‘The beginning of the tragic texts show that
the protagonist is doomedʼ
‘The beginning of the tragic texts show that the protagonist is doomedʼ
In Aristotleʼs Poetics, Aristotle stated that the tragic hero should initially appear “highly
renowned and prosperous” where their position of being doomed is seen only through subtle
hints which fall into the background of the tragedy. In this essay I will therefore discuss to what
extent ‘the beginning of the tragic texts show that the protagonist is doomedʼ in Death of a
Salesman and Tess of DʼUrbervilles.
As Willy Loman enters the play “tired to the death” rubbing his sore palms together muttering
something along the lines of ‘oh boy, oh boyʼ, critics have stated that the tragedy of Willy Loman
begins where Hamlet or Oedipus may have ended. He appears doomed from his very first line in
the play which is “Itʼs alright I came back” forcing the reader to wonder why Willy had to
reaffirm that he made it home safety, and if he himself was debating no returning. This
introduces the looming motif of Willyʼs suicide which acts as a sinister backdrop for the entire
play being metaphorically encapsulated in the “nipple on the gas tap” and ‘the womanʼ who
saw him decide to crash the car. Through this Willyʼs death seems impending as through we as
an audience are simply awaiting for his suffering to be over from the very beginning. He
appears “beaten down” and “tired”, representing the quintessential figure of the broken
proletariat who has internalised the system which oppresses him, and for Willy for who the
American Dream is everything, the beginning of the play shows that there is no escape from the
dreams indoctrination.
The “towering apartment buildings” which are described through their “angular shapes”
surround the Loman family home creating a claustrophobic atmosphere and representing how
the family is doomed to be stuck in the same class position they deeply want to escape for the
entire play. The setting creates a very Kafkaesque depiction of the capitalist system with it
appearing like a maze in some productions reflecting the maze of the ideology itself which
dooms the individuals caught up in “the air of the dream”. The stage directions which describe
the “boundaries” and being vague and blurry are maintained when the characters are in the
present yet become disorientating when the characters move into the past. This introduces a
new aspect of Willy being doomed through his already fractured psychology. Through a
Freudian perspective the tragic heroes foreshadowing death can therefore be seen in his
deteriorating mental state. As Arthur Miller himself stated, I sought out to show what happens
when “a man does not have a firm grip on the reality of life”, and for Willy reality is escaping
from him from the very beginning of the novel. He talks to himself, speaks in paradoxes, and
continually contradicts himself reflecting an unstable mind reflective of a madness usually
present at the end of a tragedy, such as Macbethʼs guilty mind causing him to become insane,
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