2021 - 'In tragedy, order is disrupted and never
restored.ʼ
2021
In tragedy, order is disrupted and never restored.ʼ To what extent do you agree with this view in
relation to two texts you have studied? Remember to include in your answer relevant comment
on the authorsʼ methods. [25 marks]
Willy Lomanʼs tragedy lacking all order from the beginning to end. Willy already enters the
play as a broken man.
Is order even disrupted in Tess? The pragmatic nature of the natural world. Both nature
and fate are uncaring.
Natural order being subverted in the setting from the beginning. Willyʼs desire for nature
and denial of his dreams Order being restored by the Victorian society removing a woman
who was neither virgin nor whore so could not categorise her.
It has been questioned for critics for centuries whether tragedy can still exist in an age where
“God is dead” (Nietzsche) and order seems to be disrupted before the tragedy even begins.
This can be seen in both Tess of DʼUrbervilleʼs and Death of a Salesman, tragedy texts which
subvert Aristotleʼs tragic decorum and present natural order and a shadowy concept liable to
interpretation instead of a necessary circular concept where order must be restored. Through
this it can be questioned to what extent ‘order is disrupted and never restoredʼ in both texts.
As Willy Loman enters the play already “tired to the death” rubbing his palms, critics have
stated that ‘his tragedy begins where Hamletʼs may have endedʼ. Order is something which is
lacking in Willyʼs life from the very beginning of the play to the end. He has no power or order in
his work, so exerts power at home on Linda as she is described as being immune to his “little
cruelties” and “big dreams”. Willy dislikes change becoming angry when Linda replaces “swiss
cheese” with “whipped cheese” breaking further the little order which Willy had maintained in
his life. Additionally, the house appears to be exemplifying destruction of order further through
the refrigerator which is broken ‘eating belts of electricity like a maniacʼ and car which Willy
drives which also appears to be deteriorating. It is stated in the stage directions that the setting
appears almost “transparent” with characters appreciating boundaries when in the present but
the boundaries disappearing when Willy becomes lost in the past again. This metaphorically
encapsulates the order which is disrupted in Willyʼs fractured mind linking him to tragic heroes
such as Hamlet and Macbeth who undergo madness after their peripetia. Willy however does
not undergo any anagnorisis to return to his ordered psychological state. As the play
progresses his hallucinations become more frequent until Ben appears acting in a tempters role,
luring Willy to suicide where he dies remaining consumed by the dream and the myopia which
King Lear and Oedipus lost before their deaths. Through this breaking of tragic decorum, Willy
undergoes little beneficially change from beginning of the play to the end. Order can be seen as
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