Death Of A Salesman Research Paper
The Fantasy of Life
Tragedy, Britannica defines tragedy as a "branch of drama that treats in a serious and dignified style the sorrowful or terrible events encountered or caused by a heroic individual.".
Throughout Arthur Miller 's Death of a Salesman it becomes abundantly clear that Willy, a salesman in his mature stages of life, struggles to distinguish fantasy from reality as we are transported into his last few days of life that include memories and visions of the past. Because his moral is a bit askew, many do not agree that Willy is worthy of the title "tragic hero"; however, I believe that Willy is the tragic hero that Miller intended him to be.
As Arthur Miller explains in his essay, Tragedy and the Common man, the time of kings
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Modern tragedy is still about the downfall of a man; however, this man needn 't be one of high social standard, in fact, it is better if the man is an everyday person. Every tragic hero needs to have what 's called a "tragic flaw", Miller defines this flaw as "...Really nothing-and need be nothing, but his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity, his image of his rightful status. "Meaning, the tragic flaw should be their great sense of pride.
Willy Loman, the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, fits right in with Miller 's definition of tragedy because his pride keeps him from doing quite a few things. One such instance is when
[Last Name] 2 he was offered a job by his good friend and neighbor Charley after being fired from his former job as a salesman. From the play we learn that Willy has been asking Charley for money for quite some time now and Charley has offered him a job, however Willy repeatedly refuses, claiming he already has a job. Later Willy comes forward, telling Charley, he was fired. This is where we learned that Willy has been jealous of Charley when charley says "You been jealous of me all your life, you damned fool!" (Act Two, Page 71). Upon the discovery of this it
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