Tragic Hero - Death of a Salesman

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 remai

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ecause he clings to those values nonetheless-he is too afraid to let them go and unwilling or unable to see the path to full self-awareness and self-realization, "Willy Loman does not gain �size' from the situation. He is seen primarily as a victim of his society; his warped values, the illusions concerning the self he projects, reflect those of his society. His moments of clear self-knowledge are few, and even fewer are the moments when he asserts with strength and dignity his worthwhileness-that of the common man," (Corrigan 86). Thus, Willy's condition is pathetic, not heroic, but not because he is a �common' man. Rather, it is because he is fighting a struggle-the environment and others outside of himself-that he is doomed to lose from the start. He is doomed to lose it because he fights to cling to and protect the very values of society that represent the "wrong" that prevents him from developing his "rightful dignity". This, in turn, makes him unable to learn from his own mistakes (i.e., it is cause and effect that produce consequences, not psychological, biological or sociological external factors alone). Like King Lear, Willy cannot distinguish between appearances and realities, but Lear is tragic because he come

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