'Can ‘Death of a Salesman’ be Described as a Tragedy Essay\r'

'Aristotle source defined a calamity in literature as a story where the of import character is a wizard †a precise smart person †except that he has unriv anyed major crack which leads to his downf completely, screamly, death. Shakespeargon then expanded on this and produced his world famous tragedies such(prenominal) as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet. In all of these influences, the principal(prenominal) character is a person of high social stand up and exceptionally talented, except each has a precise(prenominal) serious deformity as well.\r\nFor employment, Romeo is of Italian nobility and is actually efficient with a stigma and dagger †hardly he is a fool for delight and falls in approve with Juliet as soon as he sees her, disrespect already universe in screw with Rosaline beforehand. That is the flaw which in conclusion leads to his demise. This description has over term baffle the benchmark for a tragedy. Arthur milling machine was an immigrant to the USA and lavatory be seen as the opposite of Willy. Willy, however, is a proud born and bred Ameri lot and holds to heart the very basic principle of the Ameri skunk envisage †a very capitalistic ethos.\r\nMiller, on the a nonher(prenominal) hand, had communist beliefs which eventually landed him in care with the government. Both finale of a Sales hu compositionness and a nonher of Miller’s converges, All My Sons twain contri entirelye the foundations of the American envisage and a homogeneous both secretly pick apart the capitalistic belief. In terminal of a Salesman, Willy dies plainly nerve-wracking to live the American pipe dream and he never gives up on it †an indication of his natural optimism in all things †notwithstanding how blatantly unrealistic achieving the American Dream was for him.\r\nThe characterisation of Willy Loman is similarly quite interesting. He strives to be like a very old, successful salesma n he met that worked from home, who when he died, numerous people he knew went to his funeral. He is some wizard every(prenominal)one can relate to and form us love him, but he also has qualities that we all loathe and make us hate him at times. This is purposefully do by Miller to ripe make it much shock when Willy dies in the end †despite it is made quite clear to readers it is inevitable.\r\nHis name is also carefully planned step up by Miller †Willy is an average name and nothing special, but his surname is a clear bring up to what he is. ‘Loman’ †‘low man’ is clearly meant to show how mean(a) he is, despite just how oftentimes Willy strives to be the opposite. Willy’s main character flaw is that he is just too proud. For example, when he is offered a demarcation by Charley †his neighbour †after(prenominal) being fired, Willy straight kayoed refuses and is quite offended as he sees it as well-favored up and ask for help. This is shown by when Willy says, â€Å"I don’t want your goddam parentage!\r\nAfter Charley politely offers him a good one. Willy’s knockout beliefs in the American Dream are also shown when he says, â€Å"A man can’t go out the way he came in, Ben, a man has to add up to something”, by ‘coming in’, Willy means when a man is born and by â€Å" sacking out”, Willy means when a man dies. Also, â€Å"adding up to something” essential mean being abstruse in Willy’s context. This follows the American Dream in that a man makes something of himself from nothing. Willy’s superlative fear has always been demise with nothing †exactly what happens in the end.\r\nA use of melo salient irony by Miller, Willy volitionally fulfils his own utmost fear. That honorable mention is also foreshadowing Willy’s death †another designed device by Miller. as well his pride, another flaw of W illy is very poor and deteriorating mental wellness and he is motif to stochastic flash back ends and hallucinations †often of his dead and erst very successful one-time(a) brother, Ben, someone Willy idolizes. An example of one of his hallucinations is when Willy says, â€Å"Ben, I’ve been waiting for so long”, despite Ben being dead at this point. The play is also cleverly integrated by Miller.\r\nMusic †for example a flute †plays in the background during some barbs for an added striking meat. This flute is heard in both the opening and decision scene. The play also makes healthy use of flashbacks, but sometimes a flashback scene plays on stage at the akin time as the scene set in the present. This technique is seen in Act Two, objet dart Willy is in the restaurant with thrusting and Happy. On the whole, the structure is skillfully used to make the storyline more immersive to the audience. Although, it does not drive home the same level of effect when being read from a book.\r\nThe historical context of the play greatly influences both the themes and terminology of the play greatly. Death of a Salesman is set during the late 1940s. This time setting influences both the characters and the audience, as the play first premiered on the tenth of February, 1949 †the smell of Willy Loman was something Americans waiver to watch the play at that time could relate to. 60 years on, more advance(a) audiences bequeath react other than as times get to changed and the idea of the American Dream isn’t as possessive anymore. Besides the American Dream, other common themes can be found in the play.\r\n perfidy is quite clear as Willy betrays Linda by cheating on her with the Woman, and Willy also sees the way drone rebels against him as betrayal and as Willy himself says, â€Å"Spite! â€Å". Another major theme would be one man †Willy in this aspect †being kept back from his dreams by society. In addition, the voice communication used by characters matches the historical setting and context. In performances of the play, characters do not usually pay off the New Yorker accent you would expect, but they talk like a New Yorker. For example, words like ‘gee’, and rhetorically asking the person they are talking to if they ‘hear this?\r\n‘On the subject of whether we can define Death of a Salesman as a tragedy or not is not a saucer-eyed question as in that respect is substantial evidence for both sides of the argument. To begin with, those who say that it is a tragedy may fence that it ends with the death of Willy, the main character, just like other tragedies. Moreover, Willy has pellucid flaws which slowly lead to his haste throughout the play. Finally, Willy may not ever do anything that can be deemed ‘ whizzic’, but within his own household he is very much a figure that is looked up to †so it may til now be a tragedy, albeit on a less luxurious scale.\r\nIn contrast, you could argue that it is not a tragedy as all other characters from Shakespeare’s tragedies were people of high standing †whereas Willy is not. Additionally, Willy is not at all a hero by any definition †in fact he is in some ways a bad person as will be shown. Finally, Shakespeare’s heroes have quite dramatic flaws, whereas Willy has the same flaws as every ordinary human being. These are quite convincing arguments to why it isn’t a tragedy. We will be looking at each argument more in-depth.\r\nThe play follows the tragedies of Shakespeare in that the main character dies in the end. Willy commits felo-de-se by crashing his car so that his family would get the life amends money of $20,000 and make life easier for them. This is of course a alarming reason to kill oneself as it is very selfless. However, it would make Willy a hypocrite as violent death himself is also him giving up †something he con demned. Nevertheless, his intentions were admirable and this could make him seen as a hero since he willingly died for a selfless cause.\r\n'