D O A S as an analysis of the modern tragedy

I would have to agree with all of the previous analyses of this modern tragedy. I have studied this play in my Grade 12 English course for the past month and a half and was amazed at how it truly captivates the struggles of the modern day. Although it could be argued that this novel/movie is not so much a tragedy at all and just the story of a broken man. Miller himself argues that a tragedy does not necessarily have to be in the classic aristotelean nor the shakepearian form where the tragic hero falls from grace. In the aristoteleand and shakespearian tragedies the tragic hero is always above the reader, a monarch or the like, and falls from his grace due to his hammartia aka tragic flaw. Miller contends that a tragic hero can be any man of any status who in his quest for his perceived rightful position falls because of a misinterpreted identity. The question "Who am I" is asked of oneself and for the tragice hero they follow the incorrect path. In the case of Willy Loman his hamartia is his blindness to his true identity. He believes he is a salesman and cannot let go of this dream and accept that "he's a dime a dozen." The reason that Willy IS a tragic hero is that in his mistakes Biff comes to the realization that he and his father have both been chasing the wrong dream their entire lives. Unfortunately Willy dies without realizing it himself and Happy is prepared to step back into the viscious cycle created by false perceptions of ones rightful position. Happy says "I'm staying right here in this city, and I'm gonna beat this racket." He steps into the same world that his father suffered through. Biff on the other hand realizes his true entelechy and the teleos (end) to which he aspires.


This story is so ripping because it is so representative of the sohpist and materialistic world we live in today. I'd say the line that hits the deepest chord with the audience is that of Willy in Howard's office:
"You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit!" Unfortunately for Willy the business world back then and now is a harsh world which strives only for material goods. Biff is the only one who escapes by realising his true entelechy, he loves to work with his hands, get dirty (no not a porn star), he's meant to do some form of labor whether it be farming or as a construction worker. Though his aspirations to get higher in the chain of being are lowered to a "mere" laborer he has realized his vocation. In all the tragedy he is an example of the way to really live life, do what you love not what rewards you best with material goods.

(Excuse any spelling mistakes etc. haven't really read it over. Thanks to Mr. F for introducing this play/movie to me)