Death of a Salesman as a tragedy

                                   Introduction

                    Death of a Salesman is typically classified as a modern tragedy. This implies that it follows the example of classic Greek tragedies and Shakespearean and Jacobean tragedy. There are, however subtle but vital difference between these forms. Aristotle's classic view of tragedy saw the form as one which only properly deals with the fate of Gods, kings and heroes. In the twentieth century, such as restricted definition would consign tragedy to the waste bin of literary history. Consequently in 'Death of Salesman', a Miller challenges this view and presents us with an entirely new one. Our increasingly secular world no longer believes in Gods, and kings and heroes are increasingly humbled, brought down to the level of ordinary men and women.

                                 Modern Tragedy of Miller

                    Tragedy is not only the property of the classical world or the Shakespearean world. Tragedy can belong to any age. But with the change of time the subject matter and the style also should be changed to fulfill the demand of the age. Arthur Miller does the vary thing in the play. As we go through the play we see that he does not violate the properties of the universal grammar of tragedy; Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' fulfills all these requirements though in some unconventional ways.

                                 Setting

                    The play has a modern setting. Though the play is set in 1949, but the times of the play fluctuate between a point in 1942 and other time in 1928. But the shift of time is greatly handled and made convincing through flashbacks. Miller as child of the great depression dramatizes the traumatic years of the Second World War. The action of the play takes place largely inside the Loman home in Brooklyn, but other places in New York and Boston are used as well, including hotel rooms, Willy's office, a restaurant, and Willy's graveside. The setting of the play is not a royal palace but the house of the poor Willy. 

                                      Plot

                    As per as plot is concerned Miller is almost as perfect as the classical dramatists. Structurally the play is stretched tightly like Oedipus Rex. There are no digressions and Willy Loman marches inexorably from the beginning to his catastrophic doom. Like the classical tragedy his death is also not shown on the stage keeping violence offstage, while the Requiem section functions in the manner of a Greek chorus.

                                       Tragic hero

                     But the most important factor in which the play differs from the classical tragedy is the presentation of the tragic hero. According to Miller an "average man" can be an apt subject for tragedy, as exaltation of tragic action is not only for the kings or the kingly but also a property of all men. Willy, an average man, is made the hero of the tragedy. As a hero he does not fully fit into the traditional pattern, but in some respect he comes out as a tragic hero.

                                        Not noble but human

                      Willy has not certainly that noble birth to put him on equal footing with such heroes as Oedipus or Hamlet, but still we respond to the sufferings of  Willy as we do to Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear and Othello. We respond to them not because of their birth, but because we find a kinship between them and us and can share our humanity.

                                       Tragic flaw 

                       Like a traditional tragic hero Willy also has a tragic flaw, which brings upon his downfall. His flaw is identified as his obsession with his dream. He always give preference to face value and takes it granted for any kind of success in this world. This wrong conception leads him to act of suicide. His "hubris", his arrogance lay in his thinking that he could reach the top in that society. He has become so much part of the system of false value in a materialistic world that he dare not even deign to think of himself as apart from it. He is all the time attempting to become a part of his society. Though it rejects him, he refuses to change his view and continues struggle upstream. His unwillingness to submit passively to the established order and values takes him down. He has a set idea in his mind about how he wants to be and the way he wants to be and the way he wants his children to be and he doesn't go beyond it. Though at an early age he had a chance to change and become like his brother Ben, but chose not to. He is a salesman and refuses to be anything else. So, Willy dies at the hands of his tragic flaws.

                                        Tragic feeling

                            It is a debatable issue whether the fall of Willy arouses out pity and fear or not. About tragic feeling Miller says "tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing - his sense of personal dignity". Like the classical tragedy, the play also arouses our feelings of pity and fear. We cannot but feel pity for Willy. He was wrong in his approach to the life and his ability. But his faults does not deserve so harsh a punishment. We also become very fearful after seeing the tragedy of Willy. Willy not only represents the post-depression American middle class society, but in a larger sense he is Everyman. In our daily life we cannot escape from the inescapable failures of life. After the successful production of the play in China, Miller himself said that Willy is everywhere. We feel for Willy more than a classical hero, because he is an ordinary person like most of us. We can share his feelings and understand his problems. So, the tragedy of Willy arouses our pity and fear in us.

                                          Conclusion

                            To conclude, we may says that arguments of both sides are strong. No doubt, "Death of a Salesman" is not a typically traditional tragic play like Shakespearean tragedies and Aristotelian tragedies but it has tragic theme, tragic character and tragic end that arouse pity and fear. We can call it a modern  tragic play or to be more exact, a modern social tragic play.