Willy Lom A Classic Tragic Hero

1797 Words8 Pages
The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, states that classical tragic heroes are the ones that are noble and has a strong pride and dignity to themselves. They will make a serious mistake that is unpredictable by them, and because of it, they will have a tragic ending, death. Aristotle said “A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” This means that classical tragic hero must learn from their mistake and fight against it. However, as history changed, the value towards tragic heroes has also been changed. This led a decline of people who believe in fate and the number of classical tragic hero. Since Industrialization, technology has developed rapidly, and we started to know more about science, including psychology and…show more content…
Throughout the play, Willy continues to refuse the truth of him and the society. We can clearly see this from the conversation with Biff, when he tried to tell what happened at Bill Oliver’s office, and that he stolen his fountain pen. “What’re you talking about?” “I’m not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind” (Act2 loc. 1739) He does not try to admit the mistake Biff had made and keeps on disturbing Biff’s speech by trying to change the event to a positive direction. And at last, when Biff concludes, “I can’t talk to him!” (Act2 loc. 1759), Willy starts to zone out into his memories, trying to avoid facing the truth with Biff. Willy frequently does this zone out when he faces something that he needs to face the truth, which leads to his downfall. This shows that unlike Romeo, or classical tragic hero, Willy does not see his downfall. However, Willy is still a tragic hero because even though he refuses to face the truth, he does struggle to prove his existence. Salesman’s job is to sell products, but in materialism, salesman themselves are the ‘product’ of the society, and therefore they can only see there value when they are needed, “well-liked” and famous. Willy was one of them, but because of his downfall he fails, and at last he tries to show his existence in another way. “I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don't have a thing in the ground.” (Act2 loc.2020) Seeds represent something tangible, and moreover because they grow generations to generations, the action Willy is taking, to plant a seed, can represent that he wants to leave something tangible on this ground, the world, to proof his existence to his family and society, and to feed the next generation. Though because of his ignorance, he planted the seeds at night, and it became a failure. For his last option to leave something was to commit

    More about Willy Lom A Classic Tragic Hero

      Open Document