Fate and Destiny in Oedipus Rex and Death of a Salesman
Fate and destiny are very prominent themes within the Aristotelian world of tragedies and have always embraced the “fall of princes” structure in which they were written. Arthur Miller shows, through Death of a Salesman, his belief that anyone, even a man as common as a salesman can be a tragic hero. In Death of a Salesman, we see how flawed Willy’s idealisms really are and how much of a downward spiral his life really is. Through his failure to realize that he is not really living the “American Dream”, we see how much he lies to himself and how his own illusory world affects his fate. In Oedipus Rex, the victim Oedipus himself is the one who causes his own fate similarly to Willy Loman. …show more content…
The fate of Oedipus and his wife Jocasta were already decided by the Gods, even before they were born. Oedipus’ to kill his father and marry his mother, but the subject of Loman’s fate is an essential question that readers of the play are forced to ask themselves. Are the characters of the play just innocent bystanders playing out the hand that they’ve been dealt or is there a reason for what happens to Loman that is beyond a higher power. Loman said to his son "Coach 'll probably congratulate you on your initiative! That 's because he likes you. If somebody else took that ball there 'd be an uproar” (Arthur Miller, 1949:30). Instead of reprimanding his son for what he did, he congratulates him. His false idealism, his refusal of acknowledging his and his son’s failures and bad decisions, and the negative effect that he has on his family are all things that could have caused his fate but ultimately this is a question that is left open for the reader to think about. “Tragedy,” Eric Bentley has warned, can "easily lure us into talking nonsense". If that is true, then arguing about both of these tragedies together increases that risk
Fate and destiny are very prominent themes within the Aristotelian world of tragedies and have always embraced the “fall of princes” structure in which they were written. Arthur Miller shows, through Death of a Salesman, his belief that anyone, even a man as common as a salesman can be a tragic hero. In Death of a Salesman, we see how flawed Willy’s idealisms really are and how much of a downward spiral his life really is. Through his failure to realize that he is not really living the “American Dream”, we see how much he lies to himself and how his own illusory world affects his fate. In Oedipus Rex, the victim Oedipus himself is the one who causes his own fate similarly to Willy Loman. …show more content…
The fate of Oedipus and his wife Jocasta were already decided by the Gods, even before they were born. Oedipus’ to kill his father and marry his mother, but the subject of Loman’s fate is an essential question that readers of the play are forced to ask themselves. Are the characters of the play just innocent bystanders playing out the hand that they’ve been dealt or is there a reason for what happens to Loman that is beyond a higher power. Loman said to his son "Coach 'll probably congratulate you on your initiative! That 's because he likes you. If somebody else took that ball there 'd be an uproar” (Arthur Miller, 1949:30). Instead of reprimanding his son for what he did, he congratulates him. His false idealism, his refusal of acknowledging his and his son’s failures and bad decisions, and the negative effect that he has on his family are all things that could have caused his fate but ultimately this is a question that is left open for the reader to think about. “Tragedy,” Eric Bentley has warned, can "easily lure us into talking nonsense". If that is true, then arguing about both of these tragedies together increases that risk