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Summary A* AQA ENGLISH LITERATURE B ESSAY - AS Specimen - Explore the view that Willy Loman and Tess do not have the greatness to be tragic heroesR81,23
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Death of a Salesman revision booklet AQA A Level English Lit B
compare & contrast of the characters Willy Loman and Charley in the play Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman as a story told through mind and memory of Willy Loman
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English Literature B
Aspects of Tragedy
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AS Specimen - Explore the view that Willy
Loman and Tess do not have the greatness to
be tragic heroes. Remember to include in your
answer relevant comments on dramatic
methods. [25 marks]
Explore the view that Willy Loman and Tess do not have the greatness to be tragic heroes.
Remember to include in your answer relevant comments on dramatic methods. [25 marks]
Willy having no height to fall from except his own mind and Biff calling Willy a “fine
troubled prince” and Willyʼs interaction in Howardʼs office
Willyʼs death for the benefit of his family.
Tess having megalopsychia which and the nobility which Parson Tringham tells her father
in Phase the first alongside Hardyʼs exceptionalism of Tess through her red ribbon.
Tessʼs life seeming like a game played by fate. In Ancient Greek tragedies they only played
games with noble heroes lives.
In Aristotleʼs Poetics, Aristotle stated that a tragic hero must be one who is “renowned and
prosperous” with a “megalopsychia”, greatness of soul, which causes his downfall to be much
more “cathartic”. However, both ‘Death of a Salesmanʼ and ‘Tess of DʼUrbervillesʼ subvert tragic
decorum by presenting the reader and audience with ‘every-manʼ characters. It can therefore
be argued to what extent ‘Willy Loman and Tess of DʼUrbervilles do not have the greatness to
be tragic heroesʼ.
In Arthur Millerʼs essay ‘Tragedy and the Common Manʼ, he stated that he believes the
“common man is apt subject for tragedy” where in an age where “God is dead” (Nietzsche) the
previous Godʼs and fate which tormented tragic heroes have “transformed into the fat Godʼs of
consumerism” (Rita Di Giuseppe). This can be seen in Death of a Salesman where, as Willy
enters the play rubbing his palms mummering “oh boy, oh boy” he is immediately presented as
an ‘every-manʼ character which audiences can relate to. His name Loman acts as a hyperbole
for ‘low-manʼ which presents Willyʼs position in society and place in the play. His tragedy is that
of the working class and his greatness stems from his ability to keep going after years of
suffering.
As we are introduced to Willy Loman it becomes clear that capitalist ideology has taken a firm
grip on his mind. He perpetually justifies the same system which oppresses him because he has
constructed his entire world view around it desiring to become the idealised depiction of the
man who lives inside his mind – Dave Singleman. In Lindaʼs “attention must be paid speech”, a
powerful example of the dismissal of the working class at the hands of capitalism, it becomes
clear that Willy has not achieved his desired place. She directly describes everything that Willy
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