English 1205

November 1
st
2012
Fate and the Tragic Hero
Willy Lomans character in the play Death of a Salesman fits Millers definition of a tragic hero given
in his essay Tragedy and the Common Man. Willys character fits the role of Millers tragic hero
because through his personality and his actions he succeeds in evoking the tragic feeling. Willy also
exhibits his tragic flaw which in turn leads to his struggle to gain his perceived place in society. Because
of Willys actions his fate does become an apt subject for tragedy.

In his essay Miller states I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a
character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing his sense of personal
dignity (essay, par. 4). Willy is successful in evoking the tragic feeling in how he demonstrates the main
point in Millers statement which is that he is ready to lay down his life to secure his dignity and pride.
Willy shows this because even though he was in the process of going mad, which can create pathos in
the reader by itself, that it was the thought that he was the provider for his family both financially and
emotionally that helped him keep his perceived dignity as he struggled to fulfil his dream and to be
successful at his job which was suffering mostly due to the changing time of the era, going into the
1950s. It is when Willy begins to realize that he is no longer the provider that he believed he was and
that he could not support his family like he thought he was doing that Willy lays down his life. This is
what ultimately leads to his suicide which was done in order to get his family, mainly for Biff, his life
insurance money, $20 000, so that they would have financial security once again thanks to him which is
what he always wanted to do. Miller also states in his essay that in a tragedy the heros underlying
struggle is from the heros desire to obtain his perceived rightful position in his society and that the
events that make up a tragedy are all due to the heros indignity and that Tragedy, then, is the
consequence of a mans total compulsion to evaluate himself justly.(par. 5). Like what was previously
mentioned Willys indignity stems from the understanding that he is no longer capable of providing for
his family and it is because of how he feels about himself that leads to his eventual realization of what is
also Millers next main point which is the tragic flaw.

Willys tragic flaw is revealed rather early on in the play and it is fairly easy to see that the flaw is his
sense of self pride in what he does and how he believes everyone sees him. Willys self-pride most likely
stems from the past when he actually was successful in his career and was liked by everyone he knew,
but it was how times changed, going into the 50s, that his job was no longer of importance to modern
culture that he fell on to hard times. His pride prevented him from accepting this fact and it is because
of this lack of action to changing times that leads to his downfall. Miller says in his essay In the sense of
having been initiated by the hero himself, the tale reveals what has been called his tragic flaw, (par. 6)
and that this flaw in the character does not need to lead to the characters downfall, and usually wont in
most cases for the average person, but when the character refuses to remain passive in the face of
what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity, (par. 6) that the flaw becomes a weakness and will
lead to the Tragic Heros eventual downfall. Willys pride managed to stay too strong even when his
career was failing because he projected any weakness he felt onto other people that he considered to
be competition even if it was not related to the main issue concerning his pride and dignity. This was
shown in the instance when Charley asked Willy about how he could put up a ceiling and Willy
responded with A man who cant handle his tools is not a man. Youre disgusting. (anthology pg.1230).
It was this reinforcement of personal pride that allowed Willy to continue in believing his superiority
over others which caused the flaw in his behaviour and beliefs to become his tragic flaw. It was near the
end of the play when Willy finally realized that his pride was clouding his judgement and tearing him
away from his family along with causing him to try and right his wrongs as he struggled to unsuccessfully
regain the dignity that he had lost. These events come together to lead to Willys final action of
committing suicide to provide the support he always to give. It is because of how Willy acts in evoking
the tragic feeling and revealing his tragic flaw which work together to show him as Millers Tragic Hero
that it becomes clear Willys fate is an apt subject for tragedy.

Willys fate becomes a suitable subject for a tragedy because he represents Millers common man who
feels he has been removed from his rightful place in society but instead of accepting the circumstances
he is experiencing, like many other people, he believes it to be an attack on himself personally causing
him to go against the norm in a struggle to regain what was lost, his sense of dignity. Miller also says in
his essay that The possibility of victory must be there in tragedy. (par.19) and that The pathetic is
achieved when the protagonist is, by virtue of his witlessness, his insensitivity, or the vary air he gives
off, incapable of grappling with a much superior force. (par.19). Willys fate demonstrates both of those
points well in that there certainly was the chance of his victory after he realized his errors in judgement
of himself and others that he could have accepted his dreams were unrealistic but his tragic flaw of his
pride and attempts to regain his dignity pushed right through until the end and he achieves the pathetic
mostly through his witlessness of his own actions which all accumulated to bring about Willys tragic
end.

It is through Willys nature that he is able to fulfil the role of Millers Tragic Hero so well, from being
able to evoke the tragic feeling in the reader to having a very clear tragic flaw in his hubris. Many
reasons support Willys fate of being an apt subject for tragedy such as achieving the pathetic and even
gaining some sympathy from the reader through going mad, which could also be viewed as tragic in its
own right. This was also affected by his pride which brings him in to his confused and delirious state. So
for these main reasons Willy Lomans fate is the tragedy and him the Tragic Hero.
Works cited


Miller, Arthur. Tragedy and the Common Man. Guth, Hans P. and
Gabriele L. Rico, Discovering Literature. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993, pp. 1461-1464

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Literature Approaches to
Fiction, Poetry, and Drama 2
nd
ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2008, pp. 1230