AQA A-level English Literature B Comparison Essay: Tragic Protagonists are exceptional individuals.
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Aspects of Tragedy
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AQA
An essay I completed on the tragic protagonists in both 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' and 'Death of a Salesman' debating the notion whether Tess and Willy Loman are exceptional or unexceptional individuals.
‘In tragic texts the protagonists are exceptional characters who fall from good fortune to
misery.’ To what extent do you agree with this view in relation to two texts you have
studied? (25 marks)
Central to both tragic texts, in ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’, both
writers perpetuate the view that the main protagonists suffer a fall from grace and good
fortune to a miserable tragic demise. If we accept that both of the main characters, Tess and
Willy, are Aristotelian tragic heroes, it is possible to posit the view that both characters are
noble characters at the start, destroyed by external forces, or a hubristic facet, that
contribute to their subsequent downfall. However, whether both characters can be deemed
‘exceptional’ is quite a controversial notion. The term ‘exceptional’ seems to imply that the
protagonists are uncommon or extraordinary like classic Greek Aristotelian such as Macbeth
and Hamlet, who seem to possess noble origins and initially have great stature. However,
both the protagonists stem from low origins and are characterised by their working-class
status which makes them more susceptible to their impinging tragedy. Miller utilises Willy
Loman as a construct to represent ‘everyman’ and it is Willy’s desire to usurp his ‘common’
position and strive for the illusion of the American Dream which engenders his demise. In
the case of Tess, she is also characterised by her poverty-stricken livelihood and working-
class status. It is her poverty which makes her more vulnerable to the ill-treatment of Alec
D’Urberville, due to her parents’ desire for Tess to seek out her ancestors, catalysing the
tragic chain of events which occur within the novel. Therefore, both constructs, Willy and
Tess, fall from good fortune to misery, despite their lower-class origins.
When examining ‘Death of a Salesman’, the central figure of Willy Loman is used to explore
the plight of ordinary men. Miller himself defined the tragic hero as someone who ‘is ready
to lay down his own life…to secure…his sense of personal dignity’, reinforcing that Willy
does not originate from great stature. In the case of Keller, Loman, Proctor and Carbone,
Miller uses his plays to explore ‘the perfectibility of man’, who are targeted by Capitalist
society and their socio-economic background. At the start of the play, Miller seems to
present Loman as admirable through his values and his emotional intelligence. He is
presented as possessing initiative, showing a good work ethic, being family orientated and
aiming to be self-sufficient. His celebrated values seem to be predicated on the
constitutional belief that every citizen possessed an inalienable right to the American
Dream. His ambition and drive are represented in his exchange with Howard after meeting
Dave Singleman when Willy mentions, he ‘realised that selling was the greatest career a
man could want’. This assertion exposes Loman’s ambition and determination reinforced
using the superlative ‘greatest’, emphasising his drive and his ‘massive dreams’ which marks
him out as an exceptional character. These statements expose the idea that he occupies a
world of his own, but he seems to have the ‘wrong dreams’. Yet this exceptional side of
Loman, presented by Miller, seems to be his courage and determination: positive facets of
his character. Miller himself argues that Loman’s ‘brave spirit’ should impress the audience
and, perhaps, it is this quality that marks him out as an exceptional character, with an
exceptional spirit.
In the same way that Miller seems to elevate Loman’s meritorious qualities, Hardy seems to
position Tess as a mythical heroine. At times, Hardy’s depiction of this protagonist borders
on saintly, evoking associations with St Teresa of Avila, as suggested by her formal name
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