Okonkwo and Willy Loman as Tragic Heroes.
According to Arthur Miller, the definition of a tragic hero is one who refuses to remain passive when he feels his personal dignity is challenged, is willing to lay down his life to secure his dignity, and attempts to gain his "rightful" place in society. Willy Loman and Okonkwo, the chief protagonists of the drama Death of a Salesman, and the novel Things Falls Apart, respectively, are both classical examples of a tragic hero as they struggle to achieve success in societies that seems completely turned against them. Neither man remains passive when they feel they are considered failing or weak, as they strive to make their way in the world. Willy and Okonkwo, in addition, do go as far as taking their own lives to secure the small amount of dignity they feel they have left, to show their communities that they did indeed make a difference. Searching for what they feel is their right place in society, the attempts are futile as both men get lost and caught up with their dreams and reality strikes back with a heavy blow. Willy Loman and Okonkwo are personifications of tragic heroes as neither man can keep up with the rapid pace of changing times and their downfall in a world full of unrealistic dreams and false hopes.
Willy Loman and Okonkwo take action, rather than remain apathetic, when their dignity is challenged as they try to sustain control of their lives being pulled out from beneath them. Willy Loman is constantly trying to figure out where his life went wrong, but denies that he has actually failed. He covers up his failure to his family and friends through lies and pretending to be a man he only dreams he was. He takes no blame for his family's struggles and hardships; he condemns his sons for being lazy and not making anything of themselves and always insist he will work harder and make up for any problems. He pushes himself hard with his job, even though he is sixty-three, because he has not lived his dream of success and prosperity.
As a tragic hero, he is an ideal example. ... "Willy Loman is here!' ... In the case of Willy Loman, events transpire around his love life that cause his inevitable, tragic end. ... However, in the case of a tragic hero, the only priority is oneself. ... Throughout the book, one can see clearly that Willy Loman, a common man with stellar dreams, is a tragic hero....
Willy Loman: A Tragic Hero A tragic hero is a character exhibits traits of good moral, but possess a fatal flaw that brings upon his or her own downfall. In Arthur Miller's drama, Death of a Salesman, the protagonist and tragic hero, Willy Loman, although somewhat corrupted by material desires, is a man with good morals and noble qualities, but possesses a tragic flaw, which sees him to his inevitable downfall Though a seemingly unsuccessful and emotionally unstable character, Willy Loman has good noble qualities, a characteristic of a tragic hero. Further supporting the characte...
Oedipus, Macbeth, Lear, Hamlet, Othello "or Willy Loman. ... Through a process of zigzagging that spans the past, present and future, Miller presents his tragic hero, Willy Loman, in the midst of a crisis, delusional as result of his failure to succeed in life. ... Willy Loman is indeed a pathetic and tragic hero of Death of a Salesman, for his problems stem from his own delusions, not unlike Oedipus. ... Another aspect of what Aristotle believed made a perfect tragedy is character, obviously, that of the tragic hero. ... "Insistence upon the rank of the tragic hero, or the so-called ...
A literary tragic hero comes in different forms. ... Miller believed that any man could be a tragic hero. ... Oedipus and Willy Loman were both significant tragic heroes with different cases of tragedy. Out of the two, Willy Loman would have to be less tragic because Willy chose the tragedy he suffered. ... In order for Willy to be a "tragic hero", by definition, he would have to make the audience feel bad for him. ...
Tragedy, and tragic hero's are possible in the modern world. ... Many of Shakespeare's "tragic hero's- displayed qualities which are held against Willy as being ignoble. ... Willy Loman never made a lot of money. ... That a tragic hero can be any man, 'great' or 'small'. ... Willy Loman, suffers great misfortune due to his denial of reality. ...
Willy as Tragic Hero in Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman is the story of Willy Loman, a middle-class salesman who, in the course of a single day, comes to realise that the American Dream, which he has pursued for 40 years, has failed him. ... Willy Loman is, for Miller, the antithesis of the classic tragic hero. ... There are other flaws in Willy Loman that lead to his demise. ... Willy Loman despite his desperate searching through his past Willy does not achieve the self-realisation or self-knowledge typical of the tragic hero. ... The failure of the Loman Brothers (parti...
Death of a Salesman: The Tragic Anti-hero of Willy Loman "A hundred years from now, it will not matter what type of car I drove, or what kind of house I lived in, or the amount of money I made, yet the world might be changed because I made a positive difference in the life of a child." ... Not only is Willy Loman not a good father and husband, but he furthers his failure by being a classic anti-hero and by failing to achieve the American Dream. ... Moreover, Willy is a textbook example of an anti-hero. ... Any reader would desire to be, rather than all that Willy Loman was, all that Willy L...
Witt explains that "Miller himself has created a very big ad for the dysfunctional Willy Loman and its effect is not altogether unlike the effect of the Hastings refrigerator ad on Willy Loman " (Witt 213). ... Witt, though, misses Miller's purpose for Willy Loman. ... Willy fails to keep his job at the company, a tragic ending to his thirty-six years of service there. ... Witt expresses that Willy is not an anti-hero and should not be considered to be one. ... Willy's suicide is the ultimate act of anti-heroism Jonathan Witt describes Willy Loman as an unheroic, normal...
Character Analysis of Willy Loman Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, is about Willy Loman who is experiencing a crisis where he is overwhelmed by the problems of his lifetime. ... Willy is what has come to be known as a tragic hero. ... Willy Loman most definitely meets Arthur Miller's definition of a tragic hero, and he connects with most of the requirements. ... However, Willy is a tragic hero and accordingly he has tragic flaws. ... Setting aside Willy's "tragic flaw", one could hold out hope that Willy will change (Miller 1367). ...
