Post by Lady Enelya on Apr 21, 2005 6:42:43 GMT -5
One of the esseys that I sent to Oxford, comparing Oedipus Tyrannous and Death of a Salesman.
Aristotle wrote the first and possibly the most important treatise on tragedy. When he wrote his “Poetics,” here he wrote that the purpose of tragedy was to create pity and fear in the audience.”
Willy Loman and King Oedipus are both referred to as tragic figures of the contemporary and classic age, however the question remains to what extent does Willy Loman meet the requirements of a true tragic hero as laid down by Aristotle, and further to what extent does “Death of Salesman” qualify as a true tragedy?
The very essence of tragedy seems to be the presentation of a situation in which an individual suffers a fate that we all fear, and in doing so deserves our pity for undergoing it. While Oedipus’ fate is out of his hands, and the crimes of incest, patricide, and regicide are truly terrible, in a contemporary arena Willy Loman’s failure to succeed in business is as horrific as any charge laid against Oedipus.
There is a sense of horror in the modern audience as Willy’s sad mental state is made clear and in the second half of the play, that emotion changes to pity as Willy sufferers even more pain as a result of his psychosis. “I’m tired to the death” Willy says, “I couldn’t make it.” This, in my view, sums up the entirety of this play, Willy Lowman is exhausted and demoralised by his won failure to “make it” in business. The frustration of his life has finally driven him to a point of no return, where he must see the truth of his life and be crushed by the weight of this realisation.
According to Aristotle, only people of high birth can be truly tragic, the tragic hero was “one who made a single fatal mistake” and a result was severely punished out of proportion to the mistake they made or crime they committed. Oedipus was born the prince of Thebes, and raised as the heir of Corinth unaware of his lineage; he achieved fame as the saviour of the Thebes and by the finale of the play he is reduced to a state of abject poverty and misery. He has fallen so far in his pursuit of the truth that he is no longer recognisable as the celebrated saviour of his people. As Creon said, “Your mastery broke before the end.” This is consistent with Aristotle’s view on tragedy and it is obvious from this why “Oedipus” was Aristotle’s favourite tragedy.
However Willy Lowman is, as his name implies, a lowborn citizen of a capitalist society. Chaucer said
“As olde bookes, maken us memorie,
Of hym that stood in greet prosperitee
And is yfallen out of heigh degree…”
However, Willy Lowman, as the lowest member of a capitalist society, cannot fall any lower. While inside his own head Willy is a “high-flying” successful salesman, to the rest of the world “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” The sense of importance he feels is entirely fabricated by his rapidly degrading mind. Miller has said “I believe that the common man is as apt a subject of tragedy as a king.”
In capitalist Middle America this must have been a popular view, as most of those in the rising middle class in the 1940’s and 50’s were chasing the same dreams as Willy Lowman, as the play was released at the height of success for Avon ladies and door-to-door vacuum salesman Willy’s situation must have been especially poignant for the audience at that time.
There is undoubtedly something appealing in the elevation of an ordinary America to heroic status. It would enable many of the New York audience to feel that their own lives had to some extent been dignified in some way.
Just as a protagonists claims to be tragic are affected by their station in life so their own personality can also affect their tragic standing. The harmatia or tragic flaw causes him to suffer as a result, as Bradley puts it, “a fatal tendency to identify the whole being with one interest, passion, or habit of mind” in doing so he becomes “a slave to passion”. “The downfall of the tragic hero is brought about through some defect in the armour of “solid virtue” with which he faces “shots of accident” and the “darts of chance” (Othello IV.i), which can hurt his mind only through this unconquerable passion.
As we see Oedipus and Willy are both punished by forces beyond their control. They are in control of their fate to the extent that it is their flaws and their decisions, which bring about their ultimate punishment, but they are still inexorably free to make those choices, as Oedipus says, “say it again and say it clearly.” Which echoes Willy’s statement “I’ve been waiting for you to explain…”
The nobility of the tragic “hero” is savagely destroyed by fate, when his noble intention is somehow thwarted. To be a tragedy, the character of Willy Lowman in “Death of a Salesman” would have to be a man of obvious virtue or nobility, which he does not appear to have. Willy’s affair is not a typical occurrence in a tragedy as it diminishes out pity for the protagonist. To class “Death of a Salesman” as a tragedy Willy Lowman must be presented as admirable and it must seem to be worthwhile for the audience to invest emotionally in Willy and his predicament.
However the presentation of the protagonist is only one part of the creation of a tragedy, another is the vital importance of theme. It is the classical view that
a tragedy “is the conflict between man and more than man,” obviously this can be applied to Oedipus as it his a punishment from the gods, specifically Apollo; who despite Iocasta’s claims, “Man is ruled by chance…live at random…”is capable of effecting the life of the tragic hero.
Miller believed that a mans predicament was tragic if he “engages the issues of, for instance, the survival of the race, the relationship of man to God, -the questions in short, whose answers define humanity and the right way to live.” Curiously this cannot directly be applied to “Death of a Salesman,” only through a Marxist perspective can we begin to see Miller’s motivation for the above statement. Capitalism, unfortunately, has become the religion of the increasingly secular modern world. The approval of the business world, and the accompanying monetary success, is on a par, with the blessing and benevolence of the Gods in the ancient world. Albin Lesky states that, “Human existence is constantly threatened from the realm of the gods, for man, when tempted to act as hybris, will be overcome by ate, the most terrifying form of delusion.” However modern man is not comfortable with the concept of Gods capable of leading mankind astray
With this in mind, both men can be seen as tragic, they have both broken the unwritten laws coveted by their societies.
Aristotle wrote the first and possibly the most important treatise on tragedy. When he wrote his “Poetics,” here he wrote that the purpose of tragedy was to create pity and fear in the audience.”
Willy Loman and King Oedipus are both referred to as tragic figures of the contemporary and classic age, however the question remains to what extent does Willy Loman meet the requirements of a true tragic hero as laid down by Aristotle, and further to what extent does “Death of Salesman” qualify as a true tragedy?
The very essence of tragedy seems to be the presentation of a situation in which an individual suffers a fate that we all fear, and in doing so deserves our pity for undergoing it. While Oedipus’ fate is out of his hands, and the crimes of incest, patricide, and regicide are truly terrible, in a contemporary arena Willy Loman’s failure to succeed in business is as horrific as any charge laid against Oedipus.
There is a sense of horror in the modern audience as Willy’s sad mental state is made clear and in the second half of the play, that emotion changes to pity as Willy sufferers even more pain as a result of his psychosis. “I’m tired to the death” Willy says, “I couldn’t make it.” This, in my view, sums up the entirety of this play, Willy Lowman is exhausted and demoralised by his won failure to “make it” in business. The frustration of his life has finally driven him to a point of no return, where he must see the truth of his life and be crushed by the weight of this realisation.
According to Aristotle, only people of high birth can be truly tragic, the tragic hero was “one who made a single fatal mistake” and a result was severely punished out of proportion to the mistake they made or crime they committed. Oedipus was born the prince of Thebes, and raised as the heir of Corinth unaware of his lineage; he achieved fame as the saviour of the Thebes and by the finale of the play he is reduced to a state of abject poverty and misery. He has fallen so far in his pursuit of the truth that he is no longer recognisable as the celebrated saviour of his people. As Creon said, “Your mastery broke before the end.” This is consistent with Aristotle’s view on tragedy and it is obvious from this why “Oedipus” was Aristotle’s favourite tragedy.
However Willy Lowman is, as his name implies, a lowborn citizen of a capitalist society. Chaucer said
“As olde bookes, maken us memorie,
Of hym that stood in greet prosperitee
And is yfallen out of heigh degree…”
However, Willy Lowman, as the lowest member of a capitalist society, cannot fall any lower. While inside his own head Willy is a “high-flying” successful salesman, to the rest of the world “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” The sense of importance he feels is entirely fabricated by his rapidly degrading mind. Miller has said “I believe that the common man is as apt a subject of tragedy as a king.”
In capitalist Middle America this must have been a popular view, as most of those in the rising middle class in the 1940’s and 50’s were chasing the same dreams as Willy Lowman, as the play was released at the height of success for Avon ladies and door-to-door vacuum salesman Willy’s situation must have been especially poignant for the audience at that time.
There is undoubtedly something appealing in the elevation of an ordinary America to heroic status. It would enable many of the New York audience to feel that their own lives had to some extent been dignified in some way.
Just as a protagonists claims to be tragic are affected by their station in life so their own personality can also affect their tragic standing. The harmatia or tragic flaw causes him to suffer as a result, as Bradley puts it, “a fatal tendency to identify the whole being with one interest, passion, or habit of mind” in doing so he becomes “a slave to passion”. “The downfall of the tragic hero is brought about through some defect in the armour of “solid virtue” with which he faces “shots of accident” and the “darts of chance” (Othello IV.i), which can hurt his mind only through this unconquerable passion.
As we see Oedipus and Willy are both punished by forces beyond their control. They are in control of their fate to the extent that it is their flaws and their decisions, which bring about their ultimate punishment, but they are still inexorably free to make those choices, as Oedipus says, “say it again and say it clearly.” Which echoes Willy’s statement “I’ve been waiting for you to explain…”
The nobility of the tragic “hero” is savagely destroyed by fate, when his noble intention is somehow thwarted. To be a tragedy, the character of Willy Lowman in “Death of a Salesman” would have to be a man of obvious virtue or nobility, which he does not appear to have. Willy’s affair is not a typical occurrence in a tragedy as it diminishes out pity for the protagonist. To class “Death of a Salesman” as a tragedy Willy Lowman must be presented as admirable and it must seem to be worthwhile for the audience to invest emotionally in Willy and his predicament.
However the presentation of the protagonist is only one part of the creation of a tragedy, another is the vital importance of theme. It is the classical view that
a tragedy “is the conflict between man and more than man,” obviously this can be applied to Oedipus as it his a punishment from the gods, specifically Apollo; who despite Iocasta’s claims, “Man is ruled by chance…live at random…”is capable of effecting the life of the tragic hero.
Miller believed that a mans predicament was tragic if he “engages the issues of, for instance, the survival of the race, the relationship of man to God, -the questions in short, whose answers define humanity and the right way to live.” Curiously this cannot directly be applied to “Death of a Salesman,” only through a Marxist perspective can we begin to see Miller’s motivation for the above statement. Capitalism, unfortunately, has become the religion of the increasingly secular modern world. The approval of the business world, and the accompanying monetary success, is on a par, with the blessing and benevolence of the Gods in the ancient world. Albin Lesky states that, “Human existence is constantly threatened from the realm of the gods, for man, when tempted to act as hybris, will be overcome by ate, the most terrifying form of delusion.” However modern man is not comfortable with the concept of Gods capable of leading mankind astray
With this in mind, both men can be seen as tragic, they have both broken the unwritten laws coveted by their societies.
