Death of a Salesman as a modern tragedy

Death of a Salesman is typically classified as a modern tragedy. This implies that it follows the example of
the classic Greek tragedies, Roman tragedies and Shakespearian and Jacobean tragedy. There are, however,
sbtle bt vital differences between these forms. !ristotle"s classic view of tragedy saw the form as one
which only properly deals with the fate of gods, kings and heroes. #n the twentieth centry, sch a restricted
definition wold consign tragedy to the waste bin of literary history. $onse%ently, in Death of a Salesman,
&iller challenges this view and presents s with an entirely new one.
'r increasingly seclar world no longer believes in gods, and kings and heroes are increasingly hmbled,
broght down to the level of ordinary men and women. &iller therefore embarked pon a pro(ect to
reinvigorate the classic tragic form in order to make it more relevant to the world we live in.
&iller ses elements of the classical tragedy to create a new and compellingly hman drama, one which is
tre to tradition bt conceived on a domestic scale so that adiences can identify with the chief protagonist
and draw parallels with their own lives.
The basic elements of the !ristotelean tragedy may be smmarised as follows)
* ! play with an nhappy ending.
* Serios, wide in scope, and complete in itself.
* +aving a ,hero- who, becase of a particlar tragic flaw, goes from happiness to misery and death.
* .re%ently having a sense of waste at the death of the tragic hero, together with relief that he no longer
has to endre pain or sffering.
* ! point at which the tragic hero recognises both his fate and the weaknesses in himself that have broght
him to it / this is often referred to asanagnorisis.
* ! catharsis or prging of emotions at the end, often leading to a sense of ltimate peace and regeneration
or the rebilding of lives and societies.
Millers redefinition of the tragic form
#n Death of a Salesman, &iller sggests that the natral hero of the tragedy is the man in the street, yo and
me, the individal attempting to gain his rightfl place in society. 0et, the life of the tragic hero mst have
intensity. &iller arged that, in 1illy 2oman, the adience recognises the hman passion to srpass his
given bonds, a fanatical insistence pon his self/conceived role 3and a strggle to define what this might
be 4 salesman, father, hsband, hnter/gatherer56 .rthermore, his thinking mst be dominated by the
isses of, for instance, the srvival of the race, the relationships of man to God 4 the %estions, in short,
whose answers define hmanity and the right way to live so that the world is a home, instead of a
battlefield.
Implications of this redefinition for a modern audience
#f &iller"s redefinition of the form of tragedy is correct, there are profond implications for both
playwrights and adiences. #n this redefinition of 7modern" tragedy, the writer has a mch wider canvas on
which to paint a tragic view of modern life. +is sb(ects can be ordinary people in a whole host of
sitations, from the spectaclar media isses sch as terrorist attacks, earth%akes, famines, disasters at sea
or in the air, to domestic conflict, mgging, rape, homelessness, cot death, redndancy, !#DS, and
contless other sitations that impact on individals, families, or commnities.
.or the adience, there is instant recognition that gives the play more impact as they cannot help bt feel
that there but for the grace of God go I. #f the writer has created believable characters in recognisable
hman sitations, his adience will find it easy to identify with the drama as it nfolds and, inevitably, find
parallels with the real world. Sch a close examination of contemporary isses and sitations may be
ncomfortable for some theatregoers, mirroring too nearly perhaps their own lives, bt they will be more
likely to become engaged than if the characters on stage are the remote figres of history and from a social
backgrond alien to their own.
#n short, &iller believes that modern drama can explore (st as profondly the themes and isses that
&arlowe or Shakespeare cold bt with the added pnch of doing so throgh the lives of ordinary people.
Willys personal path to tragedy: tracing the roots of a modern tragedy
1illy"s sicide provides the nhappy ending so essential in classical tragedy. #ts roots, however, lie deep in
the past. #t has been arged that 1illy"s nomadic childhood has left him feeling 7kind of temporary" abot
himself. 8ever having known a secre home, he is obsessed with providing one for 2inda and his sons, and
increasingly aware of his own failings as a hsband and father. ! deep/seated need for affection and
reassrance leads him to seek the companionship of other women when he is away on bsiness. +e is also
known to inflate his achievements in order to gain approval from 2inda, his sons, and older brother and
father/sbstitte, 9en. This, in trn, leads to the self/deception that is his fatal flaw. The stories he tells, the
lies and half/trths, become more reassring to him than reality. Reality is so harsh and painfl that he
escapes into illsion. 3:nfortnately, his example prompts his sons to do the same6.
1illy"s habit of exaggerating and inventing is addictive) once he starts, he soon finds that he cannot stop
himself. 1hen life becomes nbearable, 1illy con(res 9en and memories of the golden times when his
sons were yong and innocent and fll of promise. +is distortion of the past helps him to srvive the
present and, in the end, provides the corage he needs to kill himself.
Millers narrative form
The fact that the story is told throgh both present events and 1illy"s versions of the past means that it is
entirely self/contained. !ll the essential details of his childhood, his life away from 2inda and his sons and
the mainsprings of his character are revealed so gradally that they are easily absorbed and nderstood. 1e
are left in no dobt as to what is fact and what is fantasy in the fre%ent re/enactments. The adience sees
1illy"s own acconts being neatly balanced by those of other characters.
&iller"s almost kaleidoscopic approach allows s to believe in, and be engaged by, the tragedy that nfolds
in a way that wold be difficlt in a more traditional dramatic presentation. ! straightforwardly
chronological accont wold be both less interesting and less revealing than the (xtaposition of scenes
&iller gives s. #t is often the sidelights thrown on events by seeing them re/enacted and hearing 1illy
draw conclsions from them that enables s to gain a clear pictre of what happens. #n this way, we are
able to appreciate the scale of 1illy"s decline and his own part in it.
:nlike the kings and heroes of classical tragedies, 1illy is so flly/fleshed, so hman, that it is difficlt not
be fooled into believing he is a real person and not simply a character in a play.
The path to tragedy: a wheel of fortune
#f Death of a Salesman is to %alify as a tragedy, it needs to show how 1illy"s fatal flaw impels him from
happiness to misery and death. &iller"s treatment of this theme has mch in common with the Jacobean
concept of the 1heel of .ortne. Stated simply, this concept dictates that happiness 3like all other forms of
hman sccess6 is fleeting and in that happiness are the seeds of tragedy. 1hen everything seems achieved
the 7hero" is at the top of the wheel. +owever, a flaw in his own character means that the sitation is
doomed, the moment passes and a slide into misery and, ltimately, death is inevitable.
#n Death of a Salesman, it is at the very moment when the 2oman family seems most secre and nited that
the seeds of the tragedy are sown. &iller presents s with an almost idyllic portrait of 1illy, 2inda, and
their two sons.
The prod father revels in the poplarity and athletic prowess of his eldest son, the son worships his father.
Their relationship cold not be closer, bt it is fonded on illsion. 1illy is neither the sccessfl salesman
nor the perfect hsband he appears to be. 9iff, despite his spreme confidence that he is destined for
:niversity, has been so inflated by his father"s estimate of him, so convinced by his father that personal
attractiveness will carry him throgh, that he does not do enogh work and flnks &ath. 1here 9ernard
can refer to his father, $harley, as soon as a problem arises, 9iff has to travel to 9oston at his moment of
crisis.
+is total faith in 1illy"s ability to fix things impels him disastrosly to his father"s hotel room and the
realisation that 1illy is nfaithfl to 2inda. Sddenly, in his boyish idealism, his father and all he stands
for is fradlent. .rom now on, the illsion is preserved only by 9iff"s silence. +e trns his back on all
1illy has taght him bt, despite the hrt of betrayal, cannot stop loving him and is torn between his
instinctive need for the freedom of the open air and the dream of material sccess that has been drmmed
into him since birth. The tension drives him away bt keeps him coming back to the family home. .or
1illy, this is the start of the decline that leads to the realisation, at last, that his dreams have let him down,
that he is on the scrap/heap or, in his own terms, has not got 7a story left in his head."
The slide from happiness to misery begins in 9oston and has immediate impact; 1illy"s orders are ignored,
his pleas fall on deaf ears, and 9iff"s accsation hits home) 7You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!"
This statement hants 1illy. +e shies away from it, blames 9iff"s life thereafter on anyone bt himself, bt
it never leaves him. Their relationship is broken and 1illy attempts, in the only way he knows, to make
amends. +e tries to ca(ole 9iff into going to Smmer School and re/taking &ath. 1hen that fails, he pays
for correspondence corses for him, selling the diamond tie/pin 9en gave him as a present in order to
finance one of them. #t is all in vain. The accsation stands between them like an impenetrable wall.
1hereas before the visit to 9oston they laghed and (oked, afterwards they are constantly fighting.
1illy keeps p the illsion with 2inda and +ap bt it is the loss of 9iff, apparently forever, that gnaws at
him, that is at the heart of his misery. Reconciliation seems impossible. !ll that 1illy hears in 9iff"s voice
is hatred and 7spite" and all that 9iff can see in his father"s face is 7...a twist of mockeryI cant get near
him." The misery is deepened by the fact that neither man can acknowledge the love he feels. 9y the time
9iff opens p, it is too late. 1illy is described as <astonished, elevated= by the fact that his son cries to him
and is seen to be <choking= with his love in response. 0et this moment, instead of effecting a reconciliation,
confirms 1illy"s decision to kill himself as the only way he can do something practical to show how mch
he loves his family.
1ith spreme tragic irony, 9iff tries to end the hostility as a way of preventing the very otcome his
otbrst precipitates) 7ill you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens!" The
catharsis achieved at this moment in the play enables 9iff to walk away, finally, from the false dream he
has been following. !s he says at 1illy"s fneral, 7I know who I am, kid." This is something he cold not
say before then. #t also helps 1illy to realise, as he tells 9en, that 9iff) 7"lways loved me. Isnt that a
remarkable thing!" The moment comes after his realisation that his life has amonted to very little. +is
%estion to 9en) #oes it take more guts to stand here the rest of my life ringing up a $ero!" is the point at
which, finally, he sees the reality behind all his lies and illsions. #n a sense, we can see how empty 1illy"s
ftre is and, althogh we"re sad at his passing, we cannot help bt breathe a sigh of relief that all his
strggles are over.
The tragic irony is that it is his last dream, for 9iff to see that) 7I am known, %en, and hell see it with his
eyes once and for all. &ell see what I am, %en! &es in for a shock, that boy!" This last dream is to trn
dst, like all the others. !t the fneral he had hoped wold be a vindication, 2inda asks, 7%ut where are all
the people he knew!" +er lack of nderstanding highlights the difference between 1illy and the rest of the
characters in the play. 1here he is obsessed with what &iller calls his self/conceived role, the others are
more moderate in their demands on themselves) $harley advises him to
7'orget about him 39iff6"; 9ernard that, 7sometimesits better for a man (ust to walk away." 8either they,
nor members of his own family, have the intensity that, in &iller"s terms, makes 1illy a tragic hero. +e is
always isolated or, as the 1oman in 9oston describes him) 75the saddest, self)centredest soul I ever did
see)saw." 1illy"s obsession with his sense of himself marks him ot as capable of tragedy in a way that is
both fascinating and challenging to a modern adience. #n an age of conformism, &iller infers, only the
1illy 2omans of this world are worthy of the term 7hero". #n Death of a Salesman, he has flfilled all the
criteria of the classical form bt made of them a drama of hman proportions with which an adience can
readily identify. #t is becase 1illy is like s, a $ommon &an, that the lessons of the tragedy are more
difficlt to ignore than if he were some remote figre from history or myth. 1e cold leave the theatre and
bmp into his e%ivalent in the street. #n a sense, his story adds dignity to or own lives and challenges s
to either fight for self/realisation or to walk away and, in &iller"s terms, fail as hman beings.
$lassical tragedy preserves the nities // one timespan, one setting, one story // as they originated in the
Greek theater. #t also defines a tragic plot as one with a royal character losing, throgh his own pride, a
mighty pri>e. &odern tragedy redefines the genre, with ordinary protagonists, realistic timelines and
settings, and mltiple plots.
Unified lassic Tragedy
!ccording to !ristotle?s @oetics, the tragic playwright mst create a nified work. The play?s rnning time
mst be the exact timespan of the tragedy, with no breaks or flashbacks; the setting mst remain in one
place. &ost importantly, the action follows one inevitable corse, and the tragic hero mst be royal or
highborn. #n addition, this hero desires a greater good, sch as the resce or nification of his kingdom, and
he places that pri>e at great risk with his own choices.
The !lements of a Tragic "all
!ristotle frther elaborates that the tragic hero mst, by the play?s end, lose everything he has gained
throgh hbris // blind pride that defies the gods. #n Sophocles? 'edipal cycle, 'edips tries to discover his
birth secret, while $reon refses honorable brial to !ntigone?s brother. 9oth heroes lose their kingdoms as
a reslt. Shakespeare carries Greek/style hbris even frther, as he has &acbeth lose his sol, 2ear his
sanity and +amlet his conscios identity, before robbing each character of his life and kingdom as well.
# ritic Defines Modern Tragedy
$ritic @aline Aael, in reviewing the movie of !rthr &iller?s B! Ciew from the 9ridge,B gives an
excellent definition of modern tragedy when she notes that a tragic hero Bmst have greater aspirations,
ambitions ... what does Dddie $arbone <the &iller tragic hero= wantE +e wants his wife?s niece.B The
modern tragedy is ths redefined) in modern tragedies, smaller men with smaller dreams act throgh
implse, rather than hbris. The nities are ignored // &iller?s work spans weeks, with sbplots // althogh
the characters? ends are still tragic.
Modern Tragedy #dds Irony
&iller prodced several modern tragedies abot ordinary men with pny dreams and sorrowfl finales; the
most famos is BDeath of a Salesman.B !nother contemporary example is David &amet?s BGlengarry Glen
Ross,B in which tragically small/minded salesmen fight over crooked sales (obs. &odern tragedy therefore
adds irony to !ristotle?s mix, redcing once/heroic tragic figres to the si>e of ordinary hmanity.
Characteristics of Classical Tragedy
The word tragedy derived from the Greek words ,tragos- and ,oide- which when translated means ,goat song-.
1inners of the drama festivals in !ncient Greece received a goat as a price and it is believed that the word has its
origin in this practice.
The philosopher !ristotle was the first to define the characteristics of the classic tragedy. +e referred to the plot as the
,sol of tragedy-. The nity of action, place and time, that is very typical of the classic Greek tragedies was, however,
ignored by the Dli>abethan and neo/classicists playwrights and can therefore not be seen as typical of all classical
tragedies.
1hat is definitely a characeristic of all tragedies is the strggle of the protagonist. The protagonist, who is also the
tragic hero is sally a positive and active character of high social standing, sch as a king or great warrior, who gets
caght p in sharp conflict with opposing forces. #n the process the protagonist moves from good fortne to misfortne
and never in the opposite direction. Aing $reon in Sophocles" play!ntigone is an excellent example of a person with
the highest power whose strggle leads to his downfall. There is sometimes the misconception that the protaganist will
die at the end of the play. This is not always tre as the protagonist might live, bt will always loose his stats.
There are different theories regarding the downfall of the protagonist. &any philosophers and critics claim that the
protagonist has a fatal flaw which is the main reason for his downfall while others believe that the forces which control
the path of the protagonist is inevitable and no protagonist can escape his destiny. 9oth perspectives have merits.
$reon"s flaw cold have been his stbbornness, bt in all fairness the choice he had to make wold
have compromised him in one way or the other. +e wold have either lost his credibility as a king and rler or his
hmanity.
The most significant element that distingishes tragedy from other forms of drama is the tragic effect or catharsis. This
allows the spectator to be prged and leave the theatre with a sense of tran%ility. + ! &yers describes this catharsis as
follow. ,#t lifts s above the divisive spirit of melodrama by showing that men are neither natrally good nor inherently
evil-.
The biggest move from classical tragedy is that the modern tragic hero is more of an anti/hero and represented by
characters sch as 1illy 2oman in Death of a Salesmen or Cladimir and Dstragon in 9eckett"s, 1aiting for Godot.