Arthur Miller succeeds in demonstrating incredibly well in Death of a Salesman that not only is tragic heroism still possible in the modern world, but that it is also an affliction to which both king and commoner are equally susceptible. However, Wily Loman is not a tragic hero because he is pathetic, not heroic, in his personal “tragedy” that comes from his inability to admit his mistakes and learn from them. Instead, he fits Miller’s description of pathos and the pathetic character, one who “by virtue of his witlessness, his insensitivity, or the very air he gives off, [is] incapable of grappling with a much superior force,” (Miller 1728).
The tragic right to Arthur Miller is a condition of life that enables an individual to travel the route to self-realization and allows one to blossom to the fullest extent of his or her capabilities. This learning only occurs when the individual has courageously and unblinkingly “shaken” and undergone the “total examination of the ‘unchangeable’ environment” (Miller 1727). From this examination often comes the fear and terror associated with tragedy, as the individual is confronted with his own impression of his ‘rightful dignity’ in society (who and what he thinks he is) as opposed to the dignity afforded him by society-at-large. Only the tragically heroic are ready to die to secure this personal dignity, one that imbues them with heroism because of their “unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what [they] conceive to be a challenge to [their] dignity, [their] image of [their] rightful status,” (Miller 1726). Thus, one is only flawless is they remain passive in the midst of this common-among-all-human-beings struggle.
Willy Loman has moved through life without much thought where cause and effect are concerned. He is so terrified of not being what and who he thinks he is in society, that he cannot let go of his illusions and clings to them u...