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AQA A-level English Literature B Paper 1: 'Explore the view that Willy’s character is a representation of the tragedy of normal life.' $5.21
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Explore the view that Willy’s character is a representation of the tragedy of normal life.
In his essay of 1949, Arthur Miller gives the definition of a tragic hero as being, ‘a character who is
ready to lay down his life… to secure … his sense of personal dignity’. Miller argues that ‘the
common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as Kings were’. Therefore, Miller
exploits the construct of Willy Loman to expose that tragedy can be elicited for those of ‘common’
origins and it is this lack of nobility, in a sense, that can be viewed as more tragic as it seems Willy
Loman’s low-class status makes his character doomed and vulnerable from the very beginning of the
play. Despite Willy Loman’s position as a working class ‘salesman’ who does not stem from ‘noble
origins’ like Macbeth or Hamlet, he can still be viewed as the tragic hero of the play. Even the
charactonym ‘Loman’ reinforces Willy’s lower-class status in society. Despite not occupying a high
status and transgressing typical conventions of a tragic hero, like Shakespeare’s protagonists, Miller
presents Willy as embodying peripetia, hamartia and hubris which are essential components of
Aristotelian tragic heroes. Willy’s fatal flaw, his myopia, seems to occur as a result of the illusion of
the American Dream; an indispensable belief that through a combination of hard-work and
determination, prosperity could be achievable. The American Dream placed pressure on the
working-classes to embrace materialism and achieve economic prosperity, evident through items
such as Willy’s ‘Studebaker’ and the ‘refrigerator’. As a result of this belief, Willy Loman believes that
he is no more than his function, which is why the play bears the title it does. The failure to compete
with capitalist ideologies leads Willy to sell himself as he acknowledges that he is worth more dead
than alive. Therefore, Miller uses the play to make an accusation of how the American capitalist
society encouraged the destructive and cataclysmic ideology of the American Dream which
victimised the working-classes, ergo encouraging the tragic demise of the protagonist, Willy Loman.
Initially, Miller deliberately exploits the setting combined with realism, to capture the inevitability of
Willy’s tragedy as a result of his position as a working-class ‘salesman’, who has been victimised by
the American Dream and the pressures it placed on the working classes. The setting seems to
reinforce the background and social position of the Loman family in the American consumerist
society and also reflects how the capitalist state is a constant force of oppression. The position of the
Loman household trapped between ‘apartment buildings’ which are ‘under and over it’ cultivates an
image claustrophobia highlighting the idea that the Loman family are trapped in their working-class
position in society and the can never experience the prosperity provided with the American Dream.
Furthermore, the juxtaposition of the Loman family’s ‘house’ with the arrival of the new
‘apartments’ could reflect the growing conformity of the age and cultural shift in society. Perhaps, it
could possibly highlight the oppressive nature of the American Dream which exploits the vulnerable
members of society, whilst aiding the wealthy. The ‘apartments’ built around the house reflect the
growing age of homogeneity and reflects that the Loman family are a direct target of the
consumerist society, heightening the tragedy of Willy’s status as the tragic hero. Additionally, the
house is exposed as being ‘small’ and ‘fragile seeming’. The ‘fragile seeming’ status of the house
could be symbolic representation of Willy in that his working-class position makes him more
vulnerable to the pressures of society. The adjective ‘small’ could possibly hint at the weakness and
inferior nature of the protagonist illustrating the inevitability of his tragic downfall. Perhaps, this
initial fragility of the house and the character of Willy Loman makes the tragic conclusion of the play
inevitable because of the weakness within both. Furthermore, the audience learns that ‘an air of a
dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality’. Miller’s use of the verb ‘clings’ seems to
highlight the desperation for Willy to follow the ideology of the American Dream and perhaps
convey the pressure which is placed upon working-class Americans. With this in mind, the setting
poses the idea that the tragedy of the play occurs as a result of society neglecting the working class
and filling them with false ideologies, as shown through the archetypal figure of Willy Loman.
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