“The real tragedy of Willy Loman is that he has no choice but to invest his admirably uncompromising energies into a worthless end”- Terry Eagleton
What is the tragedy of the common man, as depicted in ‘Death of a Salesman’?
Arthur Miller believed that tragedy was created as a “consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly”, and anybody, regardless of status, may have such a compulsion. It is this compulsion, or drive, within Willy Loman to self-evaluate and surpass others in the social hierarchy of 1950s American society that creates the tragedy of ‘Death of a Salesman’. Perhaps at one time, it may have been necessary for the tragic hero to be, as Aristotle described, of noble birth as this allowed the audience to witness a fall of monumental proportions which would leave the audience with an ‘impression of waste’. (Bradley) However, such an impression is still able to be left by a common man despite a lack of his initial high status as his fall requires the audience to acknowledge a waste not of titles and grandeur, but of potential. The audience recognises a potential for the ‘perfectibility’ of man and it is the fact that Loman never achieves the dreams for which he passionately strives that evokes the necessary audience sympathy for the play to be considered a tragedy. Miller presents the tragedy of the common, modern, man lying in what Willy perceives are his aims of economic success, but are actually a desperation for acknowledgement and love. Politically, the tragedy of the common man, according to Miller, is that capitalism will prevent true satisfaction because the working class, represented by Willy Loman, becomes trapped into the desire for affluence that they may have misunderstood. Economically, perhaps Miller believes that the tragedy of the common man is that despite the American dream aiming to provide equal opportunities for all to invest and become ‘successful’, the working and middle classes suffer. Perhaps Loman never