This story is based on the Death of a Salesman as the name suggests. Upon reading this I judged the story based on the title alone and I was correct. I did not know how or what lead to the death of the salesman or his or her name. As I read the story, I made a surface conclusion it was a story about the pathetic and sad life of Willy Loman, who happens to be a salesman. Upon reading this further, I could get a clearer picture of what this story is about and was able to further analyze if it fits a tragic protagonist plot or not and find out who the story is all focused on. In this play, Willy Loman is a good example of a tragic protagonist by Aristotle’s definition. As we know, Aristotle defines Tragedy as ‘the imitation of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itself.’ He also states that ‘Tragedy is a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear. This fits the description of Willy by the author. He went from a man who was perfectly healthy mentally and having secured a job as a salesman to a jobless father, uncaring, depressed and having mental instability leading to suicide. This whole journey sparks pity and fear in my mind as a reader. We have been discussing characteristics that make a play and character a tragic protagonist hero.
Based on what I have learned from the discussions, this play fits the typical tragic ending, because, by reading the story and fully understanding it. The tragedy was brought on by the protagonist of this play Willy Loman. As always, the play start off by depicting the protagonist in a good light and having all the good things like jobs, and a family but as we read further, he moved into a bad light of a jobless, cheating and uncaring man. In the end, all this ended up in death. He died all alone, with no loved ones beside him. This is pitiful and sad. It brings up the fears of not wanting to die alone like Willy. Death of a Salesman does not have a typical tragic ending. In this scenario, the way they treated him at his burial was not typical. One would think after having to sacrifice his life for his son Biff, so biff can have a more secure future, one would think this would change the image of Willy in biffs mind and made him into a more caring and loving father that sacrificed his life for his son but this was not the case. Instead, at Willy’s burial, he was alone, no one to pay homage to him, he died as a depressed, lonely, neglected, sad, pathetic man, whose son held a grudge against him.
The protagonist of the story Death of a Salesman is Willy Loman because the play is focused on him, A salesman of the Wagner Company, who is always on the road, a low-class man who believes in a Success Dream of having to work hard and attain success but soon finds out that it takes more than hard work to be a successful salesman. The story focuses on Willy life, from his journey as a salesman to his death. Last, Willy Loman can be seen as a tragic hero. He cared about his family, financial stability and having a good name. He wanted his son to have a stable future, and the decisions he made for him and other decisions were a flaw that led to his downfall. So far, I enjoy reading this play and watching it. It illustrated how a perfect life can turn sour because of the decisions made. In my opinion, watching the play was more interesting, it kept my attention. Seeing the play live on a stage was fun and enjoyable, there was much emphasis on the dressing, characters, and settings. In the play, we can see that the setting fit a classic setting, from the dress to the way the actors and actresses portray each characters. I love the ways the writer Arthur Miller wrote this story, it sets a good foundation for a play or movie. I’d recommend anyone to read the story before watching it to understand the plot and the protagonist. Link to the play is down below.
