The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is about how Willy Loman, an unsuccessful salesman, has a perfect dream for himself and his family. All he wants in life is to be successful and he will do anything to make sure people believe him, but when he gets fired from his job, you start to see his “perfect plan” fall to pieces and it all goes downhill from there. Oedipus the King by Sophocles is about how Oedipus thinking he was the most remarkable man around, but when a truth about his past comes out, we start to see the “greatest” king fold under the pressure and turn on everyone, even himself. I believe that Oedipus the King has the most characteristics of a tragedy while The Death of a Salesman is just pathetic. I have read two views on
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He worked very hard. Willy had a plan for himself that he thought was going to be very good. “...Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream…” (Miller 139). Meanwhile some of his family had other ideas about Willy and he isn’t always aware of it until it is too late. “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” (Miller 138). Even though Biff and Will didn’t always get along very well, it was obvious that Biff and Willy had completely opposite ideas on dreams and that drove the relationship apart and start a downfall. “Well, dear, life is casting off. It’s always that way.” (Miller 15). Linda was even starting to see this take place throughout the book. Another issue that Willy had was getting caught up in himself and trying to get what he wants and not really what he needs. “ Be liked and you will never want.” ( Miller 33). This shows that he is kind of pathetic in the way of what he actually needs to be happy. As you can see, Willy was never really going to get what he wanted to have. He had even started to confuse Happy on what he deserves. “See everybody around me is so false that I’m constantly lowering my ideals…” (Miller 25). So, in my opinion I feel that Willy is just pathetic and not really a tragic hero in any way. He made mistakes in his life like the normal American person does, it just happens to be more and he thinks the only way out of it is to take his own life so his family can get the money and be
He worked very hard. Willy had a plan for himself that he thought was going to be very good. “...Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream…” (Miller 139). Meanwhile some of his family had other ideas about Willy and he isn’t always aware of it until it is too late. “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” (Miller 138). Even though Biff and Will didn’t always get along very well, it was obvious that Biff and Willy had completely opposite ideas on dreams and that drove the relationship apart and start a downfall. “Well, dear, life is casting off. It’s always that way.” (Miller 15). Linda was even starting to see this take place throughout the book. Another issue that Willy had was getting caught up in himself and trying to get what he wants and not really what he needs. “ Be liked and you will never want.” ( Miller 33). This shows that he is kind of pathetic in the way of what he actually needs to be happy. As you can see, Willy was never really going to get what he wanted to have. He had even started to confuse Happy on what he deserves. “See everybody around me is so false that I’m constantly lowering my ideals…” (Miller 25). So, in my opinion I feel that Willy is just pathetic and not really a tragic hero in any way. He made mistakes in his life like the normal American person does, it just happens to be more and he thinks the only way out of it is to take his own life so his family can get the money and be