Q: Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman as a tragedy.

Death of the Salesman is a personal and social tragedy which shows the cultural change. It may be
viewed as a tragedy of a middle class neurotic caught up in a large city by his dreams. Millers concept of
tragedy is quite different from that of Shaw and Galsworthy. His view of tragedy is different even from
the classical view. The Greek heroes are destined to suffer but Miller takes man as a tragic product of
dark surroundings. Unlike the Greeks, Miller considers the common man the most suitable subject for
the tragedy.

Miller concentrates on a single subject the struggle of the individual attempting to gain his rightful
position in the society and in his family. In Death of the Salesman, Miller deals with the longings and the
dreams of the American salesman who is alter the illusion of success. The play revolves round Willy, who
is a tragic character represents the blind faith for success is doing to the every sensitive soul. As a young
American salesman, he dreamt: Some day I will have my own business and I will never have to leave my
home any more.

The play presents a dramatic clash between dream and reality. Willy is far away of realities and advises
his son Be liked and you will never want. At first Willy is not aware of painful fact that the changed
circumstances have taken away the human element from salesmanship. When he comes close to ugly
realities of life, he cries woods are burning. At first, Willy and Biff idealize each other. Biff takes his
father as a good companion, a hardworking prince and a loyal husband. He remarks with pride that his
father is always for his boys. Biff loses all respect for his father when he noticed a naked woman in his
room of the hotel. He calls his father a phony little fake.

Willy laments the withering sense of family in the modern age. The following words reflect the irony of
the human situation: Work a life time to pay off a house. You finally own it and there is nobody to live in
it. Miller is mainly concerned with the social injustice and on the impact on the lives of characters. In
Death of the Salesman Miller shows how the common man is crushed by the uncontrolled external
forces and false ideals. The American society is brutalized and competitive. The responsibility of Willys
tragedy lies partly on the American society which is stronghold on him.

Willys interview with Howard shows the cruelty of the competitive society. When he requests Howard
to keep him in New York he declines his request, and keeps playing on the tape recorder. Willy cries
when he is dismissed: You cant eat orange and throw peel away. Man is not a piece of fruit.

Even, this touching argument doesnt soften the stonehearted employer. Here, Willy reflects the
inhuman cruelty of the society of America. Miller has condemned the profit motive which doesnt
recognize human wants and need. It is, indeed, very sad that a man should think of committing suicide in
order to help his son with the insurance money badly needed by him. The playwright suggests that only
the longlegged persons can survive in the American society. The ordinary persons like Willy usually
break down in the race and die an unnoticed death.
In this play Miller brings us close to the conflict between man and society. Dennis has rightly remarked:
The central theme of Miller has always been the integrity of the individual towards himself and towards
his fellows, but the cost integrity for the most of his character has been life itself. According to Miller
tragedy is the result of mans total compulsion to evaluate himself justly. The words of Linda describes
the tragedy of Willy: He drives too miles, and when he gets there, no one knows him anymore, no one
welcomes him, and what to goes through a mans mind driving too miles home without having earned a
cent.

Willy fails not only as a salesman but also as a father. When he finds that Biff loosing respect for him, he
gets frustrated. In his great tragedy Death of the Salesman, Miller suggests that the young as well as the
old finds themselves compelled to live by illusion in the modern age. Willy is a helpless victim of callous
world where the worth of a person is tasted by the amount of money he is able to produce. Willy realizes
at last it is not because of ones charming personality but because of money that one is liked in the
society.

To conclude, in modern drama, the commoners suffers as king and queens used to suffer in the drama,
which followed by Aristotelian concept of tragedy. Although Willy is broken hearted, he gets some
consolation from the awareness that Biff still loves him. The realizations that Biff really loves him in spite
of his weaknesses makes him help his son through the ending of his life.

One may put forward the point, in Death of the Salesman Miller has denounced the modern commercial
civilization. Thousands of Lomans are becoming its victim everyday. In maddening competition, one
wants to override another. Miller suggests that the commercial society has created only tiresomeness
and nervous breakdown for the common man. This great tragedy ends with an implied call on action
rather than with feeling of catharsis. The tragedy of Willy could be understood, in the words of Linda: A
terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He is not to be allowed to fall into his grave
like an old dog.