There remains, then, the character between these two extremes-that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty”Ĭlearly, Willy is no modern-day American royalty. A plot of this kind would, doubtless, satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity nor fear for pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.
Nor, again, should the downfall of the utter villain be exhibited. it neither satisfied the moral sense nor calls forth pity or fear. Nor again, that of a bad man passing from adversity to prosperity: For nothing can be more alien to the spirit of tragedy.
According to Aristotle in Poetics, a ‘tragic hero’ is defined as –Ī “highly renowned and prosperous” figure whose “change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: For this moves neither pity nor fear it merely shocks us. Is Willy Loman a ‘tragic hero’, or is he just plain ‘tragic’?Īn interesting question to consider when reading or watching Death of a Salesman (or any modern tragedy, for that matter) is whether Willy Loman qualifies as a ‘tragic hero’. The stage description also tells us that, “feeling the soreness of his palms a word-sigh escapes lips – it might be ‘Oh, boy, oh, boy.” This is the raw, real presentation of a vulnerable man who’s struggling to survive.īy casting Willy Loman in this light, Miller is communicating a clear message: whatever flaws and quirks you will go on to see from this man, he is someone to be sympathised before he is to be judged. When we first see him, he is “carrying two large sample cases”, almost out of breath and exhausted from a long business trip.
Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman and John Malkovich as Biff Loman in the 1985 film adaptation of the playīut for all his deluded narcissism, Willy’s hubris isn’t characterised by an off-putting arrogance it is strangely human, and as such he is humanly endearing – faults and all.
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