest humanistic character, his experience of the world haunts him daily, and most importantly, he has a fatal flaw that potentially affects his fate (Arthur para 16).  While others like Thompson (Death of a Salesman: A Symposium) may argue that Willy Loman is not a tragic hero but a sad character, which is possible that different people view the character in different ways.  ‘I think that Willy Loman is not a tragic character.  I think that he is a sad character’.

Willy Loman has lived his life being left by the people around him.  First, his father, who left him with nothing, and then his brother Ben, who went on to Africa and became rich.  This revelation about his family members places Willy Loman in the ranks of noble people.  His father did not leave him anything because he did not have anything to give to him.  This means that he was an honest person.  His brother, on the other hand, went to explore Africa and came back with diamonds, which he worked hard to get.  This is also evidence that Willy Loman came from a noble and morally upright family.  This, therefore, begins to give an outline of him being a tragic hero.

When his eldest son, Biff, discovers that he has an affair with another woman, other than his mother Linda, Biff gets mad at him.  This can be described as Willy Loman is not as perfect as one might think at first.  It is on this occasion that we see his flaw as a human being.  This brings out the question about his moral standings in society.  He, therefore, cannot instill any morals on his sons, especially Biff, because hecanot lecture Biff on behaving in a morally upright way, while he does not conform to that himself.  His sons start to steal things from other people, making them socially immoral. B.S. Field, Jr, inHamartia in Death of a Salesman, agrees with what befalls Willy Loman at the end of the play. ‘I suggest we may add all these to his crime: he has made moral eunuchs of his own sons (Putri n.d).  His is a criminality, a hamartia, for which the punishment, that miserable life, that miserable death, and that miserable funeral too, are appropriate and decorous consequences’.   Being morally weak is Willy Loman’s fatal flaw that finally leads to his downfall.

Willy Loman’s mistake is the obsession that he has with personality and likeability.  He is too intent on seeing his sons be like him.  He does not take the time to hear them out, or what they want for themselves.  For him, his sons must be great business people.  He even goes to the extent of criticizing Bernard for being unlikable and says that that will not take him far.  In the end, it turns out that even though he has raised sons who are ‘likeable’ in society, they cannot amount to anything much.  Instead, they turn out to be socially immoral people, who turn to stealing to please their parents.   The idea of perfection in Willy Loman’s mind is beyond human understanding.  He wants it so bad that he has made a puppet out of his sons, not allowing any kind of mistakes on their part.

He sometimes laments why he did not follow his brother to Alaska.  This is evident that he views his failure in life in terms of monetary value.  His brother Ben, though dead, is rich, and this makes Willy Loman suffer greatly (Qi and Zhang 17).  He does not have anything more to life except his wife, sons and the idea of being led by others.  He leaves his inheritance to his eldest son, who turns out to be a failure.  He still holds on to the idea of success, and perhaps it is why he keeps oscillating back and forth, in the past and the present. His idol, Ben, keeps appearing to him and what they talk about is money.  Success to Willy Loman is measured in money and likeability from other people.  The experience of missing wealth hurts him greatly, to the point that when he is fired, he refuses Charley’s job offer, simply because Charley andhis son Bernard are both successful.  This represents the true nature of a tragic hero.  The events in his life must just follow through until his downfall.

In conclusion, Willy Loman is a tragic hero because of the events that lead up to his downfall.  His character portrays a person who keeps pushing his/ her way to the top.   His relationship with others also reveals his character traits as being imperfect, the traits of a tragic hero.